IWSG: What Writing Does for Me

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

Welcome to mine!

Thank you, IWSG co-hosts: PJ Colando, Diane Burton, Louise – Fundy Blue, Natalie Aguirre, and Jacqui Murray!

December 1 question – In your writing, what stresses you the most? What delights you?

Before I say a thing, I need to apologize! A big oops on my part! Here I thought that December 8th was the first Wednesday of December. 

My, has the time slipped by me so unnoticed!

To answer the question, it is keeping up with my psyche: I can whip them novels out so fast, but they sit and sit and sit while collecting, waiting for publication. I'm faster at writing than I am at anything else. I wish I had a crew behind me who could edit and format and market all of my books!

Photo by Jasmin Egger @ Unsplash.com

Then there's real-life happening to me and it's not easy! I'm dealing with putting together Humpty Dumpty. It has been a journey of frustration and tears but the rewards of healing have been miraculous and so very beautiful.

So I keep writing more because it's cathartic!

Then there is the satisfaction in editing. It gives me the chance to revisit my beloved stories. Formatting is an art. It's aesthetic. Then there's creating the book cover! Wow. There's another art form.

Photo by Stoica Ionela @ Unsplash.com

Marketing has slipped me!

I was really good at it several years ago before I took a sabbatical and it went all downhill from there.

So I find myself at the start with a fresh page begging to have a new story written.

What do you find most stressful about writing? What joys does it bring you?

IWSG: Wrestling with Hooks and Blurbs

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

Welcome to mine!

Thank you for cohosting November's IWSG:

Kim Lajevardi, Victoria Marie Lees, Joylene Nowell Butler, Erika Beebe, and Lee Lowery!

The question of the month is: What’s harder, coming up with my book title or with the blurb?

photo by Anne Nygård@Unsplash.com

So this month’s question for IWSG is a very interesting one, the blurb or the title? They are both hooks! If you decide to subtitle each chapter, those are hooks. The last sentence of each chapter should be hooks as well as the very first sentence of the book! Oh, and the book cover is a hook in case that thought hasn’t crossed.

#IWSG: What if?

click on image to join other IWSG writers!

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

Welcome to mine!

Photo by Jill Wellington @ Pexels.com

The other day, Facebook went down. It was such a sharp relief that it took me by surprise. Do I really feel that way about this particular social media platform?

The reason I created an account was for my authorial purposes. Many times in the past I’ve wondered, hesitated, about deleting my account because of the toxicity that people tend to exude from the silly “unfriending” over a petty topic to darker themes that make me squirm. I understand that wherever one finds people, there will always be goblins in caves, trolls under bridges, and Orcs in LotR, but ... Facebook?

IWSG: My Pandemic Challenges

click on image to join other IWSG writers!

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

Welcome to mine!

August 4 question is about a favorite craft book, but it's been years since I've picked one up, so I'll need to go with my own this month!

Thank you, co-hosts!

PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox!

It doesn't help how the pandemic has turned this world topsy-turvy, nor does it help how conflicts have sapped my creativity in real life, either.

The story I submitted for the IWSG Anthology Contest, Dark Matter was my last before hitting a rut. All I've been doing is going down the list of books I've already written and editing them since my creative flow has suffered so much.

IWSG: Would I Quit Writing?

click on image to join other IWSG writers!

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

Welcome to mine!

July 7 question - What would make you quit writing?

Thanks for cohosting us this month! Pat Garcia, Victoria Marie Lees, and Louise – Fundy Blue

Okay, this is a very interesting topic. Who is coming up with these questions? Is Alex picking them out of a jar or something?

I notice whenever an author is violated, like Stephenie Meyer when her Midnight Sun draft was stolen and, if I remember correctly, posted all over the internet by one of her critique partners, she fell out of touch with writing. It took her a great while.

photo by Isabella Mariana @ Pexels.com

I've heard of other authors, after their work is stolen, fall out of touch with their writing as well.

This is emotional rape! How can anyone feel whole enough to continue with the same "innocency" and power and motivation before the violation? I believe this would be the ONLY thing that would make me stop writing. At least for a while.

photo by Gabriel @Unsplash.com

I grew up with it. It's been my tourniquet, my healing, my escapism, my breath of life so to speak. I grew up in an abusive home and endured more during my marriage, so writing has always been my healing power.

If I was violated like poor Meyers was, I would definitely take a step back for a while to heal, but like her, I would step back up and continue.

photo by Luis Dalvan @Pexels.com

Writing is in my BLOOD!!!

How would you emotionally deal with someone stealing your work?