#IWSG – Looking Back

Hello all! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

My hero, the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

 

 

The awesome co-hosts of the December 6 posting of the IWSG are Julie Flanders, Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner!

 

December 6 question – As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

 

Where would I even begin? 2017 had a mix of everything for me although little had to do with writing. That makes me sad. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve come up with a lot of new ideas that I’d like to put to paper, but it never seemed to happen. If it wasn’t my health, it was something else.

 

If I could backtrack, I suppose I’d have done more to push myself in all areas of my life. I would’ve gotten more involved in taking care of my own health, rather than assuming the doctors had it all right. I would’ve gotten my depression under control a lot sooner and thereby giving my writing more of a shot. Unfortunately, that’s the woulda, shoulda, and couldas, and I’m not going there.

 

I’m going to try really hard to make next year better in all aspects.

 

What would you have done differently if you could backtrack?

 

 

 

#IWSG – READING AND WRITING PET PEEVES

Hello all! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

My hero, the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

The awesome co-hosts for the August 2 posting of the IWSG are Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner!

 

Unfortunately, I haven’t been blogging for some time. Not exactly news anymore, is it? That’s why I’m thankful for the IWSG because it’s the one thing I look forward to the most. It keeps me blogging at least once a month, or every other month, as has been the case lately. There’s a lot going on (when isn’t there, am I right?) but I’ll save that for my other blog’s post here.

August 2 Question: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

 

As far as pet peeves, I only have one that makes me crazy. It’s having a book inundated with typos and simple grammatical errors. That’s unacceptable in any writing, but more so in published works that people are paying money to read. I can’t begin to tell you how many books I’ve read that needed to be badly overhauled for what should’ve been an easy fix with a decent editor.

 

Enjoy your IWSG day and let me know your thoughts!

 

 

 

#IWSG – ABOUT MY WRITING…

Hello, all! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

My hero, the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

 

The awesome co-hosts for the June 7 posting of the IWSG will be JH Moncrieff, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Jen Chandler, Megan Morgan, and Heather Gardner!

 

June 3 Question: Did you ever say “I quit”? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?

I have thought about quitting many times and have gone as far as ignoring it for months (even years) at a time. But I always come back. I love writing. Over the past few years I submitted a couple of short stories that never made the cut. It was (and still is) disappointing but I have to just get up, brush myself off, and keep trying. That’s the hardest part and one of the main reasons I haven’t submitted anything for a long while.

 

I hope that I’ll build up the nerve again this year. We’ll see. That’s a post for another day. There’s a lot going on in my life now and it’s the main reason I haven’t blogged in so long. Speaking for both this blog and My Miracle Life, I realize it doesn’t make sense for me to try keeping a regular posting schedule because I never know what’s going to pop up and surprise me. I’ll have to take things day by day and pray for the best.

 

What do you do when you feel like quitting? If you’ve already quit, what do you think would motivate you to return to writing? I’m seriously curious.

 

 

#IWSG – LIFE AND WRITER’S BLOCK

Hello, all. For most of today, I thought it was Tuesday, but it’s actually the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

My hero, the amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

 

The awesome co-hosts for the April 5 posting of the IWSG will be Christopher D. Votey, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Fundy Blue, and Chrys Fey!

 

Please take a moment to thank them for their hard work this month.

 

To be honest, I haven’t been able to do much as far as writing. It seems that everything comes in spurts for me, the most recent being medical and therapy related. But I know some of it is due to writer’s block. I’ll stare at the screen trying to figure out what to write, but then my mind wanders to all the things going on in my life.

 

I keep a notebook by my bed because I’ve had some weird dreams and was hoping to write the ideas when I woke up, but they’re forgotten by then. But I know they were good. 

 

I’ve managed to get a lot of reading done and that keeps me from bouncing off the walls. Other than that, there hasn’t been much in the way of writing excitement. 😦

 

April 5 Question: Have you taken advantage of the annual A to Z Challenge in terms of marketing, networking, publicity for your book? What were the results? Unfortunately I’m not participating in this year’s A-Z Challenge and I don’t have a book (yet), so this doesn’t apply to me.

When life gets complicated and writing suffers, what do you do to ease some of the stress?

 

 

 

#IWSG – EXPERIENCE AS WRITER VS. READER

Hello, all! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we know what that means:

It’s time for another meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group – #IWSG.

The amazing Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh founded this group and it has become a safe haven if you are an insecure writer.

Click the image if you would like to be a part of the #IWSG family. You won’t regret it.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.

The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Misha Gericke, LK Hill, Juneta Key, Christy and Joylene Buter!

Make sure you take a moment to thank them for their hard work!!

February 1 Question: How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

A lot of what I learned about writing I learned from members of this very same group. Whereas I used to read just for the joy of it (obviously, I still do), now I pay closer attention to things like POV, writing style, depth of characters, etc.

I’ll read a book and make mental notes of things I do and don’t want to include in my writing. What are elements of the story that stick out to me? Are certain passages or elements critical to moving the story forward, or are they superfluous incidentals that don’t add value?

Critical thinking is key to developing your own style. It’s one of the reasons I read from various authors and genres.

What about you? How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?