IWSG: September

 

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group. 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. We are rockin' the neurotic writing world.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!

Why is it when you're late, delays seem so much bigger (or worse)? My internet keeps going out. And, of course, I'm late getting my post up. Never mind I could've done it yesterday or last week. Just call me The Procrastinator. 

I've missed posting too often this summer. Depression got hold of me and wouldn't let up. I'm working on that, taking my meds, etc. So, I apologize to everyone who went to my blogsite and saw the same of post.

September 4 question - Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

One that gets me as a reader is missing commas. I know it's a style thing. (Not sure what else to call it) I'm frustrated as I'm reading and have to reread a sentence that doesn't make sense because a comma is missing. Petty irritation. But one thing I've been taught as a writer is don't make the reader stop and go back. They lose the train of thought, find it irritating, and sometimes give up. Sure don't want that.

I'm very interested in reading how the rest of you answer this month's question.

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. 

#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.

#IWSG: Doubts

It's the first Wednesday and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, whose mission is 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! IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts:  Yolanda Renee, Tyrean Martinson, Madeline Mora-Summonte , LK Hill, Rachna Chhabria, and JA Scott! 

DOUBTS

At one time or another in this crazy industry we’re involved in, we have doubts about our abilities. Is our writing crap? Will anyone like it? Will an editor buy it? What will reviewers say? No matter how many works we have published, we know it’s a crapshoot getting an editor or an agent who will take a chance on us and our work.

This year I have been full of doubts, stagnation, procrastination. I get ramped up and something happens to drag me down. Sometimes it’s family, mostly it’s me. I have all these marketing plans, thanks to generous writer friends who’ve shared what works for them. I’ll see an opportunity then think about all the work it will take. Do I want to leave the story I’m writing on to follow up? Or should I keep writing?

I’m in the final editing/revising phase of a novella that’s taken me three years to write. Three years? I can hardly believe that. Since when do I take so long to write a short novel? I can crank out a 95k novel in no time but can’t finish a 20k novella? What’s wrong with me?

Looking for that kick in the pants again.

I’ll be without internet service until Friday or Saturday. I’ll try to get to everyone. I so enjoy your blog posts. Best wishes to everyone.

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.

Back to Work

After two weeks of vacation from school, many mothers are so happy that today has finally arrived. Considering the weather we had yesterday—snow and sleet—it’s a wonder school is actually in session.

Although the new year started last Thursday, I consider it beginning today. After all, we had to

recover from the rush-rush-rush of getting ready for the holidays, grabbing after-Christmas sales, returning those gifts that didn’t fit/weren’t right/didn’t work, and celebrating New Year’s Eve—which for those of us of a certain age meant staying up way past our bedtime. LOL

Now it's time to buckle down and return to work. For those of us lucky enough to write full time, “work” means getting back to that manuscript we stepped away from a couple of weeks ago. To avoid extra stress, I stepped away more than a couple of weeks. I love the holidays—putting up the tree, decorating the house (sort of), celebrating with family and friends. What I don’t like is cleaning the house for company. What I really wanted for Christmas was a housekeeper. How did the Brady Bunch afford a live-in housekeeper like Alice (Ann B. Davis)? Well, Santa didn’t deliver.

I have three stories in progress and it’s difficult to decide which one to return to. Do I choose the one I “write” in my head each night as I fall asleep? Rissa’s story in the Outer Rim series. Or the novella I should have finished in time for the holidays? Christmas in Space, an expanded short story. Or do I tweak the second Alex O’Hara novel? The one I wrote first before deciding that I needed to write about what came before.

Decisions, decisions. When faced with a dilemma such as this, I procrastinate. I have too many things on the home front that I didn’t finish in 2014. The tree and decorations need to be put away. Filing papers that have stacked up while I was busy doing something else. Organizing everything for taxes. A movie sounds good.

When faced with so many choices, how do you decide what to do first?

Deadlines

Do you work well under the pressure of a deadline? I do. If I have all the time in the world, I put things off. (Just ask my husband. I drive him crazy.) When I have a deadline—even a self-imposed one—I do so much better and accomplish so much more.

Some people are very organized. They plan ahead, parse out what needs to be done when and seem very relaxed when the deadline arrives. Like my sister who packs a whole week before leaving on vacation. Me? I’m still washing the clothes I want to take the night before leaving. Or how about the hostess who has the table set before the guests arrive—even family. I’m working on that. When we had several family members over to celebrate my husband’s birthday, I didn’t wait for my four-year-old granddaughter to “help Nana” set the table—maybe because we were using my good china. Not really. I had decided I wanted to enjoy the company instead of doing tasks that could be done ahead of time. That was so not my normal routine.

My daughter puts me to shame with how organized she is. Once we were talking about an invitation to a wedding and she said she always puts the respond card in the mail the day after it comes. Holy cow! I’m usually trying to find the card right before it’s due. That got me thinking about how I deal with mail. Organizers say to touch a piece of mail once—toss it, pay it, file it. Yeah, right. I am getting better about tossing junk mail. Deciding between what’s junk and what needs to be paid is the easy part. It's the "I might want to do something with” mail that's the hard part. Of course, I’d rather “junk” the bills, too, but credit card and utility companies frown on that.

I try. I’m trying harder to be organized. But I think I’m missing a relay in my brain. You know, the one that triggers an immediate reaction to a task. On second thought, I do have a reaction. My brain says “you’ve got plenty of time, you don’t need to get started yet.” Then, I always underestimate the amount of time a task will take. If I’m supposed to leave at a certain time, I try to do one too many things before then race around at the last minute.

Now here’s the weird thing. I procrastinate terribly in my personal life only. It’s different with my work. At every job I had, I could see what needed to be done, worked up a schedule and completed the task ahead of time. I do the same with my writing. Instead of my boss telling when a task needs completion, I set my own deadlines. When you self-publish, you don’t have an editor (or agent) setting deadlines for you. Posting this blog each Monday is a self-imposed task which (so far) I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m amazed at how much I can accomplish when I have a deadline. Now, if I could only parlay this into my everyday life.

How about you? Are you organized or a procrastinator?