[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here

Happy IWSG Day!

The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner!

Thank you to you, and thank you to the wonderful IWSG hosts who are spreading the writing love this month.

Where to Start

I hadn’t realized how much time had passed since I last posted any updates on my writing or myself. Wow! Almost three whole months! 

I’ve missed it. 

So here I am. The question of the month this month asks: If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?

As an Indy author of two short stories, I’ve had limited input on cover design, I love the ones the publishers came up with to support the themes and tie the stories together. 

I am a graphic designer by day. I do create magazine cover art and also a variety of print media designs. And I also do use all of the fancy Adobe graphic software. I could see myself getting into cover art. I love photography. I know quite a few great ones. Images are what drive my brain. It’s how I work. I think I could potentially be good at it someday.

So maybe in the future? We can always hope and dream.

Writing Question for You

I do have a question for you. Does anyone know any great resources for writing different emotions in a highly emotional scene? I’d love to hear your thoughts as you go through the gamut of situations, internalization, and finally reaction with the multiple characters who are often so different.

Thank you!

Happy IWSG everyone! Keep writing and don’t stop! Even it takes more than a month, a year, maybe even 5? Oh my.

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here

Happy IWSG Day!

Thank you to the IWSG hosts for the month of August: Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton!

Thank you to you, and thank you to the wonderful IWSG hosts who are spreading the writing love this month.

Where to Start

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to take an entire month, disappear into some sort of great meditative place, and commit myself to my thoughts, my stories, and let my fingers fly with letters, words and paragraphs.

Could I do it? Could you do it? Disappear for an entire month? Unplug? I’m not really sure. I’m afraid the Post COVID sprint has hit me and I find myself hustling blindly through each day, hoping I come out at the end with my arms and legs and body all intact. And my eyes? They make me dizzy some days, focusing on all of the fast-flying objects I pass along the way. 

This month’s post is geared to the National Novel Writing Month, this month. The question is, “Have you ever participated? If not, why?”

No, sadly, I’ve never participated. Maybe one day when the kids are off at college and graduated with their own lives, I’ll be able to focus on a solid month of writing. Fingers crossed.

Writing Update

It’s been difficult to finish the end of my manuscript. I’m so close. It’s outlined. I can taste the end, and I’m hoping I’ll get there by Christmas. We’ll see. My Freshman and Middle School kids are wildly busy. Dance. Marching Band. Taekwondo. Grades. They’re doing it all, and they’re doing it so well I want to be a part of it all.

Happy IWSG everyone! Keep writing and don’t stop! Even it takes more than a month, a year, maybe even 5? Oh my.

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here

Thank you to our awesome co-hosts this month: Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox!

Check out our IWSG homepage for recent news and events.  And as always, thank you to founder Alex J. Cavaugh 🙂 

It’s Natural to relate to what we understand. But what I love about life as I age, is the discovery of different paths and being drawn in and feeling something real for something or someone very unlike me.

This month’s IWSG question asks,  “What do you consider the best character of your favorite genre?”

I love the difficult ones. The withdrawn ones with such a deep internal story, they have to crack and dive into truths we tend to escape from. Next, I love a character with a fantastic supporting character.  I love the constant push of one against the other, and yet they refuse to give up on each other. This is life to me. The lessons. The constant mistakes and learning. The refusal to give up. The hand that doesn’t permanently let go.

One of my go-to favorites is Mackenzie Bishop, a shell of a character with the deepest story told so well by Victoria Schwab. Mac has a past she can’t escape with an impossible present. But when Wes, her supporting character crosses paths with her in a dark hallway apartment at night as she’s escaping, her details draw me in and I’m glued. I can’t relate, but the story is told in such a way I FEEL.

What about you? What favorite character comes to mind? Are they like you? Are they different? Do they have an incredible best friend?

Happy IWSG Day.

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here

Happy IWSG Day!

Thank you to the IWSG hosts for the month of August: Tara Tyler, Lisa Buie Collard, Loni Townsend, and Lee Lowery!

Thank you to you, and thank you to the wonderful IWSG hosts who are spreading the writing love this month.

Do You Create For You?

I don’t take what I do personally. Not anymore. I design at work. I’m a graphic artist. Logos. Print publications. Whole event planning with decorations based on design. I often get a few bits of information from invested leaders and then I’m asked to run with it. I’ve learned in time to create multiple ideas based on what people plan to use, to attend, to read. One idea never seems to come together the way I need and want it to. Do what part of my work stems from me, and what stems from others?

This month’s IWSG Question asks: When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?

Some of my design work is for me, but long ago, I let go of personal attachments to my art. Someone is always tweaking something, doesn’t like one font, or maybe they do. Men and women clients do not see the end product with the same eyes.

Is writing the same? I think genre matters. I remember brain storming my manuscript years ago. I had multiple ideas I’d been exploring with 500 words or less short stories. Based on what my writing friend said at the time, I went with the idea she thought sounded most interesting. So I’ve poured my heart into my story ever since, based on something I thought would appeal to a larger audience, and not what I thought would appeal mostly to me.

So to answer the question, I guess I do both. Interesting ideas matter so much and as I’ve aged I realize I don’t have time to dig into what I necessarily want. I want to appeal to the audience. I want others to want to read my thoughts and inspired by messages. The thoughts are mine. The pictures I’ve created with my words are mine. There’s no easy answer. But I know the message in my heart and if I don’t appeal to the audience, they may never get the message at all.

How about you? How do you come up with your ideas to write? Ever created a story based on what someone asked you to write?

I’d love to hear it.

So what about you? What jars you into focus? What helps you get back into a scene when you have to step away for a bit?

Writing Updates

The summer has been a sprint. I’ve been traveling for two weeks on two separate trips with only 44 minutes of sleep between the two. I made it! I even managed so make some fantastic edits on a creepy suspense scene and my editor loved it!

Happy IWSG Day. May the rest of the month bring your exactly the inspiration that you need.