#IWSG: Fall

Happy Insecure Writers Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild of 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. 

Thanks to this month's awesome hosts:  Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!

October shouts Fall loud and clear. It’s my favorite time of year. Crisp days and cool nights, and sometimes fog “creeping in on cat’s feet” – as Carl Sandberg reminds us. And it’s my birthday.

This summer was beastly hot, a rarity to last so long in Michigan. It felt more like winter since I mostly stayed inside our air-conditioner house and ran from the air-conditioner car into air-conditioned stores. I didn’t “feel” like writing. Why did we ever subscribe to Netflix? Binge watch! Consequently, my WIP is still in progress. I wrote so little from May through August I’m ashamed to admit the number of words. In September, I wrote over 3500 words, and the story is finally rolling.

October 2 question - It's been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don't enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?

I can't imagine not reading. As I wrote last month, I not only binge-watch television, I binge read. It's an escape and a way to keep myself informed in the genres in which I write. For those of us who write science fiction (with or without romance), we need to know the tropes common to our genre plus commonly used terminology. I'm not saying copy other authors, but who wants to come up with a new phrase to describe how a spaceship gets from one part of the galaxy to another? Warp drive, FTL (faster than light) engines, a wormhole. Who needs another term?

Not everyone can make time to read. With only 24 hours in each day, a writer can only squeeze in a day job (aka one that makes money), family, hobbies, volunteering, and writing. What little time is left over is earmarked relaxation. I'm fortunate that I'm retired from the day job. Plus I read before bed. Some nights I read a page or two and have to catch the iPad before it hits the floor. Other nights, I'm so engaged in the story that I'm still reading at 2 am. 

Besides reading in my own genres, I belong to a local readers' group. The host for the month's meeting chooses a book from a list the library has on loan for book groups. Not often, the host chooses a book not on the list. (I've been fortunate that they've read a few of my own books.) The books are usually best-sellers, biographies, nonfiction. Rarely are they books I would've chosen to read. That's the great thing about the book group--reading outside my comfort zone.

Reading is essential to good writing. We learn by example.

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.