IWSG: Writing during the Pandemic

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IWSG: a place where writers and friends share woes or hugs.

Welcome to mine!

From what I know about writers, we are natural introverts, obeying those voices in our heads. I mean, what would a writer rather do? Writing is an isolated experience when it comes right down to it. Writers, though preferring to be lost in the worlds they create, are also human. Right?

I do wonder, however, how we, as writers, are really faring during this COVID19 Pandemic and its social distancing.  

My home life hasn't changed much as I've been homeschooling for the past 6 years, but has only reinforced our hermitlike state.

More like Writer's Dream House. Haha...

I do miss going to the library and writing without distraction and being surrounded by books! I also miss going to the theatres so much! I can only imagine how it is for Alex Cavanaugh with them being closed and how he'd go to the latest to review them. The agony!

             

I hear how it's impacting people but am curious about how it's affecting writers. I read in my comments from my last post that now isn't a great time for authors to release books. Things change drastically when it affects home directly--I pray for the health of my friends out there. 

How has it impacted your writing? What about overall?

IWSG: Welcome to Chrys Fey's Blog Hop!

click on image to join other IWSG writers!

IWSG: a place where writers and friends share woes or hugs.

Welcome to mine!

Welcome to Crys Fey's Blog Hop at WriteWithFey!  Today, we are combining with IWSG and sharing our story about writer's block, depression, and/or burnout and how we overcame it or what we are currently doing to heal.

Here we goooo!



Since the beginning of this summer, my creative flow has waned significantly! First, I had barely found the desire to edit an already completed novel but the further into the story I got, the less interested I became. I switched to writing a short story: I came up with the outline from beginning to end and started the first chapter with full power but then my juice dropped off the precipice of doom! Next, I decided to illustrate a children's book for my little boy because I've refused to go to the library because of COVID19 so I figured I could write up a library for my little one and get him interested in reading again! But then my desire to do that stopped. I tried creating memes (which I enjoy doing) but even that fell flat!

It was so disheartening that I cried and went to pray over it. I felt peaceful during the prayer and the thought to fake it til I make it and I will succeed came to me. I decided that just because I don't feel like doing it doesn't mean I should obey that notion. I can work past it.

I know this may sound pretty simple but it sure gave me courage to move past the horrible funk.

Keep Writing with Fey Blog Hop: Share your story about writer's block, depression, and/or burnout and how you overcame it or what you are currently doing to heal.

Catch the sparks you need to conquer writer’s block, depression, and burnout!

When Chrys Fey shared her story about depression and burnout, it struck a chord with other writers. That put into perspective for her how desperate writers are to hear they aren’t alone. Many creative types experience these challenges, battling to recover. Let Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer's Block, Depression, and Burnout guide you through:

·        Writer's block

·        Depression

·        Writer's burnout

·        What a writer doesn’t need to succeed

·        Finding creativity boosts

With these sparks, you can begin your journey of rediscovering your creativity and get back to what you love - writing.

BOOK LINKS:

Amazon / Nook / iTunes / Kobo

Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips on how to reverse writer’s burnout. https://www.chrysfey.com/

How have you found yourself again after writer's block or depression?

The Blog Hop:

IWSG: My Book Cover Designing Experience!

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IWSG: a place where writers and friends share woes or hugs.

Welcome to mine!

Today, I'm sharing an adventure of book cover making--sorry, it's not a tutorial but a rough outline. After a painful learning curve with using an art program (it took me about a solid week of over 8 hours a day to learn it!), a lot of authorly graphic making stuff has become so easy for me!

My favorite art program to use is Medibang Paint Pro. I can cut and paste and duplicate and layer and edit photos.

Meet My Perfect Match: Ryan Greyson, all-star football player, lives a life of parties, kissing, and Friday night games. He believes all girls are made equal until his first blind date with Kimber who’s everything he’s not, and he can’t keep his mind off her. Will he lose his royal status with the team?

First, I decided on the concept art of the cover. Because it's a YA clean romance, I studied Amazon's book covers for that genre and the idea was born: A girl leaning into the boy as though in a kiss.

I next spent many hours searching through football pictures through Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash. I was very picky with the images I needed. I had to get a player all by himself. Like this:

Photo by Football Wife @ Pexels

Next, I needed to find a photo of a woman who faced "Ryan". I cut around her and pasted her onto his photo, but I had to adjust the lighting on her dress so that it matched the daylight of the field. It was no easy feat.

Photo by Allison Heine @ Unsplash

I found a separate photo of those red curls and carefully cut them out and pasted them. I inked in shade after matching the color between the two characters, the grass beneath her feet, and anything along her dress.

I used this template from Amazon for a 6x9 book cover (I was able to download it after setting up my other book, My Christmas Miracle) and placed it as the first layer and started playing around with font styles and lined them up.

I drew in my own flowers--not using any type of font. I can draw my own flowers, thank you!

My Perfect Match is book 3 of My Perfect Kiss Series--it's all still a work in progress. I'm not sure what prompted me to try doing the book covers out of order. Artist prerogative?

What cool stuff have you learned as an author?

What are Writing Secrets?

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IWSG: a place where writers and friends share woes or hugs.

Welcome to mine!

June 3 question - Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?

What? Secrets? Every writer has them? Where have I been!? lol

Photo by Beckett Ruiz @ Unsplash.com

Okay, seriously, my secret is that I used to feel so left out of the loop of writerhood, I'd get frustrated at how other writers refused to share their "secrets" with me.

Secrets as in how did they learn how to format an ebook and a print book? How did they get marketing to work for them? Why didn't they ever let me join their critique circles? Why was I always so left out?

One day after that, I had a friend tell me that books are consumable--there is no such thing as really getting ahead of anywriter else. I agreed and yet, I was stuck in this loop where others refused to help.

Photo by  Christian Wiediger @ Unsplash.com

Fast forward 8 years and it seems as though everyone has realized the wisdom of the philosophy that books are consumable items and we all need each other!

I learned how to format a print and electronic book, there are writing communities now who are actually willing to share painful experiences as well as the mechanics of problems that arise (such as losing reviews on an existing book when all you want to do is update the cringy story text on Amazon).

Photo by Stergo @ Pixabay.com

My "writing secret" is that I don't have any; I'm the kind of person who loves to share growing pains with others so that they won't have to suffer. The key is, getting them to actually talk to me--people are too busy being busy.

I know this is probably not what IWSG meant by writerly secrets but there you go.

What are your writing secrets?

When Dreams Fall Apart

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IWSG: a place where writers and friends share woes or hugs.

Welcome to mine!

Sometimes the path we have set changes so suddenly, we lose ourselves especially when it shatters our dreams. A perfectly-not-so-perfect world is thrown off its axis and it becomes difficult to hang onto.

Without saying too much, something in my life has changed so drastically that I've lost my will to write, to create! I've been living in survival mode to the point that almost everything has lost its pleasure. I think of writing as something glorious I once enjoyed and yearn for those days of old (it was only earlier this year that I'd written something, so 2 months without writing is a lot for me).

Today, I decided to read a few children's stories to my 7 year old that I'd written several years ago and am feeling some small stirrings awaken.

Writing has always been a part of me--through thick and thin. It's my source of escapism, my place of sanity. Knowing this brings peace because I've always come back to it.

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash.com

I find the best way to awaken my desire to get back into writing is by reading a few of my works for the fun of it. I will start there. I hope to bring it back to life.

Photo by Johen Redman on Unsplash.com

As for the rest of me, I will be good to myself and appreciate the little things in life that have always brought a smile.


How do you get back to your writing after facing a crisis?