#IWSG - BIAW & Me

It's that time again. The 1st Wednesday of the month is Insecure Writers Support Group, the brainchild Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

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!

Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts: Jennifer Hawes, Jen Chandler, Nick Wilford, Juneta Key, JH Moncrieff, Diane Burton, and MJ Fifield!

Have you heard of BIAW (Book in a Week)? It’s a challenge like NaNo, only a week long instead of a whole month. The main premise of this challenge (offered by the Kiss of Death RWA online chapter four times a year) is “to get a solid storyline down, a good rough draft of your beginning, middle and ending, and an in-depth idea of your main characters, so by the end of the week you'll have ‘a novel idea’ you can flesh-out and build upon.” It runs for seven days, Monday through Sunday. No word count goals, except what you set for yourself.

In October, I participated and wrote over 8k words. My goal this time was 10k. I wrote over 11,000 words from November 28^th through December 4^th. This was exactly what I needed to give me a good kick in the pants to finish the PI mystery I’ve been dogging around on most of the year. I didn’t do all the advance prep that they suggest since I had a good chunk of the story already written.

I’m not sure why I’ve had such difficulties with this story. It might be because I’m normally a pantser, and I’d figured out the whole story before writing. I knew what would happen in scenes. I knew most of the characters well. Just like a good plotter (even if I didn’t write everything down). Perhaps that was the problem. I’d already “told” the story. There were very few surprises.

Whatever the cause, as you can see off to the right, I’m nearly finished with The Case of the Meddling Mama. Thanks to BIAW.

December 7 Question: In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?

What a great question. I’ve planned one year ahead but not five before—although if you treat writing as your business, which I do, you should have a five-year plan. I plan to get one of my books into the Top 100 on Amazon. How? Another good question and the hardest. Active marketing (paid and free) and, most importantly, by writing stronger books.

As you see above, I have the privilege of being one of the co-hosts this month. I’m looking forward to getting around to seeing those on my list, as well as everyone I can get to.

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.