Fall in love with the unexpected

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Puts up a Stop Sign

It’s the first Wednesday of June, which means it’s that time again! Come experience the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and all of the unbridled enthusiasm we have to offer. We’re also online with the tag #IWSG or @IWSG Our co-hosts this month, keeping us all on track, are the wonderful Patrcia Josephine, Diedre Knight, Olga Godim, J. Lenni Dorner, and Cathrina Constantine! And the question for June 7th is If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with? *Gasp* Stop writing? What would…

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My Favorite Characters that Provoke a Little Hatred

Also known as: characters I love which other people love to hate This may be the trickiest prompt I’ve ever done? Obviously this will be a super subjective list and your mileage may vary, standard cautions, etc & etc. Except for Dolores Umbridge, who we can all agree is virulent bullying toad slime wrapped in sickly pink cardigans, there isn’t really a ‘universally hated’ book character that I know of. I’ll do my best with anti-heroes and obnoxious characters who…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Inspires Us

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and that means we can let our insecure author flags fly freely in the wind. That wind rushing by? It’s the sound of our egos, deflating. The IWSG meets once a month on Wednesday to share tips, encouragement, and inflate those egos back up some. Come join! Each month there are co-hosts who keep us on track. This month we thank Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James (Hi Meka!), Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise…

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Breaking Down a Romance Plot

For this post, let’s break down a well known romance plot to see where the story beats are going. This is an exercise I’d really recommend for authors of any genre. Take your favorite story, or movie, and break it down to see how they made everything work. You’ll be surprised how much it helps you break down your own story! And yes, this is the movie I’m turning into plot points, but it still translates to novel form. Beauty…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group and Envy

The awesome co-hosts for this March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim (hi Olga!), and JQ Rose! And the (optional) question for today – Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy? The answer to this is, of course, YES. In fact, saying ‘a’ line or ‘a’ clever plot twist is rank untruth. It’s more like ‘so many’ amazing, emotional, or evocative lines and ‘multiple’ plot…

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Adding AllAuthor to Your Author Toolbox

Yes, there is BookBub.com. It’s right up there with the ginormous Goodreads as a top spot for recommendations and book lists. Pretty much every post or anecdote I’ve heard about BookBub emphasizes how amazing it is when it comes to promotion. I believe those posts, and I’m happy for those authors but . . . BookBub will promote you, and it will work, but it’s also common knowledge that it will cost you roughly an entire month’s worth of income. At least. If you’re…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group has you Covered

Welcome to the first Insecure Writer’s Group post of the year for me. Somehow January scarpered, and here we are in the first post for February. If you’re thinking of joining the group yourself, let me reassure you that once a month posts really aren’t as difficult as I’m making it look. Come join us! This month the kind co-hosts keeping us all on track are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner! Our optional question for this month is…

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The Great Blogging Wrap-Up of 2022

Lets get to some numbery-maths for the year. I’m still at the point where I genuinely have a lot of fun breaking my blogging year down in stats. If you’re interested the 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 breakdowns are linked. Just as a note: I’ve spent zero pennies on marketing of any kind since I started this blog in November 2016. Instead, I’ve focused on blog-hops and building relationships. That means super slow growth and also super low stress levels. (If slow is…

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The Insecure Writer’s Group and the Holiday Haze

It’s the first Wednesday in December, so you know what that means! A hastily written post full of little substance and much snark to get you through another month. Our co-hosts this month are  Joylene Nowell Butler, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine! And we absolutely owe them a thank-you visit and comment for adding this to their already full loads in December. The question for December 7th which I will happily answer is: It’s holiday time! Are the holidays a time…

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