The IWSG Purpose: 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 help and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! SIGN UP AND JOIN & FIND OUT MORE HERE!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter is @TheIWSG and hashtag #IWSG.
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.” Authors across time and distance have had many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?
MY ANSWER: I write because I love to read. Reading has been my friend and companion as an only child all my life. I learned to read before I started Kindergarten. I started really writing when I began writing Star Wars online role play and creating story for the RPG.
I write for some of the same reasons I read. I write for fun, escape, and the challenge. I write because I love story and have learned a lot from reading authors. I want to share that same joy, fun, escape, and learning experience with others. It made my life better and took me to fantastical places and taught me about art and gift creativity in the daily living. I want to give and share that with others through my own writing.
IWSG November: Why Write?
IWSG Goodreads Book Club!
WRITERS AND READERS,
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Book Club is for writers to read/learn about the writing craft. We will swap back and forth between craft books and fiction books that demonstrate aspects of storytelling.
We will read one book every two months.
There will be polls, free-gifts, and a lot of Discussion Day fun.
No promo. Just writers reading books and discussing those books with other writers.
Find us here: Facebook,Twitter– hashtag #IWSG,Instagram, and on Goodreads And you can sign up for our monthly newsletter loaded with tips and more here – IWSG Newsletter The newsletter–also lists new books by members, so contact us if you have a new book out.
Writers and authors join us for #IWSGPit on January 20, 2021. It will be here sooner than you think! Polish those pitches and check the #IWSGPit rules. Multiple authors have signed with publishers and agents as a result – it could be you!
The IWSG Purpose: 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 help and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! SIGN UP AND JOIN & FIND OUT MORE HERE!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter is @TheIWSG and hashtag #IWSG.
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
“Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don’t write short stories, novels or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be.”
Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn’t planned on writing in? Or do you choose a form/genre in advance?
MY ANSWER: Yes, my muse handed me a middle-grade story twice fully laid out in beats. It is a genre I don’t read a lot, and have never written in.
IWSG August 5th
IWSG 2020 Anthology Contest Announcement May 6th-September 2nd.
Guidelines and rules: Word count: 4500-6000 Genre: Science Fiction Theme: Dark Matter Submissions accepted: May 6 – September 2, 2020
How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your full contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.
Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Book Club is for writers to read/learn about the writing craft. We will swap back and forth between craft books and fiction books that demonstrate aspects of storytelling.
We will read one book every two months.
There will be polls, free-gifts, and a lot of Discussion Day fun.
No promo. Just writers reading books and discussing those books with other writers.
Journey into the past. Will the third ghost be found before fires take more lives? Can everyone be warned before Pompeii is buried again? What happens if a blizzard traps a family in East Germany? Will the Firebird help Soviet sisters outwit evil during WWII? And sneaking off to see the first aeroplane – what could go wrong? Ten authors explore the past, sending their young protagonists on harrowing adventures. Featuring the talents of Yvonne Ventresca, Katharina Gerlach, Roland Clarke, Sherry Ellis, Rebecca M. Douglass, Bish Denham, Charles Kowalski, Louise MacBeath Barbour, Beth Anderson Schuck, and L.T. Ward. Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales will take readers on a voyage of wonder into history. Get ready for an exciting ride!
Please read the instructions for submission carefully and follow the requirements of the guidelines.
Unfortunately, I am sick again, and so is my Stormdance partner. I am so tired of being sick and feeling so tired and fatigued. I hope February will see us both feeling much better and staying healthy. 🤧🤢
IWSG Description from their Newsletter: A database resource site and support group for writers and authors. Featuring weekly guests and tips, a monthly blogfest gathering, a Facebook group, a book club, and thousands of links – all to benefit writers! #IWSG Website / Facebook Group / Twitter / Book Club
IWSG OPTIONAL QUESTION: Has a single photo or work of art ever inspired a story? What was it and did you finish it?
MY ANSWER: The song “Your Winter” by Sister Hazel
I first heard this song when the movie Ten Things I Hate About You was released in 1999. It was one of the theme songs in the soundtrack.
I created two characters and a whole Star Wars RPG story about their lives. They were major characters in play for the Star War RPG in Yahoo Groups which was a thing before a lot of others. I still repurpose these characters and parts of the stories in things I write today. I did RPG thing from 1999-2005, and then off and on through 2014.
I hear this song and I am right there again and these characters are instantly accessible to my muse. They are like old friends now, maybe even family.
The story was a love story, about family, friends, and connections that make life worth living, a survival story and rebellion against tyranny and oppression in an alternate version of the Star Wars galaxy.
I don’t have anything available with these characters for reader consumption, but this is one of the sidekicks that was also created in that time and part of the story. Also inspired by the pencil photo connected with it on the post, this one, and two to three others. Johnny Depp his Captain Jack character has also figured into the character’s personality somewhat.
Will the third ghost be found before fires take more lives? Can everyone be warned before Pompeii is buried again? What happens if a blizzard traps a family in East Germany? Will the Firebird help Soviet sisters outwit evil during WWII? And sneaking off to see the first aeroplane – what could go wrong?
Ten authors explore the past, sending their young protagonists on harrowing adventures. Featuring the talents of Yvonne Ventresca, Katharina Gerlach, Roland Clarke, Sherry Ellis, Rebecca M. Douglass, Bish Denham, Charles Kowalski, Louise MacBeath Barbour, Beth Anderson Schuck, and L.T. Ward.
Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales will take readers on a voyage of wonder into history. Get ready for an exciting ride!
Available May 5, 2020 $13.95 USA, 6×9 Trade paperback, 168 pages, Freedom Fox Press Juvenile Fiction: Historical (JUV016000) / Action & Adventure (JUV001000) / Fantasy & Magic (JUV037000)
Print ISBN 9781939844729 eBook ISBN 9781939844736 Order through Ingram, Follett Library Resources, or publisher direct $4.99 EBook available in all formats
Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database; articles; monthly blog posting; Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram groups; #IWSGPit, and a newsletter. www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Book Club is for writers to read/learn about the writing craft. We will swap back and forth between craft books and fiction books that demonstrate aspects of storytelling.
We will read one book every two months.
There will be polls, free gifts, and a lot of Discussion Day fun.
No promo. Just writers reading books and discussing those books with other writers.
Start reading date for reading February 1, 2020 End Date March 31, 2020 The discussion is in April 2020.
You get to pick which book you want to read this month. We are discussing them both. You only need to read one book, unless you want to read both. We will discuss them both.
Please read the instructions for submission carefully and follow the requirements of the guidelines.
Publication of Grumpy Old Gods Volume 4 is reset for on or before January 15th. Due to all 3 editors having the flu that hung on for weeks and interrupted our schedule. December was a bust for progress at Stormdance Publications. We all are doing better, although the crap is trying to hang on for me anyway, hopefully, we all will get a lot more done this month.
IWSG Description from their Newsletter: A database resource site and support group for writers and authors. Featuring weekly guests and tips, a monthly blogfest gathering, a Facebook group, a book club, and thousands of links – all to benefit writers! #IWSG Website / Facebook Group / Twitter / Book Club
IWSG OPTIONAL QUESTION: What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just “know” suddenly you wanted to write?
MY ANSWER: What started me on my writing journey? When I really think about it, I guess it started with loving to read and my mother. I could read before I started Kindergarten. I was an only child so books became my friends, my adventure and way to experience things that normally I could not.
My mother took me to the library whenever I wanted, which
was often. She did not restrict my reading the way the school did. The school would not allow you to check books out
of the school library they considered above your grade level. They did not have advanced reading classes in
my early days of school.
I read “Gone with The Wind” by Margret Mitchell at age
seven without a problem. Books played in
my head like movies for as long as I can remember. I read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys before age
seven. I found Victoria Holt in Junior High.
I fell in love with Gothic suspense romance. I then discovered Narnia and Lord of the
Rings.
Off and on from about the
age of nine, I would draft little story scenes in a journal, or diary along
with various thought processes and doodles. I also discovered my friends like
me to make up stories to tell them, so I did, all done verbally, but I wish I
had written them down. I also had some story dreams that I would write down. I still have two dreams I wrote down. I lost a lot of early writing when our home
flooded in 1989.
In 1977 when Star Wars A New Hope was released,
I was turning 14. My mother would buy me any related books which at first were
few, but after the Return of the Jedi, all the books in the Expanded Universe
started appearing. I read most of them every grade level including graphic
comic books and cassette tape audios.
In adulthood around 1999, I started
doing the online Star Wars roleplay fanfiction. I then joined other roleplay groups
such as a LOTR group, a Regency historical romance fan fiction group, and one
about dragons.
I played with the same groups up through
2005. In 2006 I wrote Star Wars fan fiction with a friend from the Star Wars
group until 2015, in fact, we were also roommates for 10 years of that.
In 2011, I decided
I wanted to be a paid author, so started writing and learning more in-depth
about the writing craft.
Don’t get me wrong I have always read
and loved learning about the writing craft since the 1990’s when I took my
first writing course. That was before
there were online courses and the internet was in its infancy. The
course came to me through the snail mail from Writer’s Digest and one from The
Children’s Writing Institute, so I have always been preparing, I guess.
I had three poems published in 1995-1999. One of those poems was republished, to be set to music, for an anthology for the Millennium. I have had shorts in a couple of anthologies, took part in flash fiction blog hops, and Story Advent Calendars for the last few years. I have also published stories through Stormdance Publications. I am writing on Medium and I am working on four different novel series. I will also be doing the 2020 Ninja Write Along with Shaunta Grimes Ninja Writers Club.
My writing and writing life are a work in progress. I am working toward the long term, so everything seems to take forever, but I continue to make forward progress. Show up, persist, learn, practice, and set micro-steps. Just do them, don’t think about all the other that needs doing, and when you look back you will be surprised how much forward motion you have taken.
Yes, I would like to be further along in the journey,
but I fight giving up all the time, but even if I do, I come right back to it. My best writing year so far has been 2019 for
publication, and by April 2020 we will have published seven Grumpy Gods
anthologies.
Any step counts as long as you complete it. That is something I keep telling myself. What about you? Why did you start writing?
I went to Star Wars Theme Park @ Disney World in Orlando Monday, Jan 6th. I came home with a pet Porg from the planet AchoTo and a BB8 droid. And I developed a hidden Yoda connection and grew some Yoda EARS. Oh yeah, I booked passage on the Millennium Falcon twice. The first time as a gunner and the second time as one of the pilots. Obviously we survived and captured our cargo, but not without a bit of damage to the Millennium Falcon. Don’t worry it will be fixed they took the credits out of our pay for the delivery.
We did not get to ride the new ride The Rise of the Resistance even though we got there at 7 am when the park opened. They have a capacity limit. We were #155 on the backup log. Another girl that was there at 650am said she was number 126 and did not get to ride either, so get there before they open at least while it is new if you want to ride it. They said it was pretty awesome.
The Millennium Falcon was awesome too it was like being inside a moving video game where you feel everything. The best position is the pilot for the best in action experience, but the gunner was fun too. They have a pilot, gunner, and engineer position. Two for each, it seats six. The details of everything was awesome to be in and walk around.
IWSG JANUARY 8th: Why Do You Write?
Voyagers: The Third Ghost
An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology
Journey into the past…
Will the third ghost be found before fires take more lives? Can everyone be warned before Pompeii is buried again? What happens if a blizzard traps a family in East Germany? Will the Firebird help Soviet sisters outwit evil during WWII? And sneaking off to see the first aeroplane – what could go wrong?
Ten authors explore the past, sending their young protagonists on harrowing adventures. Featuring the talents of Yvonne Ventresca, Katharina Gerlach, Roland Clarke, Sherry Ellis, Rebecca M. Douglass, Bish Denham, Charles Kowalski, Louise MacBeath Barbour, Beth Anderson Schuck, and L.T. Ward.
Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales will take readers on a voyage of wonder into history. Get ready for an exciting ride!
Available May 5, 2020 $13.95 USA, 6×9 Trade paperback, 168 pages, Freedom Fox Press Juvenile Fiction: Historical (JUV016000) / Action & Adventure (JUV001000) / Fantasy & Magic (JUV037000)
Print ISBN 9781939844729 eBook ISBN 9781939844736 Order through Ingram, Follett Library Resources, or publisher direct $4.99 EBook available in all formats
Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database; articles; monthly blog posting; Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram groups; #IWSGPit, and a newsletter. www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
The next #IWSGPit will be in January 15, 2020 8:00 am – 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On January 15, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.
Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch – it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.
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