IWSG: Regrets in my Writing Career

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

Welcome to mine!

Thank you for co-hosting January's posting: Erika Beebe, Olga Godim, Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken!

The question of the month is: What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?

My career has been all over the place. When I first started out, I was full of eagerness and enthusiasm. I participated in book signings, writer's conferences, Q & A panels, critique groups. 

Despite my involvement, I faced so many obstacles. The further I trod, the more resistance I faced: from my connections to the publisher I was with (it had cut so many corners that I lost confidence in their way of doing business). I was so discouraged that I hired a copyright attorney to end my contracts with said publisher and took a year-long break.

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?

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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.