Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Perhaps because my new book-- A Coastal Corpse-- has been such a challenge to write, rewrite, and revise, I feel like I ought to have something helpful to say about the process. After 10 novels and countless short stories, I have learned something, right? Some days I'm not so sure about that (Maybe this should be an Insecure Writers Support Group post!) In all seriousness, though, I do have a few thoughts on the subject, some of which might be helpful to others. Today I'm going to talk about the radical things that may have to happen after I've finished the first draft and let it sit a while. This is all in 1st person because who knows if any of it applies to anyone but me? What now? I've let my MS rest for however long I need (2 weeks to 6 months?). I've re-read it and made notes. What next? Things can go two ways at this point. I might decide that the basic structure is sound, and move on to the next level of editing (a topic for another day). More commonly I fin

 It's the first Wednesday, and that means time for our monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting--click the image to find the sign-up page and blog list. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.     The awesome co-hosts for the J

It's time for my twice-a-month writer's update (which is sort of roughly kind of every other Wednesday?) Selling books at a local arts fair: On Sunday I had a table at the Phinneywood Art Sale & Stroll. I set my expectations as low as possible, especially since the weather forecast was for rain, thunder-storms, and generally poor conditions for a street fair. I should have had more faith in Seattlites. Not only did they come out in spite of the periodic showers, but they were in a buying mood. Huge thanks to those who bought, especially my first customer who took me up on the bulk price for all 5 Pismawallops PTA mysteries. Made my day. A Coastal Corpse: The first novel in my new "Seffi Wardwell Mysteries" series is getting really close to ready. A combination of inertia and something a bit like superstition has me running way behind on all the things that should be happening as we approach the release of a new novel, from cover art to writing blurbs and beginning

 It's the first Wednesday, and that means time for our monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting--click the image to find the sign-up page and blog list. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for th

It's the first Wednesday of the month--and that means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the May 3 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell

Thanks to an injury to my foot (exact extent of the problem TBD when I see the doctor Thursday), I came home early. Also thanks to that injury, I've been putting in some long hours on the last stages of revision before I send A Coastal Corpse to my beta readers to see how I've done at addressing the issues that sidelined it last year. I'll be sending it out in a few days. If you are willing to read for cohesion, consistency, character, and plot (but not yet polish), let me know and I'll include you. Meanwhile, I wrote 2/3 of a short story while hanging about in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and will get back to that as soon as I get the novel out. I missed the deadline for the original inspiration for the story, but will find other markets when it's ready. I also did a lot of sitting and thinking down there (and a certain amount of just sitting); some of that may come out here and there in my writing as well.   Cloaked Press's Spring into Sci Fi 2023 , contai

I'm traveling again, so I may not be able to visit you right away if you comment. But I will get there. And do drop around and visit the other participants!   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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting--and we owe it all to the amazing Ninja Captain Alex ! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and ha

How goes the battle? First things first:  what's going on with the writing? Sad reality: making major improvements in a manuscript is... hard work. And I'm not always up for that. I'm really trying, though, and still hope to have some real progress before I leave for the desert at the end of the month. I won't promise to have a finished revision, though. Some days it progresses, some days it doesn't. The business of writing: promotions Last week was the Smashwords "Read an ebook week" sale. I put nearly all my books on sale at up to 50% off, and selected three to be free, in addition to the two BookElves anthologies in which I have stories. Here's the result: I gave away 13 books for free. I sold none. Will those 13 free books get me any additional readers? That's the hope, but I have my doubts. How many books are on your ereader, picked up because they were free and it was easy? We do what we can to encourage people to move on to the next boo

    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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting--and we owe it all to the amazing Ninja Captain Alex ! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and JQ Rose!

Okay, not writing as in generating new text, but editing and rewriting, which any writer knows is the real work of writing. Yes, work on the first of the new Seffi Wardwell series has resumed, and I'm diving into what was wrong with my main character and how I can fix that. The woman in my head had definitely not come out on the page, and I had to dive into some hard places to ask myself why not. The answers were complicated, but I think in large part boiled down to me not being ready (when I first drafted it) to deal with some aspects of her backstory.  I think I can handle Seffi's story now, but I have also realized that a lot of it doesn't need to enter into the book at all. Figuring out just what the reader needs to know will be part of my task. I'm also working on moving the narration more into deep POV, something I've been learning about and think would improve the narrative voice. If you are interested in getting a sneak preview--i.e., being a beta reader (po

  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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG   The awesome co-hosts for the January 4 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin! Every month, our wonderf

  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 writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the October 5 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine! Be sure you drop in

This is my "Writer's Wednesday" post, coming a day late to give the final wrap-up on NaNoWriMo. If you've been a "Nanner" this month, please chime in and let me know how it went for you. I set my goal absurdly high at the beginning of the month, matching the reality of an 80K-word standard for novels in my genre. I talked about the project way back in the last IWSG post on Nov. 2.  Tonight I reached the end of my day's writing energy, and then some, at 72,032 words. That's the most I've even done in a month, and I have some thoughts about that, and about life and its relationship to writing. First, I figured out tonight how to adjust my personal goal, so I dropped it down to 70k for a "win." That doesn't actually change the fact that I'm going to spend the next two days in my artist's retreat trying to finish the book. So here are five things I learned this month: 1. Go ahead and set your goals high. Whatever "high&quo

How's it going, NaNers? If you're doing NaNo, drop me a note, and let me know how it's working for you, or find me on the NaNo site as Rebecca Douglass if you want to buddy up. However much or little you're writing, it's all good--and probably more than you would without NaNo. I'll cheer you on if you are a rebel or a rule-follower. I kind of messed up when I set up my project, and set the goal for the entire 80K that it takes to actually make up a novel in my genre (cozy mystery), so it's a bit of a stretch for me to hit the target every day (to say the least). I didn't really mean to do that, since I have every intention of pushing the writing on through December 3, at least--I'm going to be at the Hypatia-in-the-Woods Holly House artist's residency until then. I figure the residency will be a time when I don't have a lot to do besides write, especially if the weather stinks, so I can catch up while I'm there. Meanwhile, though, the wri