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Showing posts with the label IWSG

IWSG and Cozy Mystery Review with Author Interview

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This is a big post, so fasten your seat belts!  First: This is IWSG day, so I have a short post to report out on NaNoWriMo.       Why? The IWSG is here to share and encourage, to offer a place for authors to admit their insecurities and offer help and support to each other. How? The official IWSG posting day is the first Wednesday of every month. Hop around the list and see who has worries, triumphs, and news to share.  Every month we have an optional question to spark discussion.  Our motto:  Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the December 6 posting of the IWSG are C. Lee McKenzie, JQ Rose, Jennifer Lane, and Jacqui Murray! Every month, we announce an optional question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. December 6 question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do yo

IWSG and Flaming Crimes Blog Fest

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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! Be sure to link to the IWSG page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! If it links to Google+, be sure your blog is listed there. Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back. Let’s rock the neurotic writing

IWSG:

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This month's question: How do you know your story is ready? This is a great question for me just now, since I'm in the final stages of editing, revising, re-editing, and cover design for my next book, the 3rd Ninja Librarian book (see below...). Whether you are an author-publisher or have gone the traditional route, this is a question you have to address somewhere along the line. Whether the question is "is it ready to publish?" or "is it ready to send to agents?" you get to edit and revise and second-guess yourself more or less endlessly (having an editor and a contract might be helpful here, since someone will be telling you to finish it already). So how do you know when it's done? I have no idea how you know when your book is done. For me, it's a gradual process and a fuzzy decision. I gather my feedback, do everything I can, get a little more feedback...and when I reach the point that I really don't think I can make it any better, I give it t

IWSG: Making time to write

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The IWSG question this month is "How do you find time in your busy day to write?" This one hits me where I'm vulnerable. Let me be clear: I'm not vulnerable because my days are so jam-packed I can't make time. I feel guilty when I see this question precisely because my days are NOT. Unlike many of my fellow writers, I don't hold down a full-time job (though I do hold a few part-time jobs, I still have more free time than most people). My kids are now pretty much grown. The oldest is out of the house, the younger is in his last year of high school. I'm fresh out of excuses. And still, I often seem to run out of time before I get to my writing (witness Monday: I didn't intentionally not post because it was Labor Day. I didn't post because I failed to prepare a post, and by the time I realized it, I was too tired to care). I'm forced to conclude that no matter how much time you do or don't have at your disposal, you have to consciously pick a

IWSG: Marketing

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The purpose of the IWSG: 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! Click on the badge above to see the IWSG home page and the linky list. So...What am I fretting over this month? I have plenty to choose from for my anxiety-of-the-month. I'm still revising book three of the Ninja Librarian series, though I'd ha d hopes t hat I'd have it ready for beta-readers by the end of A pril. It's going to take at least anot her week . And I still don't have a title I like, nor any idea what the cover should look like. Not good. Then there's the whole marketing thing, or building a platform, or just being visible out there. I had great hopes of making myself known and loved far and wide with extensive visiting during the A to Z Challenge (in which I didn't participate except as a

IWSG: Got the Revise-My-Novel, Looks-Like-Work Blues

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It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means time for the IWSG! The purpose of the IWSG: 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! Fear of Revisions Okay, that header is a lie. I'm not afraid of revisions. I'm just lazy. There. I said it. I'm at that point where I am taking the big globby gloppy mess that is my first draft, looking at it with a cold and detached eye, and considering what must be done to make it right. I got spoiled with my last two books. Those were not only pretty well planned, but things went right with the plan, and the first draft really wasn't too bad. This time, the plan was weak and the execution spotty, and now I'm looking at a lot of work. Work that maybe no one but me cares if I get done, some part of my mind tries to tell me. I'm s

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Book Launch Jitters

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The purpose of the IWSG: 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! Publication Jitters I brought out another book last month. That's always a perfect time to be insecure, since it then starts accumulating reviews and sales and...wait, that's not very many sales. And really, no one has reviewed it yet. Oh, no! What's wrong??! See where I'm going here? Whatever happens after launch day, an author has the option of freaking out. A note from someone who found a typo or a bout of second-guessing your ending as you start on the next book can cause you (by which I mean "me") to assume that your career is over. What's more, everyone's going to know you're a fraud, and your big brother will laugh at you. Wait. I think my author nerves have merged with the ones I deve

IWSG: 2015 round-up

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It's the first Wednesday of the month (and of the year), and that means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Purpose of the IWSG: 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! Looking Back at 2015 It's a new year, and time to contemplate the year just past. Happily, I have this blog to help me remember what all went on in my writing life, because it does seem like a long year. There was a lot that went on in my personal life: my eldest son graduated from high school and went off to college (three states away); my younger son traveled to Mongolia with the Experiment in International Living (and if your kid wants to do some travel, I can recommend the organization; the trip did wonderful things for him); my husband turned 60 and started making concrete plans for retireme