Getting serious about improving my writing skills

So I bought myself a new English grammar book. I'm sure all of its content is already available online in one form or another, but it's useful to have all that information collected in one physical tool I can easily grab and refer to whenever the need arises.

One thing that Imzy has helped me with is getting me motivated to write again, and to put my writing out there for other people to read. It's kind of a challenge, because I can get very insecure when it comes to expressing myself. I'm already self-conscious and hard on myself when I write in my native French; unfortunately, writing in a second language only exacerbates those feelings. I'm constantly afraid I'm going to make some glaring mistake, and being so much of a perfectionist, I find it hard to simply relax and give myself time to improve.

But I love this site and the creative communities that have sprung up on it, and I really want to participate! I will never get better by lurking alone; besides, it's more fun to get to know people by actively interacting with them. I have shared a few short pieces in a couple of communities, and so far the stress hasn't overwhelmed me, and people have been supportive, so yay! I'm off to a good start (I think)!

I wish I could write a bit more, but my emotions have been all over the place these past months, and I can't get myself to write when I'm not feeling well. I guess I just need to accept where I am now, and be willing to go at my own pace.