#IWSG:
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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Remember, the question is optional.
August 5 question - As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process?
Oh, boy. What do I regret from my decades of writing life? For one thing, I regret that I spent a lot of years not writing because I thought I had to have big chunks of time to make it work. I kind of did, because in waiting for those chunks of time, I let stuff sit so long that it took a long time to get back up to speed. If I'd known in my 20s and 30s what I do now about writing whenever and wherever I can, I'd have written a lot more books. Which might or might not be a good thing.
I also wish I'd known as much about certain aspects of writing when I was working on The Ninja Librarian and Death By Ice Cream as I know now. They're good books--but they could be better. (This ties into the IWSG topic from a while back about if we'd ever re-edit our work. At least, I think it was an IWSG question. My answer is, if my well ever runs dry, I'll do it).
Writing Update:
I seem to have solved my problems with the new MS, and am now working on polish. I'll need to put a bit more work into the new parts, but am feeling pretty confident about hitting my totally arbitrary November publishing goal, despite the fact that I'll be away from home at least 50% of the time between now and then.
I also managed this month to update bios and "also by" pages on all my paperbacks, though I'm still working on the ebooks. The paperbacks got priority because I needed to order a bunch more--live sales at events have been going well!
Short Story Submissions:
1 submission
1 rejection (actually in June, but forgot to note it last month)
How about you? What are your successes, your failures, or your regrets?
©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026
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The not starting earlier seems to be a popular response this month. Regrets, we all have a few.
ReplyDeleteAnd I actually regretted my first book so much I went back and completely re-wrote it years ago. Unfortunately nobody noticed, but I still feel better about it. :-/
There you go!
DeleteYes, starting to write earlier is something many of us regret. It's awesome that you solved your problem in your current manuscript.
ReplyDeleteIt's not pretty yet, but the shape is there :)
DeleteA lot of us didn't start writing until later in life and that's all right.
ReplyDeleteI think the regret is because I was always writing--occasionally--and always wanted to be doing more, but thought I couldn't. I was cutting myself off from a real pleasure.
DeleteI started late too. I think it would be fun to go back and edit old work.
ReplyDeleteFun, and maybe squirm-making.
DeleteHola, Rebecca! It's so good to "see" you again. I've missed you. I have a similar regret. In my case, though I started early, I wish I'd devoted more time to it consistently when I was younger. I wish you all the success with your work in progress and your story submissions!
ReplyDeleteI've been here :) I, too, wish I had done more real work when I was younger. Maybe not publishing books, but writing and re-writing. Submissions were kind of expensive back then, in the snail-mail days (and I was seriously broke through my 20s).
DeleteI've read too many authors who say they never look at their old books after publication. It's probably a good practice, eh? But I can't do it.
ReplyDeleteI do and don't want to look back. I'm forgetting the details, which feels weird! Even the current series in progress has been going for 4 years or some such, and the first book is a little fuzzy in my mind.
DeleteLike you, I've been tempted to revisit earlier stories armed with more experience and what I feel are improved writing skills. I haven't ruled that out 100%, but part of me keeps warning me off.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it would be a good project if I ever feel stymied for something new to write.
DeleteI started fairly early, but I jumped into it without really knowing much about the publishing industry or even the craft of writing. I've learned a lot, but I wish I had known more when I first started.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet... we learn by doing stuff. It would be impossible to be a newby who knows it all (it would also be insufferable).
DeleteHappy editing and travels, Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteRe-editing my old work? A scary thought. I would probably cut my old novels in half now.
ReplyDeleteLOL. It might be a good exercise, but not necessarily fun!
DeleteI began writing early enough, I guess. But I didn't always follow through (publishing). I just never anticipated how swiftly the sand would come to pass through the hourglass.
ReplyDeleteI started early, but like you I didn't follow through to truly finished works and publication until I was...not young.
DeleteI always thought the fact that I never had much time (either due to work, kids, or both) was a drawback, but I don't think it was, necessarily. It's good to learn to squeeze writing in when you can. But I'm so glad you did find the time to get to it.
ReplyDeleteYes--if you figure it out. My mistake was not using the time I had, because I was yearning for a sort of time I didn't have.
DeleteThat's wonderful live events are going so well. There are SO few opportunities for those where I live. And I miss them as they are so much fun.
ReplyDeleteJoining the Author Events Network was the key move. Most festivals are too expensive to mount a booth by oneself. Unfortunately, this is a local group, so unless you are in Seattle or Portland, it's not an option.
DeleteThe figuring it all out part of writing takes awhile. Most of us go through it. I'm happy if I can sit for twenty uninterrupted minutes to write and I don't even have little kids to blame that on anymore. I'm just that distractable. LOL But if I can find 20 minutes three times a day, my word count is on fire.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about distractability!
DeleteOof, I have updating the back matter on my books on my to-do list, too, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. Good luck with all that and happy submitting!
ReplyDeleteIronically, the ebooks are more of a PITA, partly because I have more links and stuff in them, and partly because there are more steps from my MS to the one that's publishable.
DeleteI'm so happy for you that live sales are going so well!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm reaching many more readers this way than on line. The exciting thing will be when someone comes back the next year, or at another event, and says they need the next book :)
DeleteWell done on updating all your essential information, Rebecca. It takes a while, I know. I find that I need to tweek my bio a little bit every time I sub a story.
ReplyDeleteThere have been some huge life changes since my early books/bios, some of which mean the old bio makes me squirm. Of at least as great importance, I've changed my website, which was what really sparked the project.
DeleteThanks for stopping by my blog. So glad things are going well with your manuscript and live sales. Time continues to be a challenge for me, but like you say, I write when I can.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are writing, even if you have to steal time to do it!
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