#IWSG: The Genre I Want to Try
It's the first Wednesday of the month, and I'm excited that it's not only IWSG day, but I get to be a co-host!
Purpose: To
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without
fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire
can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure
writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Don't forget you can post your link on the IWSG Facebook page.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the July 2 posting of the IWSG are Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, Louise Barbour, and yours truly!
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
Remember, the question is optional
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
Remember, the question is optional
July 2 question - Is there a genre you haven't tried writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?
I'll start with the question, and work my way to my writer updates.
In a nutshell, yes, there is a genre I want to try, and I think I plan on doing so (nice definitive answer, that!). That genre is... memoir. My grief therapist put the idea in my head several years ago, where it wormed its way in and refuses to leave. What stops me, besides not knowing how to write memoir, is that I feel like a book should reach some kind of conclusion, even a memoir (while recognizing that if I'm alive to write it, my story isn't over). And things just keep getting more complicated (or interesting, take your pick). As a result, I have a title (Walking it Off) and 40,000 words of notes and thoughts, not including multiple volumes of hand-written journals. And I get farther and farther from knowing where to start, let alone where to finish! Plus--there's all that fiction to write.
I'll get there by and by. I think.
Writer Updates:
Somehow another month has gone by and I haven't dealt with the short stories that need attention before they can go out again, so no new submissions. I got another rejection that came with some insightful feedback, so once I get Edited Out edited and out, I have some things to play with as I start developing the next novel.
My main writer news: I have a tentative release date for Edited Out, the third book in my Seffi Wardwell mystery series. I wish I had a cover to show you (and also to allow me to set up a preorder link, but we aren't quite there yet). But that tentative date is Aug. 4, so by next month I should have a live link! Meanwhile, the MS is shaping up nicely and I'm doing the fine-tuning edits that hope to catch all the typos and make every sentence a model of perfection. Yeah, I said "hope to." I know perfection isn't a happening thing, but I do want to make both story and prose as good as can be.
If you are interested in helping with the launch August 4, let me know in the comments.
Share your triumphs, challenges, or dream genres!
 |
| Here I am (left) selling books with the Northwest Independent Writers' Association at the Beaverton (OR) Pride Festival last Sunday. |
©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.
Don't miss a post--Follow us!
Next month - wow!
ReplyDeleteAs much as you hike, Walking It Off is the perfect title.
Thanks for co-hosting this month!
Hiking and backpacking was what kept me sane. Still does, for that matter, and always has!
DeleteThanks for co-hosting the IWSG this month and, like Alex I think Walking It Off is a title that draws one in as well as giving one a glimpse of something you love doing - hiking. Looking forward to Edited Out.
ReplyDeleteOh and I loved A Coastal Corpse - a perfect cosy mystery.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteWalking It Off is a cool title. Thanks for co-hosting with me this month. I could mention your book in my Follower News later in the month.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll send you the details, as soon as I have a cover or a reasonable approximation thereof.
DeleteHI,
ReplyDeleteI hope you write your memoir. It sounds like a book you would put your whole heart into.
Thank you for co-hosting.
Shalom shalom
Thank you. It's fun to do some of the "research"--reading lots of books about hiking and walking!
DeleteI'm in the middle of reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and it makes me wish HE had taken the time to write a memoir, even if it wasn't finish when he ended. What we have instead is a journal-type narrative of his early years and some ramblings in his later years. *sigh* So don't let that happen, eh? Write it down. You can always add to it or alter it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement! At this point, is definitely random notes and ramblings.
DeleteI've not tried writing memoirs but mostly I don't really like reading them. I think I can only write what I'm interested in reading. Good luck with your memoir and writings.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
Absolutely true--writing a genre you don't like to read seems not only unlikely to succeed, but sort of wrong.
DeleteI have a friend who wrote two memoirs. Perhaps you could write up to a point that bring conclusion to that specific stage in your life. Then, if you choose, you could write another about what happens after.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that sort of thing before--you think you've got a good stopping place, but new stuff happens. Which is often kind of a good thing!
DeleteWoo Hoo!! Voice determines whether or not I enjoy a memoir. I bet yours will zing with personality.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks!
DeleteI hear you, Rebecca! I've been struggling with a wealth of source material for my memoir. I've decided to break it into two sections, maybe three: "Northern Exposure" and "Gingerbread Girl." I'm sure you will figure it out. You are a talented writer. Thanks for co-hosting today!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouraging comment! Breaking things up is good. I've been thinking about trying some essay-length bits to start with.
DeleteAbout that memoir, your comment that your grief therapist suggested you write a memoir grabbed my attention. Sometimes writing a memoir is a healing process -- and sometimes it's not. There may be a reason beyond 'not knowing how to write' that's pushing you away from writing that memoir just now. Your positive outlook and commitment to 'finishing' up pending projects shines. And, yes, sign me up to help with the launch.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'll send you the launch info when I have it together. I struggle with needing to do things like that while pouring myself into revisions. I guess I'm not so good at multi-tasking :D
DeleteI once tried to write my memoir. It got so far as a draft. and that was all I needed to write those stories and vent/heal. I switched to writing it as a novel where I had more liberties and could add humor 'cause I love to write humor. Wishing you much success with Editing Out
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think to really write the memoir I have to figure out a) what would make it interesting to others, and b) what might make it helpful to others.
DeleteHi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteMaybe, write one memoir drawing on your vivid imagination to enrich the story.
Consider one event at a time. Later you can organize each chapter as you wish and fill in as necessary.
I write a memoir blog series called, "Slices of Life." Each post is a "Slice." My goal is to engage the reader.
Recently, I received some excellent feedback and will add senses. And tell more to help the reader understand the scenes.
Thanks for co-hosting!
Not a bad idea at all. Bite-sized bits may be my approach.
DeleteI love that title--Edited Out. My mind is racing, already eager to read it.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks! I'll try to get it out on time so you can!
DeleteGood title for that memoir! I've got one on my back burner, too. My big concern is that I don't remember enough of the right details to tell an effective tale. I should've kept better notes, but I was busy surviving, you know? @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
I hear you. I have an advantage in that writing was part of how I coped.
DeleteAs you know I've been reading books about travellers recently. I think wrapping your insightful memories into your walks might help... something on the trail kicks off an incident that is worth recounting from school, or whatever... You'll figure it out. And I'll read it... and we'll go round in a loop for a while.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I am thinking on those lines--connections between my feelings and my travels. If I write it, I imagine you'll read it more than once!
DeleteI like the title Walking It Off. You should write it. As to still being alive and writing memoirs - that is the point. A memoir is not an autobiography. The most successful memoirs are thematic - they are about a certain aspect of the author's life, and that aspect/period might already be over by the time the author writes about it. I think you qualify 100%.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouraging words. I'm not sure in my case there's an easy line to draw for when I'm "done" with grieving (and I hope none for being done walking, either), but it does feel like a point is arriving when it will feel like something to talk about in the past.
DeleteWalking it Off - great title. I implore everyone, writer or not, to write their biography. So many shy away from that suggestion. They believe their lives are not interesting. However, once one begins to put their thoughts and memories on paper, they will almost always discover their journey was/is far from simple. And, for those who are 'walking it off' discover an opportunity to release 'stuff.' I've been through counselling. Homework was assigned - write everything down. Best therapy ever. Furthermore, in a hundred years, the descendants will hold the golden manuscript in the realm of sacred. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteGood points there--I know I am excited by any written record my ancestors left. I think we shy from memoir because it feels a little egotistical--even more than any of our writing, I mean :D
DeleteGreat title! It's nice to meet another Oregon writer. :) Memoirs seem hard to me, mostly because I don't like to share a lot about myself. But then I do love to read them. You've got a great start!
ReplyDeleteThanks. No false flags here though--I'm a Washington writer. I'd driven down for the festival last Sunday as NIWA is a largely Portland-based organization.
DeleteI love the title. And Memoirs seem so difficult, from writing it well with voice to dealing with the feelings as you write. Good luck with your journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteGreat title! It sounds like you have a lot of projects going, which I think is great! Thanks for co-hosting - and waving hello from the Peninsula in Washington state! :)
ReplyDeleteHey, love your side of the water! I have a lot of stuff bubbling in my brain; the challenge is getting it to happen.
DeleteSounds like you're doing the right thing, saving up all those notes for your memoir. Keep doing that, and when the time is right, you'll know. Thanks for co-hosting!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I figure. Thanks for dropping by!
DeleteI'm interested in helping to publicize the launch of Edited Out. Good luck on your memoir, and thanks for co-hosting this month!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'll send you info once I'm ready.
DeleteThanks for co-hosting this month!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you there with 'all that fiction to write.' Good thing about memoirs is you don't have to just write one. It can end and begin at any phase of your life.
Good luck on your memoir!
Thanks!
DeleteYay! A new Seffi book! You have my email address, send me whatever you need me to share (on my blog, Instagram, etc.) and I'll schedule it.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day Seven Things for the Seventh Month
Thanks! I'll send you stuff when I have it ready.
DeleteThanks to you and the others for co-hosting this month! I don't write memoir, but I can imagine how concluding on can be difficult. A person hasn't lived out their whole life yet and so that makes writing an ending for one a challenge. At least for me, writing endings for fiction are difficult enough!
ReplyDeleteIt is harder to see stopping places in one's own life, I think. And since even in a novel knowing where and how the ending goes is challenging, it will be hard. Knowing where to start is a little easier in my case.
DeleteMemoire! Yay. Go for it. You've had a lot experiences to share. As to your Aug 4 launch. I'd be glad to put something up on Notes or my Substack for you.
ReplyDeletehttps://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com/
Thanks!
DeleteWith titles like "Walking it off" and "Edited Out" I see only success in your future! Apps you might find helpful (though I don't think you need any,) with writing your memoir are Storyworth.com, Squibler or even Grammarly. It's like having a personal cheerleader!
ReplyDeleteP.S, Speaking of cheerleaders, thank you for co-hosting this month!
DeleteWishing you much success with your upcoming release and your memoir. Thanks for co-hosting.
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com