#IWSG: A Great Month

It's that time again. The 1st Wednesday of the month is Insecure Writers Support Group, the brainchild Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts:   Beverly Stowe McClure, Megan Morgan, Viola Fury, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Angela Wooldridge, and Susan Gourley!

Don't forget to check out the guidelines for this year's IWSG Anthology Contest!

September was a terrific month. I was more productive those 30 days than most of 2016. And it felt wonderful. As I wrote last time, I released MISSION TO NEW EARTH on August 31^st. To promote it, I planned a blog tour. I wrote articles, visited 22 blogs, and met great people (some of whom are here in ISWG). A huge thank you to all my hosts and to those who visited.

I didn’t just promote a published book. I wrote over 11k words on my WIP. That felt really good. It’s like I got a second wind after completing MISSION. Last week, I participated in Kiss of Death RWA’s Book in a Week. While I didn't actually write a 75,000 word story, having to report in each night made me want to write instead of following social media or playing computer games. I was embarrassed the two days I had to write 0 words. Still, over 8k words in 5 days felt great.

Returning to physical therapy for my back might have given me that extra bit of mental energy. Or maybe it was a conscious effort to finish the 3^rd book in my Alex O’Hara PI mystery series. I still have a long way to go on this story (51k). For much of this year, I waffled between three WIPs. Because I couldn’t decide, I didn’t get down to work. I’d find all kinds of ways to procrastinate.

Making the decision to finish the one closest to the end made me buckle down. Completing MISSION brought the other two to the fore. Which to choose? The one that’s farthest along.

Finish, move on. That’s my motto these days. Quit waffling, write.

This month’s question: how do you know your story is ready? It’s a feeling in my gut. Deadlines help. I’m more a pantser than a plotter, but I do know how the story will end. When I get there, I revise, edit, proof. Repeat. Let go. That last is the hardest. I can always find something to add, something to change, a typo, a better word. 

Letting go is like putting your kindergartener on the school bus. Hard to do. But a must.

Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.