The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Wants to Know Your Process
Or Work In Progress. Either one.
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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group and Crafty Craft Books
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day and guess what, it’s the first Wednesday in August! Post your thoughts, talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered, discuss your struggles and triumphs, and offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Every month…
Author Life: Putting a Book on Draft2Digital
We’re starting out with the first, basic baby-steps to independent authoring. Well, no. The actual first step is to finish a book. Truly finish not just hit 60K, write “the end”, and shove that sucker out of the nest all bare-assed without even pinfeathers. Your book must hatch: cheep loudly demanding brainworms until you think you may well lose your mind: require hand-fed edits and critiques to grow: regurgitate some re-writes: and get a few more edits just to be…
When I Said I Wanted Critique: Feel That Author Pain
The stages of accepting constructive criticism, as told through gifs. We all can agree that beta reading is crucial to the success of a story. Having other eyeballs touch your story, pre-publication, is one of the necessary steps a book goes through. Whether it’s a kind friend who volunteers, a writing group, or a professional editor — the link goes to a good post by author D.E. Haggerty on why she uses editors vs. beta readers — you will be…
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Beta Reads
This is an Insecure Writer’s Support group post. The purpose of the group is to share, encourage, and express doubts or insecurities without feeling foolish, because believe me, we’ve all been there too. If you’d like to sign up for the hop yourself, click over here. The group is also on Twitter (@The IWSG) and on Instagram #IWSG The September 2 question is: If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it…
10 Reasons Writers Are Definitely Creatures of the Night; Author Toolbox Post
We function best with comfy, secluded, darkened spaces. In a house, there was a writing cave. Inside that writing cave, there was a desk. At that desk, there was an author and an empty notebook. Under that desk, there was a blanket fort, and in that blanket fort there was . . . a writer’s block. See? It just works. 2. Random screams into the void have high probability. Also we’ll hiss at our Word program, to assert dominance, after…
Which Came First? The Plot, or the Characters?
This is a perennial question authors get asked, and it’s just as unanswerable as the chicken and egg conundrum. Look, let’s be brutally honest here. Authors as a whole live in a half-unreal world with their heads feeling cloudy ALL THE TIME. Fictional people fill our brains with ghostly conversations. Interesting, exciting scenes play out behind our closed eyelids. Fantasy worlds and concepts capture our imagination. Reality is pretty much optional, okay. In the midst of all this noise, pinpointing…
A Tool for Detecting Passive Voice: Author Toolbox
There are some generally accepted Golden Rules for authors (which, okay, change from century to century, genre to genre, and are not so much rules as guidelines?) One of them is DEATH to All Adverbs, which I am personally fighting against because I love me a good adverb. Another is Conflict is King. Too bad no one can really decide on the definitive definition of “conflict” for any given novel since it’s pretty much subjective and changes depending on what…
10 Reasons Writers Are Creatures of the Night
We function best with darkened spaces. Like a desk, or a writing cave. 2. We’re characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. When we can get away with it. 3. Highly developed sense of hearing means we pick up on and use the conversations we hear around us all the time. Especially you, quirky customer in line who is abusing the cashier for no real reason. Oh yes. You’re going in the next book. 4.…