IWSG: Why Do You Blog?

 

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day! If you'd like to join us on the first Wednesday of every month, CLICK HERE to sign up. 

Many thanks to our founder and host, Alex Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and  Pat Garcia! Please stop by and say hello!  

Please post what you'd like, or use this month's optional question: How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

I started blogging in 2009 after finding the writing community through my running blog. I'd just started writing so finding my tribe was so thrilling. Back then, I posted several times a week. Now, I only post once a month for the Insecure Writer's Support Group event. 

When I started blogging the writing community was much larger and held so many blog hops that I hardly had time for writing! It was a really fun time and I met a lot of people, some who became real life friends. I'm not sure what happened, or what prompted so many people to stop blogging. My best writing friend quit writing to focus on her career--partly because writing didn't pay-- so she quit blogging as well. 

I keep blogging once per month because I don't want to lose contact with my writing tribe. 😍

How long have you been blogging?

Why do you keep it up?

Why do you think so many have quit? 

IWSG: No Post Today

 

Thanks for stopping by! I don't have a post for today so the comments have been disabled. 

If you'd like to join The Insecure Writer's Support Group, you can sign up HERE. 

You can visit our host and co-hosts at the links attached: Alex J. Cavanaugh (host), Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and Liza @ Middle Passages!

See you next month!

#IWSG: 2023 Word of the Year

It's the first posting of the year for Insecure Writer's Support Group. It you'd like to join, go HERE. 

Thanks to our host, Alex Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts for keeping this event ongoing: Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin!

January 4 optional question - Do you have a word of the year? Is there one word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year? For instance, in 2021 my word of the year was Finish. I was determined to finish my first draft by the end of the year. In 2022, my word of the year is Ease. I want to get my process, systems, finances, and routines where life flows with ease and less chaos. What is your word for 2023? Why?

I was texting with a friend on New Year's Day and she asked me about my "word" and shared that her word for 2023 is "release". I replied that that had been my word for the last fifteen years and that I was ready to let it go. *groans at my own joke*

Anyhoo, upon further thought, I chose the word "patience". Until recently I would have said that I am a very patient person. And I am...or I was. But I've found that age-related issues have provided me with new ways to test my patience in a different way. So thank you for that, Universe! *shakes fist*

I'm glad my friend prompted me to choose a word for 2023. I can use it as a way to be more mindful about being patient. 

Did you choose a word this year?

If so, please share! 

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

#IWSG: #NaNoWriMo2022

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

For reasons that I will explain shortly, I've turned off "comments" for today's post. 

If you'd like to join this monthly event go HERE.

Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this monthly event. And, thanks to the awesome co-hosts for the November 2 posting of the IWSG: Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton!

November's optional question is:

November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not? 

I've never had the time until now. Working full time with over time and attempting to do NaNoWriMo was too much to consider.

But now that I'm retired...I'm doing NaNoWriMo for the first time! 

I did BuNoWriMo once years ago when I wrote my first novel. It was kind of a disaster. Hopefully I'm more prepared this time around. 

Image Courtesy of NaNoWriMo

Wish Me Luck!

Comments disabled so that I can participate in NaNoWriMo 2022!

 

IWSG: Conflicting Stories and Scenes

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group monthly event. If you'd like to join , we post on the first Wednesday of every month. You can sign up HERE. 

Thanks to our host Alex Cavanaugh and this month's co-hosts:  Janet Alcorn, Pat Garcia, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence!

This month's optional question is: Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

No conflicts about writing a story, but I have been conflicted about whether or not to kill a character. I wanted to add to the word count so thought about killing a character which would add another murder to investigate, hence more words. Instead of doing that, though, I quit being lazy and fleshed out the story instead. LOL. 

And anyway, when I asked myself if the murder would have added anything to the story, the answer was "no". 

Any conflicting stories or scenes you were hesitant to write? 

What were your deciding factors? 

Did you decide to write it or not?

 

#IWSG What's Harder: #Blurbing or #Titling ?

 

Welcome to the November 2021 Insecure Writer's Support Group posting where we share our writerly concerns and fears, and encourage and assist other writers with theirs. If you're a writer and want to join us the first Wednesday of every month, click on the link  for more information and to sign up.

Thanks so much to our host, Alex Cavanaugh and this month's volunteer co-hosts: Kim Lajevardi, Victoria Marie Lees, Joylene Nowell Butler, Erika Beebe, and Lee Lowery! 

If you're struggling with what to post about, here is the optional question: 

What's harder to do, coming up with 

your book title or writing the blurb?

Both are hard, of course, but for me, titles are harder. Coming up with an appropriate title can be agonizing, and can take months! And sometimes when you finally come up with a title you like, you may find, if not the exact title, something similar that has already been published by another author. None of us want that! So it's either back to the drawing board, or risk your book getting confused with another writer's book (I found this with my book Givin' Up the Ghost--after the fact--lesson learned). 

I write cozy mysteries, and punny titles are part of the genre. Adding the "paranormal" sub-genre aspect limits your options even further. 

Most titles in cozy mysteries use a well known saying or quote which is then modified. I don't consider myself particularly witty or clever, but I try to be consistent with my titles and that's a starting point at least. 

My original YA paranormal cozy mystery series used "ghost" in the title: Givin Up the Ghost (a take on a quote from the King James Bible, and as I said above, similar titles had already been used) and, A Guilty Ghost Surprised (a take from a Wordsworth poem). These titles aren't particularly punny and didn't fit the genre well for many reasons--they're now unpublished. 

My latest adult paranormal cozy mystery series uses "boo" in the title: 

A Scandal in Boohemia (Sherlock Holmes fans will recognize the reference) and Something Borrowed, Something Booed (a take from an old wedding saying). They took a while, but I got  there in the end. 

Which is a bigger struggle for you?

Blurbing or Titling?

What makes it harder? 

#IWSG: Success As A Writer

 

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day! If you'd like to join, go HERE.

Many thanks to our host Alex Cavanaugh, and our co-hosts this month:  Rebecca Douglass, T. Powell Coltrin @Journaling Woman, Natalie Aguirre, Karen Lynn, and C. Lee McKenzie!

This month's optional question is:

How do you define success as a writer? Is it holding your book in your hand? Having a short story published? Making a certain amount of income from your writing?

This is a tough one. Success means different things to different people, and certainly there is the financial aspect to consider. For me, I'd like to support myself as a writer. That would be real success! 

However, I'm also happy to write and publish and have my work appreciated, even with no great financial gain.

So, speaking of success...my short story Elephant in the Tomb was runner up over at Women On Writing, and I was beyond thrilled to win a $25 Amazon card, along with an interview, and my story published (you can read it here). 

Now I call that a success! 

I felt as if I'd won the Pulitzer Prize!

What about you?

What does success as a writer look like to you? 

#IWSG #WhatTheFork #WritersBlock

 

It's time for the April 2021 Insecure Writer's Support Group post! You can sign up HERE. 

Thanks to our host Alex Cavanaugh, and the awesome co-hosts for this month: PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, SE White, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton!

April 7 optional question - Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?

I'm not a risk taker. Having said that, though, I did give up my career at one point and moved to the mountains to write for 3+ years. It cost me a lot, but they were good years, and I'm not sorry. But normally I'm a very careful person, even in my writing. Which can be really boring I guess. But I add some ghosties to cause a bit of havoc and some humor, and that makes me happy. 

But to be honest, I'm struggling. I have had a first draft of my next novel for quite some time (a year?) and I know it needs a lot of work and I'm sort of just paralyzed and can't move forward. My characters are static and not moving forward either. I'm even struggling with writing the blurb for which my illustrator has been waiting for for weeks now so that she can finish the back cover. 

What the fork, man?! 
(for The Good Place fans out there LOL)

Can this be writer's block? 

Any advice is welcome. 

#IWSG #BloggingBuddies #MayInvolveWine

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group Hop. 

Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this monthly event, and to this month's awesome co-hosts: Louise - Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!

This month's optional question is: Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?

I've met tons of friends through blogging. And through blogging, friendships pour over into other social media such as Facebook and Twitter. I've learned a lot about what these friends think and how they feel about things, and even share in their successes and failures, the highs and lows, birth, marriage, death, divorce and the loss of beloved pets. My buddies at the Untethered Realms group I belong to are very supportive. 

We've never met face to face.

Except for...

...my most special blogging-turned-real-friend, Angela Brown! She is sweet and kind, beautiful inside and out, and so, so talented! We met through the A - Z Blogging Challenge back in 2012, decided we were going to blog tour together with our new releases, and have never looked back. We've been critique partners for nine years and we have a system down that works for us. We schedule when our work is due to each other for critique, and when it's due back. Then we have our monthly Friday Night Zoom Meeting to discuss what we've written, where we're stuck, what we want to work on next, and bandy ideas around. 

We discuss everything under the sun. 

Sometimes our meetings last two hours. 

And may involve wine. 

What about you?

Have you met any lifelong blogging buddies? 

IWSG: AWOL

Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group Day! 

And I'm AWOL!

Sorry I have to miss it. 

If you'd like to sign up, go HERE.

Stay safe and I'll see you next month!

(comments disabled)

IWSG: What's in a Name?

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day! If you'd like to join, go HERE. 

Thanks to our host, Alex Cavanaugh, and our awesome co-hosts for this posting of the IWSG, Pat Garcia, J.Q. Rose, and Natalie Aguirre!

Optional question:  Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?

My readers may not know how I came up with my protagonist's name, Indigo Eady. She was based on several concepts: 

• My grandmother spent a lot of time raising my sister and I when we were growing up, so I wanted to honor her in my writing. That's why I gave my character my grandmother's maiden name, "Eady", along with her black hair and blue eyes.  
• In my research for character names, I came across the concept of Indigo Children (also Crystal Children and Starseed Children) where it is thought that children born in recent years (since the 1970s) are arriving at a higher vibrational level. These individuals are highly intuitive and have exceptional qualities to include a strong desire to make a more fair and just world to live in. They stand up for what they believe and want to live a life of meaning. They exist to bring the world into a new state of consciousness. Because of their ideals, they won't back down, and so may find themselves toe to toe with the law.

This is how my Indigo Eady character was created. She speaks to ghosts and has strong psychic tendencies. She investigates murder on behalf of the ghosts she meets who need her help. Her methods may find her breaking and entering, but all in the name of justice. 

What secrets would your readers be surprised 
to find out about your writing?  

IWSG: No Post Today

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I won't be participating in the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop event this month. No worries. Just a lot going on. 

For those who want to participate, you can sign up HERE. 

I will see you next month!

IWSG: California is Closed

No kidding around, it's April 1st, and time for our monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post, which occurs on the first Wednesday of every month. Please join us HERE. 

Thank you to our host, Alex Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts for making this monthly event work flawlessly: Diane Burton, JH Moncrieff, Anna @ Emaginette, Karen @ Reprobate Typewriter, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard!

This month's optional question is: 

The IWSG’s focus is on our writers. Each month, from all over the globe, we are a united group sharing our insecurities, our troubles, and our pain. So, in this time when our world is in crisis with the covid-19 pandemic, our optional question this month is: how are things in your world?

The governor of California issued a stay-at-home order on Thursday, March 19th. The next day I went to work to close things down, issued a blanket mass email to customers, and recorded a new voicemail to indicate we were closed for the foreseeable future. 

That lasted about a day, until we discovered construction was exempt from that order. We regrouped, issued new health and safety guidelines, and got back to work. I'm feeling very blessed and grateful that I can still bring in a paycheck. 

I work remotely from home and go into the office once per week for items such as banking and payroll. But I have to say, when I'm at work, people still come into the office even though I tell them we're closed. There are those who are not taking social distancing as seriously as they should. It's worrisome. 

Shortages of certain foods and cleaning supplies is the norm, but in no way are we hungry. We eat some things we don't normally eat (I found some Vienna sausages--yum!). We're more appreciative of things we used to take for granted--the hubs found some gallon containers of water and some butter and flour (score!). Now if I could only find some yeast, LOL. I looked up yeast making on YouTube, but it requires a bit of coddling, which I will do if it comes down to it. 

I love on my dog more, and tell him how special he is (#TuffyGardner is nearly 15 years old and struggling a bit), which makes my hubs jealous. 🤷‍♀️😆😉

But honestly, I have no complaints. I pray a lot. I work. I write. 

I'm not bored in the least. 

(P.S. After writing this post, the coffee machine went out on Monday morning. (*&$@#!!!). I searched the cupboards and pulled out an electric coffee pot that belonged to my parents circa 1970s. It works perfectly. They knew how to make things back then!)

Are you well?

How are you coping with the Corona Virus?

Best Wishes to You All, and
God Bless!

IWSG: No Poop Talk Here

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. 

About our group: We are writers of all levels of experience and genres, published and unpublished, who support and encourage each other on our writing journeys. If you'd like to join, go HERE. 

Thanks so much to our host Alex Cavanaugh and our awesome co-hosts this month:  Jacqui Murray, Lisa Buie-Collard, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence!

Here is the optional question for March: Other than the obvious holiday traditions, have you ever included any personal or family traditions/customs in your stories?

My short answer is no. My family is scattered to the far corners of the earth and other than immediate family, we don't see each other much. So no real traditions exist--except poop talk at the table. But let's not go into that. It certainly never made it into any of my books. LoL. 

What I have included in my Indigo Eady Cozy Mystery series is that I've given my main character my grandmother's maiden name (Eady), along with her looks--black hair and blue eyes. A combination that I've always loved and wish I possessed. You can check out my further train of thought on the spooky/funny aspect over at the Untethered Realms Blog. 

Do your stories ever include real life 

traditions or customs from your own family?

Or have you included family names 

or characteristics in your writing? 

#IWSG Still Writing!

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day! This monthly event occurs on the first Wednesday of every month. As writers of every genre and level of experience, we post about our writing insecurities and offer support to our fellow writers. If you'd like to join, go HERE. 

I'm unable to participate this month due to other obligations, but thank you so much for stopping by!

Be sure to stop by our host Alex Cavanaugh's blog, as well as this month's co-hosts:  Lee Lowery, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Jennifer Hawes, Cathrina Constantine, and Tyrean Martinson!

STILL WRITING!

SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!

#IWSG : #Writing and The Ticking Time Clock

It's the first post of the year for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Our #WritingCommunity consists of writers of every genre, and all levels of experience. Everyone is welcome. If you'd like to join, go HERE. 

Many thanks to our founder and host, Alex Cavanaugh, and our awesome co-hosts for this month: T. Powell Coltrin, Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Tremp, Renee Scattergood, and J.H. Moncrieff!

If you can't think about what to write, here is this month's 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?

ANSWER:

Like most writers, my journey started with a love of reading. The discovery of the school library somewhere around third grade (late to be introduced to books, in my opinion) is when it all started for me. The whole class tromped down to the library together. This was around the time when writing book reports became part of the curriculum. Most kids grumbled about it, but I secretly loved it. 

It never occurred to me that I could be a writer until later in life. Education or book learning wasn't a high priority growing up. I knew that "IF" I graduated from high school, I was going to work. College didn't appear on my very short list of options.  

Long story short, I did go to college as an older adult (encouraged by my very supportive hubby) and earned a BA in English Literature. I got to read a lot! And write a lot!  I started questioning what I could do with my life. Up until this time, I worked and went to school and took care of my family. 

But what did I want? 

The answer was writing. Even so, it took me a long while to follow through--because life, and fear, and doubt.... 

And eventually...

There is a sell-by date on our lives that we don't tend to notice until middle age. The thought that time might run out before accomplishing something in life.

And so I decided to start writing. Better late than never. 

The ticking time clock spurred me on. 

What about you? 

Were you spurred on by a ticking clock? 

Or had you always known you wanted to be a writer? 

IWSG: Write. Travel. Garden. Repeat.

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day. If you are a writer in need of support and encouragement, or a writer who has wisdom to share, please join us HERE. 

Many thanks to our host Alex Cavanaugh and this month's awesome co-hosts : Tonja Drecker, Beverly Stowe McClure, Nicki Elson, Fundy Blue, and Tyrean Martinson!

Wow. Here we are at the last post of the year already! This year flew by. 

Here is this month's optional question:

Q: Let's play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

A: This is a timely question, because I'm two years away from retirement and I think about it all the time. I have hopes and dreams--and a lot of doubt and fears. I know what I want it to be like, but the universe has ways of throwing a plot twist at you when you're least expecting it.  

First, travel: six months in Shrewsbury, England. It's where my fictional town of Sabrina Shores is based in my Indigo Eady series. I've also decided to set my new Brother Bart series there. It's rich with history and a perfect setting for a ghost monk to reside. 

Next we'll be motor-homing it around the States for a year or two. I'm envisioning writing at the beach, or next to a mountain lake. Water is very soothing. 

And finally, putting down roots. Hopefully in a place that we fell in love with on our travels. Ideally, it will be near water. It must have beautiful fall weather, and a little plot of dirt for gardening. And of course a garden to write in!

Above all, whatever I'm doing, it involves writing. Every day. I want readers to love my books and stories. And of course financial success would mean that I could maintain this simple but lovely lifestyle. Write. Travel. Garden. Repeat.  

What does your writing dream look like? 

IWSG: Google Gaffes

Thank goodness for the IWSG, otherwise I'd be out of the blogging gig altogether. It allows me to stay in touch with other writers, which soothes my soul. The sense of community is amazing and I'm so thankful for it. Heh, this wasn't meant to be a Thanksgiving post, but there you are. 

Anyhoo, if you're a writer and/or author and would like to join this supportive group of like-minded folks, please go HERE. 

Thanks a million to our founding host Alex Cavanaugh and this month's awesome co-hosts: Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie! Please stop by their blogs and say hey. 

This month's optional question is: What's the strangest thing you've ever googled in researching a story?

Kind of a funny story. I don't know how many people know this, but I'm an American who writes in "English". In other words, my main character is American/English and lives in England. We speak the same language, but some things just don't translate. I have a British editor, so it helps when she catches stuff and calls me out on it. 

I recently published my short story, Lady Sings the Boos, a cozy paranormal mystery. I love my ghosties and they keep me so entertained by the things they say! Like when one of the ghosts speaks Pig Latin to Indigo at the Blue Note jazz club:

“Eddie don’t talk to the living. e’ says you lot can’t be trusted.” He shoved his bulbous nose close to my face, and ghost spittle sprayed my cheeks. “Now amscray before Eddie gets angry,” he said, blowing smoke in my face.

Stunned for a moment, I stood in a backward-leaning position, like an ancient headstone right before it topples over. I stepped back and waved away the smoke. Ghost-dude could use lessons from Miss Manners. And had he seriously just spoken Pig Latin to me? So last century.

Oopsie! Who knew that the Brits don't do Pig Latin? It seems that they might've heard of it (through American film), but it's not really a thing there. I googled it after the fact, but I hadn't thought about googling it beforehand. Even so, I didn't find much info about origin and whether the British ever used it. 

So I had to remove a couple of scenes, like the one above, that really tickled my funny bone. (FYI, for you Brits out there, amscray means scram in Pig Latin, a made up language.)

What about you? What's the strangest
 or funniest thing you've ever 
googled in the name of research?