Challenge - Insecure Writer's Support Group for January 2014 #IWSG

This is my tenth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!" 

This is my post for Insecure Writer's Support Group for January 2014. The topic I chose for this one 

is "challenge."

Yesterday, I posted a list of challenges I will be joining I want to make some of those achievements be personal ones. I will be taking submissions for a variety of anthologies throughout the year, but I want to do some major revisions on my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel and get it ready for publication. I am planning on completing the writing for my three non-fiction books, and I also intend to finish writing AND revising my most recent chapter book.

So this year is all about challenging myself to complete these tasks, as well as the more formal challenges I have joined, and alongside creating new anthologies.

Wish me luck!

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Finish - Insecure Writers Support Group for December 2013 #IWSG

This is my ninth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!" 

This is my post for Insecure Writer's Support Group for December 2013. The topic I chose for this one 

is "finish."

You may be wondering why I chose to write about the word "finish." It's because I have finished. I finished editing the stories and creating the anthology "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales" in August and early September. I finished editing the stories and creating the anthology "Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit from Around the World" in mid-November. I finished editing the stories and creating the anthology "SuperHERo Tales: A Collection of Female Superhero Stories" in late November. I even finished editing the stories and illustrations for and creating the anthology "The Talisman Chronicles: A Collection of Stories Written and Illustrated by Children," both the color version and the black and white version.

All of these things were very time-consuming. And every single one of these projects, now that they are finished, give me an amazing feeling to hold in my hand. I love creating, whether it is for me or for someone else. And I have accomplished so many things by FINISHING the things I set out to do.

I've learned that I am skilled at editing and formatting, and I can even manage some artistic work.

I've also learned that I have some amazingly talented friends and fellow writers who none of these projects would have happened without.

And I am going to finish even more projects in 2014.

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Moving Forward - Insecure Writer's Support Group for July 2013 #IWSG

This is my sixth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!"

Moving Forward

No matter how often I try to be "good" and not let my fears take over, I still suffer from self-doubt on a regular basis, especially as it pertains to my writing. I am trying to behave in such a way as to suggest that it doesn't have an effect on me, but I don't always succeed.

I've been sharing more of my short stories and flash fiction writing on my blog. I don't get many comments on my blog posts, no matter what the topic is, but the few comments I get on my stories that compliment my stories make me feel better, if only for a short while, about my writing.

I think I am what might be called a "lazy writer." I love writing my stories, and I feel great when I have finished a longer novel. But the hard part, the nitty-gritty work that is involved in editing and revising, that part I put off, leaving my novels to languish forever in obscurity, never to be read by others. Naturally, I can't possibly share my novels with my critique groups or beta readers or even an editor until I have at least made a first pass-through at perfecting the writing.

I'm really good at proofreading. I can catch spelling errors, typos, grammatical errors and punctuation errors EASILY. But going through a piece of writing and making it go from writing that tells a story to writing that sucks you into another world and hangs on to you until you have emotion roiling through you and you never want to leave, THAT is something I need to work on. And I will not be happy with my novels until they can do that to a reader.

But, as a writer, I have to move forward. If I leave my writing as is, then it never changes. My writing will never raise from the level it is at unless I am willing to work at it and let it grow. So, to move forward with my writing and with my goals this year, I am determined to make ONE of the many novels I have written SHINE. And I will get it past the first edits and send it off to a professional in order to help it get to the shiny stage.

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For those of you who don't know, the Chapter Book Challenge has a fairy tale anthology coming out, hopefully by August first, in both print and Kindle format. The title and cover are still being worked on,  but you can head on over the ChaBooCha to find out more about it.

The Creating a Female Superhero Challenge came up with 27 female superheroes for the anthology and 23 entries for the contest. The winner of the contest will be announced on August 7th, along with the charity that won the vote for the proceeds to go toward. The stories are all from 500 to 1,000 words long, and have varying lengths for each of the "about" sections for each superheroine. I think it is going to be a pretty decent little anthology. (I am open to new submissions for the anthology before its creation is complete, because it is for charity, so more stories can only be a good thing.)

I also am in the process of creating a story for the Crock of Charms project, which is a short story project where everyone will be writing interconnecting stories suitable for young children through teenagers. They have a new project out, for adults, called Keepsakes, that I am currently looking into. (I like challenging myself by writing short stories. It helps hone my writing.)

I love hearing from you, so let me know in the comments what you have been up to and what your plans and goals are through this year.

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What's Stopping You From Achieving Your Dreams As a Writer? #IWSG

This is my fifth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!"

My husband has recently asked me when I'm going to start submitting my book to agents and publishers. Or when I am going to self-publish it. I think he was just trying to subtly point out to me that at some point, I have to let go of my insecurity enough to start sharing my stories. I don't have a problem with sharing my short stories or my flash fiction pieces. I get nervous about my novels though.

And because of this, I keep putting off the editing and revising of these novels. Then, when people offer to critique, I can truthfully tell them that it's "not ready yet." But at the rate I am going, using procrastination and self-doubt as excuses, I will never get my books published.

I read a lot. And because of this, I have read some really great books, which make me feel like my writing is inadequate (i.e. How will I ever write this well?) and some really awful books. I've also read some books that have potential, but are clearly written by amateurs, people who published too soon, before their books were really ready. When I read these, I wonder if my books are any better. (i.e. What if this is as good my stories get? What if I let others read my stories and they think the same way about my books as I think about these books?)

But if I keep using excuses, if I keep letting laziness (procrastination) and fear keep me from pushing onward with my books, I will NEVER get them published, and getting my books published, having books that people read and love, is my dream. I have fought to achieve a dream before that others thought was impossible (losing 145+ lbs), and I succeeded. so why should I put any less effort and drive and dedication into pursuing this dream?

The answer is I shouldn't. I should be just as dedicated, work just as hard and go after this dream just as much as I went after that other dream. And you should too.

What is it that you are letting keep you from your dream? Is it worth it?



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Procrastination - Insecure Writer's Support Group post for March #IWSG

This is my fourth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!"

Procrastination. It is the bane of my writing life. And it's entirely my fault that it is. I think fear plays a little bit into the reasons for why I procrastinate - fear that I won't be good enough when all is said and done, that my writing will be lacking. But truthfully, I think plain laziness also takes part in why I procrastinate. I love writing, and when I am on a roll, I will write a lot. But once the writing is done, I would much rather start a new writing project than go through the mind-numbingly boring task of editing my story and making it as perfect as is possible.

So, at this rate, I will have about twenty novels written by the end of the year and zero that are worth publishing. Not very good numbers to be looking at.

My husband and I were discussing this fact last night. He asked me, "Where exactly do you want to be five years from now? Do you want to be a published writer? Do you want to be teaching writing? What is it that you want?" To be honest, I want to do both, five years from now. But that means I have to start taking my writing seriously, again. I thought I was taking it seriously when I started writing in earnest a couple of years ago. And I was taking it more seriously. But to be really serious about this as my career, then I need to put forth the effort to make sure that the words I am writing will someday be seen and will be worth being seen. And that means I have to spend time perfecting my words, making the stories I write become more than just interesting; they have to sparkle.

On another topic, there is still time to sign up for the Chapter Book Challenge if you think that spending the month of March writing an early reader, chapter book, middle grade book or YA book might be the thing for you. It's a really informal challenge, but if you sign up for it, you are automatically entered in the Kindle giveaway. And there is a great line up of guest posts from published authors and agents and many prizes being given away throughout the month. There are just two days left to comment on the guest post from Angela Ackerman in order to be entered to win a copy of her co-authored book "The Emotion Thesaurus" (as long as you are also signed up for the challenge). You can also get some great ChaBooCha web badges for your blog or website. There's a ChaBooCha Facebook page, a ChaBooCha Facebook group and a ChaBooCha Twitter page, and we post about the challenge using the hashtag #ChaBooCha. We have over 80 people signed up for the challenge so far.

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Insecure Writer's Support Group Post #IWSG - January 2013 - The Evil Inner Voice

This is my second monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG 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!"

I am a bundle of insecurities when it comes to my writing. In yesterday's post, I wrote that "believe" is my word for the year and that I am going to believe in myself. Well, that belief is still a work in process.

It seems like every time I read some really great writing by someone else, that nasty little inner voice pipes up in my head, saying things like, "You'll never write as cleverly as he does," and "Your writing will never grip people the way that her writing does." I have told myself over and over that the nasty little voice in my head LIES, but sometimes, I still let that voice get to me.

I'm working on it though. I am editing my manuscripts and getting them ready for publication, and hopefully, when I start sending them out to my critique partners, I will find out that my manuscripts are not as bad as I fear.



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