Second Time This Week!

Hallo fine peoples! And welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

Is everybody holding up on this back to school stuff? Three out of four cities I've lived in have been college towns and I solidly hold to liking those towns better when the majority of the students are absent. Traffic chaos, cluttered sidewalks. How is a girl to read while walking with all these people about?

Okay, and to the question of the month.... What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?

Far be it for me to be traditional, but honestly, I've tried both. And I am NOT a great self promoter (which I know you need for both, BUT, for self publishing you need to cover a lot more bases yourself). The book placement is HUGE. Getting it into book stores. There is also the editing process. Collaborating with a publisher is helpful. After my brief run (a trilogy) at self publishing I have determined I am just not cut out for it. I AM however, debating smaller publishers over the two tiered agent process. Maybe it's just because my luck with agents has been rather grim. Though they DO know the publishers and who might want a particular book... So not fully decided. I have 3 books I've thought were ready for a couple years, but the agent process breaks me down every time... I do a round or two and lose heart.

So enough about me... now go visit some OTHER Insecure Writers!

Hallo, fine peoples! I remembered!

It's first Wednesday and time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! But first some newses.... On Saturday I am flying to Oregon for some time with my childhood friends. I haven't had a girlfriend vacation in ages and I am so excited. Not to mention I miss Oregon like crazy.

Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia

So now for this month's question... What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid on their publication journey?

Don't rush.

It is so exciting to get that first book done, but that first book is NOT going to look good ten years from now if you don't slow down, get lots of feedback, go through the hoops of either querying a publisher or paying an editor... I know my first 5 books will never see the light of day unless they get total overhauls. I loved those stories, but I had to find my voice and my grounding. I'm glad self publishing wasn't really a thing yet at that point. Or they might be out there.

Take your time to learn the craft and get a feel for the industry. It's okay. It's not a race.

Okay, so that is my wisdom for the day and month... Now you should go visit some other insecure writers!

What's Harder? Erm...

Nobody dive in the gutter. I am double entendreing but neither is sexual at this point in my blog (early days, yet, I know)...

For some context: Welcome to Insecure Writer's Support Group and First Wednesday! So this is what I will get to first. THEN I will talk eating plan (I'm on day 24 gang!) *cough*

As for the writing... say it with me... WHAT WRITING!?

*now for the tears* So many tears.

But I can still answer QUESTIONS about writing, can't I? That's legit. I mean I haven't totally forgotten. I've just lost my discipline. So let's do that.

June's question: What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

Totally character names. Easy peasy.

Know WHY?

VOLUME. 

I only have to hit one title I'm happy with for a whole book and I actually have sort of a knack for it. But you know what? EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER wants their own darn name! Man, what a tedious exercise. I mean I usually do fine with my first 3 or 4, but then I begin to realize they all start with M, or some such nonsense. I need to get clever and have my names mean something. That would help. Or complicate things. One or the other.

These beauties make everything right

Now for the FMD Portion of this blog.

Know what is harder? All the parts that don't allow any fat. Phase I and II are BOTH hard, then I get to Friday and get to add healthy fat (avocado, nuts, olive oil) and suddenly life is smooth sailing. There are hard things about the supposed “soothing days” (soothing, my butt—I may be allowed carbs, but HELLO, no fat! Sooth Schmooth. It's not). And the protein heavy days... GADS! Five times a day and every single time is meat (and vegetables, sure, whatever) but that is a LOT of meat. Add to that the complication that the only meat I eat is turkey and fish. So the hard part is all the no fat part.

Know the irony? Those three days I get to add the fats back in are the weight loss ones. I'm not breaking any land speed records but averaging just over 2 pounds a week--always lost in those last 3 days when I add the fats back in (about 8 pounds so far and I have 4 days left).

I plan to MOSTLY continue, but the lack of fat on those 4 days is making my joints hurt, so I am adding in cooking amounts of olive oil on those two days and allowing myself the occasional social splurge or I will derail. I know myself, and I can do the no splurges for the 4 weeks (though I did have a couple splurges, but not bad), but to go on I need to make some allowances.

The Insecurity March

Hallo fine peoples! It’s first Wednesday! Wait, whut? Where did February go? Though to be honest I’m glad it’s over. February is when winter really drags and once March arrives I feel a little more hopeful.

Gratuitous cat in drag

So welcome to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group meeting!

This month's question...

How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal/ finish a story?

Gads, I wish I remembered! I guess I must have been doing it wrong though. Because if I was doing it right, it would have reinforced me to do it more often and it also would be epic enough that I would remember.

I think my trouble is my first drafts are dirty, so it ISN'T the end. I still have at least 9 rounds of editing ahead. And even then I don't know if it's done. I mean it may not be good enough for any publisher or agent and then where are we? In front of more editing, that's where.

But when something is accepted for publication--THAT is big. THAT is a party.

I gotta question for you. If you had NO RESTRAINTS (time or money), how would you LIKE to celebrate this? I think I'd do a trip. A different country for each book....

Okay, now go visit some other insecure people!

Insecure Writer’s Support Group meeting!

Insecure Much?

Hallo fine people, and welcome to first Wednesday and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. This blog is officially a re-first... what do I mean by that? The first second blog within a week in many many moons.

But enough about that. Welcome to the support group and welcome to writing life 2018, which will hopefully be a significant improvement on writing life 2017 or writing life 2016. Because here is the thing. I haven't finished a new book since 2015.

Yeah. If that isn't something to feel insecure about, I'm not sure what is. I have some 20 finished books under my belt, but somehow things unraveled for me in 2015 and I haven't been able to find it again.

Somehow. I actually know how. My worklife threw me a giant turd and I spent the next 18 months trying to find my place again so I wouldn't end up fire. This left me a big pile of emotional goo when I got home and my several attempts to get going again went amiss.

The good news: I have found that spot so my nerves are no longer shot and my creativity has peeked in on me now and then. In November, while I didn't “win” or finish a book, I DID write 43,000 words. Better than an ordinary month, if not WriMo speed.

I also made a deal with a neighbor, though I need to check in with her again, to hold each other accountable in the new year.

But BEST... as I slept in yesterday (my last day off of 12 days) a good plot unfolded. When I got up I wrote a timeline and thought through some characters and actually started writing.

My intention is to put in at least an hour five days a week. I may have some more intense periods, but that feels sustainable to me. I'm not worrying at this point about publishing and how it fits with my other stuff, as I haven't had much luck selling my other stuff. It is just time to remind myself I love to write and that if I stick to it, I can finish.

What about the rest of you? How are you feeling on writing in the new year?

And please, go check in on some other insecure writers!

The Blank Page

Hallo fine peoples! Welcome to First Wednesday, otherwise known as the Insecure Writer Support Group!

So here's the deal I haven't finished a novel for two years, as of this WriMo. Well, 23 months, as that WriMo was my last success... only I didn't finish it, so... yeah. I had great plans for this year, but I haven't done the prep work I really need. Still, I am going to rebel... write words to the tune of 50K, but write them finishing things. Or starting things. Or... just writing. I just need to get back to writing. The discipline of sitting down every day. It is overdue.

And of course the timely question for this November monthly meeting: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

Yes. Usually. The history for me is a good one. Though I should give the caveat that I usually finish the FIRST DRAFT. Getting a work ready for submission is another matter entirely. But I “won” 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and I think all but two of those got “finished”. Only two however, got polished.

At the moment however, I just need to get back to the habit. I need to write words.

How about you? Do you WriMo? How often do you succeed?

Now go visit other insecure people and be supportive!!!

First Wednesday Once Again

And still no rhythm...

Oh, my friends, what to do.

Oh, right... proper intro. Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group and our meeting first Wednesday of every month!

I did manage to get started on a timeline... it is a story I've meant to write for a very long time but had not felt up to it. My family story... or rather my grandfather's. It is a sad tale, riddled with tragedies, but it is also one for which I want to shed light. There is a villain who needs exposing. So I am putting together the timeline of what I know and overlaying a timeline of national, international and local history, along with what I can about personalities. So that's not nothing.

And now for this month's question...

Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose?

Rocky Point on Lake Chatcolet

Hmmm...  I guess all of them have a bit... I am not good at making it all up, so there are scraps of personality in there. I've also included a physical trait now and then. Cam and Annie in my cozy series both have the uncolor hair I have (that shade between blonde, brown and red that actually has no name)--they have bonded over the fact--it is how they became friends. Kenny and Amanda are tall like I am. Sometimes I include a relationship that I have, but when I do this, these are the shortcuts--the details that the story is NOT about, but provide a sort of grounding. OH!  Also Appearing takes place at a lake cabin exactly where my parents' lake cabin was... There is that... So I guess I do. But hopefully not too heavily.

How about all of you?

Do Gods Get Insecure?

Hallo fine peoples!!! Welcome to Insecure Writer's First Wednesday... gratuitous that it falls on a Wednesday... because I have a new obsessions. Lemme esplain... No. Is too much. Lemme sum up.

The series I've been most excited about since Game of Thrones has started...

Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

This is a stellar cast, a stellar director, Gaiman himself is involved in productions. And it is BEAUTIFUL! So what is there to be insecure about?

Well see... to survive, Gods, like writers, need believers. If they don't they start to fade. And when that happens sometimes they can get a little desperate...

I'm feeling like right now my god-level relevance is about Hermes. I'd much rather be Dionysus. Or Athena. Wine or wisdom. I'll take em. Instead I'm a messenger with popularity issues.

Which God are you?


Oh, yeah, right... and the question for the month... What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story?

The one I had most fun with was probably the Roanoke Ghost stories. I tried to trickle then in backdrop for my cozy mystery series. Sadly, I only got to do three books, so they thread didn't go as far as I wanted.


Okay, now go see some other insecure people!

Some people are mentioning finding American Gods. As I understand it, it is Starz in the US and Amazon Prime in other countries. I believe Amazon Prime in the US can also do Starz as an add-on (so you don't need full cable pricing?)

Ode to A to Z and First Wednesday

I love A to Z, but some self honesty has led me to admit that while I BLOGGED A to Z the last few years, it really has been a few since I adequately participated enough to ask anyone to visit me, which was missing the spirit of the thing, so I opted out this month. This means this is probably my only post for April, since I know most people will be way too swamped with A to Z for any other distractions. But in the spirit of support, I have attempted to write y'all an ode...

Ample alliteration amplifies atmosphere
but barbarous boasting brings banality.
Clacking cacophony causes chaos and
Desired doses of description delight deities.
Exclude exaggeration except when excited.
Frank facts flounder in fiction, while
genres generally give grins.
Hyperbole hastens heart hammering and
Iambic idiom is intriguing.
Just jotting jargon jinxes the job but
Kindergarten keynotes keep kangaroos and koalas kosher (but don't eat them)
Lilting lyrics lure languorous llamas, but
Many metaphors make mockery of manuscripts.
Nobody needs non-specific nouns.
Onomatopoeia outrages ostriches and orangutans while
people perfecting pace and lot pursue paradise.
Quaint queries question quality but
Rabid reading reinforces radiance and
Singing sentence structure satisfies.
Tragedy and thrilling tales turn pages.
Unless unlikable urchins undermine everything.
Vigorous verbs are vibrant and vary
Whenever writing wins wonder we
X-ude x-actly x-cellent x-amples.
You yearn for yonder yarn
Zen.

And for the question of the month... have I taken advantage of A to Z? I have. And my first few years when I worked really hard to get around, it was absolutely effective in meeting new people who I continued to interact with. But as I mentioned, the real benefit (and the karma of it) comes not from the daily blogging, but from the commitment to get to lots of people. Which I somehow seem to not have time for anymore. (My day job has gotten less flexible and my nights have filled with other obligations—I am not even writing as much as I'd like).

But I hope all of YOU are having a wonderful time with it. Now go meet some other A to Zers or Insecure writers!

Rework WHAT? And some MADNESS!!!

Hallo, fine peoples!!! I can't believe we are already here. But I guess there are only 28 days in February...

So two things are happening today. One I can take care of quickly, so let's do it.

March Madness is HERE and I have a plan. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough * I am going to finish Summer of Bones this month (I have about 70 pages, so need about 200-250 more). And I need to be efficient because I have a week mid month that I am traveling for work. I don't write well away from home and I have also never been to New Orleans PLUS my husband is going with me, so non-conference time will be sight-seeing time. If you want to join March Madness, check my last post.


But YOU are probably all here because it Insecure Writer's Support Group First Wednesday. And this month's question is this: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

And my answer, broadly, is... sort of.

I have a plan for my very first that I have never undertaken. But I have taken books back up that have sat for years... but they sat with me KNOWING I was coming back to them—that they needed serious revision. I write fast intentionally. I can take a tangent like you wouldn't believe, and writing fast keeps those to a minimum. But writing fast (for me anyway) means serious revisions. I skip sections if they aren't coming with just notes as to what broadly has to happen. It leaves wiggle room.

So there are THOSE kind of revisions. (not just those... my draft # typically runs about 10 before I consider a book done). But there are also things like changing PoV—third to first. And there are big plot adds that change a lot. Those things don't happen too often, but HAVE happened.

What about you? Have you pulled out something really old and reworked it?

Insecure First Wednesday Anallat

Hallo fine peoples! Welcome to Insecure Writer's First Wednesday, and one month into the re-boot, known as the New Year.

So it's been a month of chaos... I did that old writing thing for a while. My buddy Tina-Sue and I holding each other accountable... but it all sort of fell to heck when the world did. So once again, back to it...

But as for this month's Insecure Post... the question is:

How has being a writer changed your experience as a reader?

The answer, at risk of sounding like a major moron, is bigly. Oops. Was than political? Sorry.

I still walk and read. That hasn't changed.

But to be honest, for a while it sort of ruined it for me. It used to be that I just loved a good story. It didn't matter if they broke writing rules, or hit a couple cliches, or pulled a deus ex machina. I was okay starting the story in a dream, or looking in a mirror. I actually liked adverbs. So for a while after learning the writing rule it was really disappointing to read all these bad books.

But you know what? They aren't actually all bad. The rule abiding writer sort notices, but if other readers don't then the book is FINE.

And then I sort of got into a perverse cycle of loving bad books because they taught me what not to do. I'm over that. Though I still advocate doing it for a while. Just not long enough to pick up any bad habits.

And for more than a year of learning to write mysteries I read only mysteries, and then learning to write YA I read only YA. Anymore I try to mix it up a bit. And I try to separate from the rules. But I am definitely a more critical reader than I used to be. I read a lot of fantasy because I don't write ANY fantasy. I'm more a puzzlemaster than a world maker. It allows me that domain to figure “fantasy just does that”. I want so badly to have reading as escapism still available to me, and that is where I've found it.

What about the rest of you? Has it made reading better? Worse? Just different? No different?

Go check out the other Insecure Writers!

My Favorite (Writing) Thing

Hallo fine peoples! Another month gone already? Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group's Monthly meeting! If you don't know what this is about, it is a LARGE group of writers dedicated to a bit of support for this process that we all do differently, yet all seem to experience many of the same things—most significantly, insecurity.

This month the question is: What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

And let me tell you...

There is so much I love about writing. But really my FAVORITE thing is when I have a couple strands of story and a place I need to get to and I get this big swoopy moment of genius where the idea comes that will pull it all together. It doesn't happen OFTEN. Not even every book. Sometimes it happens in the planning. Or the writing. Or even the editing. But it is like this fireball to the gut—a good time—like a roller coaster almost—where this enormous weight lifts and this airy feeling of genius settles, however fleetingly.

It can't be forced, but I can give you a couple ways it might be triggered.

First: The problem needs to be sufficiently complicated or you are just not going to feel that clever solving it.

Or you could get one of these...

Second: Being naked helps. The shower is a good place for this, though it can strain memory to remember it until you are dry enough to write it down. Or likewise (also naked) that early morning not quite awake, but conscious time. (if you sleep in clothes this is never going to happen because you are too busy wrestling the strangling bindy pajama monsters that are trying to choke you)

If you can't be naked then this combo: Busy body, quiet mind. Like a swim or power walk with no music and minimal human interaction—something where your body is GOING but you don't really have to think too much.

So there. What is YOUR favorite aspect of writing?
And who is NaNo-ing?

Now go see what some of the others have to say...

Have You Got The Time?

Hallo, fine peoples! And Welcome to Insecure Writer's Support Groups first Wednesday meeting...

This month the question is How do you make time in your busy schedule for writing?

And you know what? I'm not sure. So let me tell you a story about what WORKED initially—the FIRST time I made time. I was so clever...

See, as my kids reached middle school, first one, then the other, fired me from their nighttime routine. More specifically, they were more interested in reading on their own than together. The first time it hit was right about the time I started writing fan fiction (the end of 2005). I took a bath each night, and began taking a notebook... but suddenly I had an extra 45 minutes for my bath in the fall of 2006... And three years later it happened again... I'll tell you what. Ninety minutes you never had before is a GENEROUS amount of time to write in when it has no other earmarks as to what it is for...

Sadly, a couple years ago I had the steam knocked out of me... I tried to do too much and got tired... and had a few letdowns and felt disheartened. I took up a few TV shows I love. And I decided I needed to read more... and I do more puzzles in the bath... and my writing time has been gobbled away. I write some, but I need to pick that time again to write DAILY. Because this is NOT working.

So sorry I have lost the answer... Maybe you should go read what some OTHER people are doing to find a better solution!!!


Also... The Memory of Things is out... This beautiful book was written by my good friend Gae Polisner. It is set in the immediate aftermath of the twin towers falling and has totally rave reviews from very impressive people. Gae's books are literary YA--the sort that make it into classrooms for thoughtful discussion. I received mine yesterday, so if you need me, I'll be reading.

Delinquent Blurbs and Interviewed Elsewhere

Hallo fine peoples!!!!

So I was meant to post the last two story teases from Parallels: Felix Was Here on Friday and I lost my mind. So today I will share THOSE, but I ALSO am being interviewed today on Yolanda Renee's blog. So if you want a bit of the “behind the story” for The Seventeen, you can go over THERE and see it.

By the way... I read ALL these stories this weekend, and I was fabulously impressed. It is a really fun set.

Meanwhile HERE, the last two stories introduced are from Tamara Narayan and my own.


Scrying the Plane: A teen experiences thrills and chills in a virtual reality internet.

Are you 21 or older? Care to experience the internet through a virtual reality interface? See Twitter birds flock, hop in a Minecraft trolley, or don the “skin” of your favorite celebrity. Come, sit. Drink your Sleep-Ease and lie back. Don’t worry about the scalpel.  Just a few small cuts to access your temple chip and in go the leads. Hardly any bleeding at all! So hook in, hook up, and go wild. What could go wrong?  

From doling out popcorn to moviegoers to flinging smelt to penguins, Tamara Narayan's taken the “road less traveled”. Her career path veered off into a land of integrals and other strange things while she taught college level math, but these days she’s cruising the fiction highway. 



And LAST....

The Seventeen: In a world of unregulated drug trials, sometimes the side-effects are viral.

Cecily Daiker is keeper of the Seventeen--the survivors Pharmagna houses after a decade of drug trials which were unregulated, subjects unprotected and un-cared-for.

Until Cecily.

But now a drug is being proposed to undo the wrongs of past drugs, Within limits, of course. And Cecily is assigned to oversee the trial. What nobody says is that the newly tested drug may have unanticipated consequences. Not just for the Seventeen, but for everybody. And it is Cecily's job to contain the danger.
 

Hart Johnson is a social scientist by day, and plots murder and the apocalypse when the sun goes down. She has published a flu conspiracy trilogy (A Shot in the Light) and a cozy mystery series under the name Alyse Carlson. She has hopes to eventually support herself writing or take over the world, whichever works out first. In the meantime, you can find her at the links below:



For the rest of this week I am going to be largely offline. I am traveling for work, but I will see you all next week!

Nose to the Grindstone

Hallo fine people!!! Welcome to First Wednesday and the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Don't forget to go visit other insecure writers today, too!

So anybody know what makes up motivation? I am going to go out on a limb and say a lot of it is momentum (or inertia). But if the inertia is dragging you down, what do you do to get going again?

I'm hoping March Madness can pull me out of it. So far so good. (after one day, but whatever). Maybe it helps that work is forcing my hand right now, too. I have a meeting next week and am helping a student prepare her poster, so I have had to be focused and work hard and at a very steady rate... so keeping going when I get home is working out okay. At least so far.


So what do I have to accomplish this month?

I want to query Medium Wrong which requires me to finish entering edits (should happen today), write a synopsis and query, select agents and publishers, and send them...

I want to PLOT a cozy mystery. And then, when I get through some reading I have to do (a beta read, a copy edit and a library book) I want to edit Kahlotus Disposal Site.

So that is a polish/query, a proofing, a plotting and an editing this month. LOTS to do, but a much more scattered list than I've ever begun March Madness with. Normally I write or finish a book... still, when I finish the month hopefully I will have TWO ready to fly out the door that have been in my files for way too long.


What about all of you? Any tricks for getting going again? What motivates you?


[And anyone interested in this March Madness business, can find out more here.]

At Peace with the Process

Well... not YET, but I'm working on it.

Hallo fine peoples!!! Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group Monthly Meeting!!! I encourage you to go see LOTS of insecure writers today (list at the bottom) because we all love hugs. Or most of us do. Some are crabby, but in a funny way, but all of us need love.

So what am I on about?

I have recommitted to my writing process this year after a really darned lousy 2015 (if you are curious, probably half the other posts on the page mention details).

I wonder what the writing equivalent of this is... Totally looks like my style

The really good news is I've found a couple ladies to team up with for a bit of cross-promo... They are smart and extremely talented and I am really looking forward to working with them. But they are much more prolific than I am... much more published... much better marketers... I know they invited me because they see something... I've done really well in a couple contests, so there is some talent there... but I just seem to keep spinning my wheels trying to get some traction...

I have other friends who are all orderly... they talk about their idea, share blurbs writing the book. They send it to their agent who loves the book. It gets subbed to a publisher who loves the book. Then they start a new book. (I'm looking at you Gae Polisner). And it makes me feel like a scatterbrained mess.—and I'm kidding Gae about how easy she makes it look because just this week she was talking about how hard it is to get going on a new story—me, I'd start a story every day. Nothing would make me happier than to spend my life just starting stories—but I have a feeling this would turn my “support myself with my writing by retirement” dream into a never never-land plan.

And then I ran into Chuck Wendig's blog for the week. And it reminded me of one of my favorite Seussisms...

And I thought, you know... it's okay... I've written seventeen completed first drafts. The fact that only four have gotten polished enough I felt ready to publish says more about my difficulties approaching polishing and querying or the alternative, full-on prep for self pubbing than my writing. And then I also need some work on my marketing skills. None of these things means I can't write. It just makes it harder actually get my stuff OUT THERE. And I really do believe at SOME point I will manage that—sell something that does well, and the demand + my backlog of things that only need a LITTLE MORE work means I will be able to spread my wings and fly... And this is my process.

So Chuck's wisdom seemed the perfect thing to share for all of us feeling insecure. Your process is your process. My process is my process. We can all learn and grow but that doesn't mean pitching our own stuff and accepting that somebody else's process might work better for us. It DEFINITELY doesn't mean anybody should be judging anybody else's process. It just means we all could benefit from reflecting now and then on what is working and what isn't and adjusting accordingly. Not nearly so intimidating that way.

No go visit some other insecure folks!!!


THIS JUST IN!!!! The Seventeen, my entry for the Insecure Writer's Speculative Anthology, was selected for inclusion and it's an EXCELLENT list of fellow writers I'll share this honor with!!! Go check it out!!!

When it Flows...

Hallo, fine friends and WELCOME to the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

You know... I've been in a bit of an identity crisis this year, doubting my abilities and floundering around... While I finished my NaNoWriMo project last year, much of it felt forced. It didn't flow easily and it will need really serious revision to get it where I want it. But FINALLY, I am feeling a story again.

Channels and obstacles, but also beauty and flow

[Did I mention how much I love NaNoWriMo? That excuse for a fresh story thing...]

Do you know how relieved I feel? Part of my fear this last year is somehow I'd “lost it”... not that I believe that is possible, rationally, but I DID lose my groove. And MAN was it rough to find the traction again... In fact I'm not altogether convinced I found it. Maybe it found me.

So my Tartish Words of Wisdom, such as they are today, is be patient with yourself. Don't give up writing. But if you go through a period where it feels hard or everything you produce just isn't quite right... it happens. And you will get back to good stuff again. Just trust and keep swimming.

Now go see some other insecure people!!!

Trying a New Genre

So in case you haven't heard, the Insecure Authors Support Group is putting together an anthology... a contest of sorts. There is more than a month to the deadline and if you want to participate, there is still time. Ten stories will be chosen from those submitted and will go in the anthology. The TOP story will get a badge and the priviledge of naming the book...

The thing is... it's speculative fiction. Which I've never written. I've never thought I had quite the imagination for these alternative worlds sorts of stories. But I just finished an edit and had six weeks until NaNoWri Mo so it's not time to take on a BIG project, so I thought... what the heck? I can write a short(ish) story in 6 weeks... (if I ignore the fact I always say I can't write short stories at all)

And you know what? I'm having a ball. I picked my point(s) in history I wanted changed (one theme, but a series of things had to not happen) and what do you know. It lined itself up nicely with my favorite villain(s).

My point of telling you all this is that I think it can be good for us to push out of our comfort zone. Write something you've never written and even if it isn't any good, you've STILL had a good exercise. I'm hoping my story will be good. Even if it doesn't make it into the anthology, I may try it out in another publication. I only have very few short stories out there, so even THAT is new for me.

Do you try new things now and then? What's the next think you're going to try?

12 Steps for Writers

This is an Insecure Post

[This post is ALSO meant to be lighthearted and fun and in no way diminish the important role the AA 12 Steps play in the lives of many. I have loved ones alive because of them, so no disrespect intended]

1.  We admit we are powerless over the publishing industry. That it was making our lives unmanageable. 

2.  We came to believe a calling greater than publishing could restore us to sanity. 

3.  We made a decision to be true to our inner writer and turn our lives over to the writer we could be. 

4.  We made a fearless searching inventory of the mistakes we were making in both writing and publishing. 

5.   We admitted to our inner writer and our blog rolls the exact nature of our wrongs. 

6.  We were entirely ready to turn our inner writer over to a writing improvement process. 

7.  We humbly asked peers and beta readers to give us honest feedback and where we fell deficient committed to workshops and exercises to improve. 

8.  We made a list of all the idiot things we'd done in futile attempts at publishing and became willing to learn from them. 

9.  We erased evidence from the internet wherever possible and outed ourselves where it wasn't so we could at least claim to know better now. 

10.  We continued to take personal inventory and when we made mistakes, admitted and fixed them. 

11.  We sought through writing words and sentences and stories to improve our inner writer, making a conscious effort to be our best writer self, each day better than the day before. 

12.Having a writerly awakening because of these steps we carried them forth to other writers.

Don't worry about the publishing. Worry about the writing. The rest will come.


So there... a little goofy, but it occurred to me last night that what has been very hardest on my love of writing and has dampened my drive and my work ethic about it is my pursuit of publishing. I mean I want to publish. But I want to love writing more, and I think I write better when I let go a bit of what I think will sell, because apparently I know nothing.

Now go visit some OTHER insecure writers!!!

The Sparkling Edit: An Insecure Post

Welcome to First Wednesday and the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

So I finished a round of edits on Friday. That was good. I'd actually mostly finished a week earlier but had several places marked for expanding, so Friday is when I finished “filling out” those parts. (Yay me!) But with all the books I've read recently, I've felt like I want to now do a round where not just the STORY is what I want, but the words are. I am calling it the sparkling edit.

I am delusional. A friend asked me if I planned to throw glitter at it. It might come to that.

I know I don't write super descriptively, and I've always preferred simple language because while it might not be beautiful, at least it never gets in the way of the story. The language itself can be invisible as the story soaks in. But I'm starting to think it's not enough. I need a bit more “pull the reader in” stuff and some of that just has to be descriptive language. But well done descriptive... evocative and visual, not just describing... Emotions, too... I can't just tell what they are, I need to infuse how it feels.

It doesn't feel natural and it's hard. And I may just abandon it and go back to the last draft. Even in my first two pages trying to think about writing this way has me totally questioning what I have there. I feel like I need to completely rearrange everything. So I am feeling VERY insecure at the moment, but I suppose if we don't try new stuff, hard stuff, stuff that makes us uncomfortable, that we never grow...


Have you conquered any new writing challenges lately?

Don't forget to go visit some other insecure writers!