Happy New Insecure Year

Happy New Year to all. I've been looking forward to the start of the 2013. As I've reminded you again and again, and will again and again over the next few months, this is the year of my retirement from teaching.  I'm looking forward to the being a full time writer and that leads me to my first post of the year for The Insecure Writers Support Group. This wonderful group was started by Alex Cavanaugh and one only has to post the first Wednesday of every month to be part of the terrific network of like-minded bloggers.

I know many of my blogger buddies took some time off over the holidays from their usual blogging schedule. Today if my first post in some time, as I busied myself with family obligations and worked on a manuscript that has needed my attention for a few weeks now. And guess what.

My blog didn't disappear. I didn't lose any followers. Blogger didn't shut down because I didn't have three new posts per week. My friends didn't abandon me because I didn't visit their blogs everyday. The blogosphere went on without me. It was the least amount of time I spent reading blogs in the last two years. And it was okay.

What I learned is that it's okay to take some time off. It's all right to concentrate on one project at a time or spend extra hours with your family. I've worked hard on my blogging over the past year, but it didn't all fall apart because I took some time off. I didn't even feel guilty. And I got so much other writing done. And I have two publishers sending me edits for rewrites sometime in the next two months so I might have to take some more time off. And it's okay.

Don't be afraid to relax and focus on the immediate demands of your life, personal or professional, and slack off on others. That's my advice for today.

Did you take some time off over the holidays from writing or blogging? What's the longest break you ever took? Did you feel guilty?

Insecure Writer: Likes and Reviews

Thanks again, as I say every month on the first Wednesday, to Alex Cavanaugh for starting this monthly get together where writers can encourage each other and ask for help. Every month I meet a few bloggers who are new to me and learn something from nearly everyone I visit. I'm always jotting notes down, buying a few new books, and finding some interesting blogs to follow.

This month I collecting opinions on 'likes' as well as reviews and those little golden rating stars. Many authors I know ask, politely, for their friends on facebook or readers of their blogs to 'like' their books on Amazon. And of course, hoping and requesting your friends to write a review, no matter how short is not too much to ask. Is it?

I have never done anything like this. I hope readers of my books would feel motivated to 'like' or review my books but I never specifically asked them to take the moment needed to click on a button. I 'like' other people's books all the time and about once a month I take the time to write some reviews. I'm pretty far behind on that but I have hopes to catch up on it over the holiday break.

So, I'm wondering, do you ask this of your readers and friends? Do you do it? Is it acceptable? Should I request it? Would you go to this link and click 'like' if I asked it of you? Does it help book sales?

Insecure Writers Support Group

I hope I have a chance to visit lots of blogs today. I've become much more efficient in my visiting and commenting. Today is the November installment of The Insecure Writer's Support Group, a monthly blogfest started and hosted by Alex Cavanaugh. Visit his blog and find an entire list of wonderful writers sharing their woes, worries and best of all, giving encouragement and advice.

Time for me to share something that I'm not worried about but do have a growing concern about. As I remind you nearly every week, I'm retiring from teaching in June of next year. From that date on, I'm going to call myself not a retired teacher, but a full time writer. But will I have the will power to sit for hours and tap on the old keyboard? Can I avoid all the temptations of a zillion other things I like to do? Will I be able to increase my production of one or two books per year to four or five? Can I do that? Will the ideas keep coming? Will I still love it? I imagine it, daydream about it, but will the reality be too much less than the fantasy?

What challenges do you think I might face in trying to become a full time writer? What is your biggest distraction during your writing time? Are you visiting other insecure writers today and sharing your own concerns?

Insecure Writers Support Group

Can't believe it's the first Wednesday of a new month already. Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh, I always know what to write about on this day. Alex started The Insecure Writers Support Group and you can find all the links on his blog. You can always join or you can just take advantage of all those links to wonderful blogs. You're sure to meet interesting people and probably learn something.

I'd like to bring up an issue that every person using a blog or publishing a book or doing any kind of writing they intend to make public has to face. How much personal stuff do I share with everyone? My email? My picture? Pictures of my family? News about my family? Do I talk about where I live?

Will my blog be about personal issues, writing issues or a combination? Are my friends on Facebook really people I have a personal connection to, or are they a community of writing professionals? Do we share personal news or only promote our writing?

Each of us has to make our own decisions about how much of ourselves we put out there. Some people maintain more than one blog, one professional and one more personal. I've made my blog mostly about my writing, but some personal issues sneak their way into my posts. My day job, my family and my daily activities are sometimes tied into my writing news and views.

I never bring up politics on my blog and seldom ever comment on someone's blog who does. It's not the kind of debate you can host without angering someone.

So how personal is your social networking? Do you give a lot of your personal info out or keep most of it private? Do you dip your toe in the boiling water of politics or avoid it?

Insecure Writer

Stereotyping has a bad reputation. We try not to do it in our everyday lives to the people around us. I believee we fight against stereotyping because it is human nature as we strive to make sense of the world around us.

We see a certain type of dog and think it might be vicious. With people, we see the way a person dresses or notice their tattoos and we think something. I think my experience as a teacher has taught me to judge a person by their actions and not by their appearance. The outside package isn't always a true advertisement of what is inside.

In writing, stereotyping can make a story boring. I have some lists I picked up at a conference once that compile all the personality traits of heroes and villains. But a reader doesn't want the protagonist to be too perfect or their antagonist to be without any redeeming qualities. But it's more than that. Memorable characters are often those quirky ones.

What if the alpha male in your contemporary story always read the society page before the sports page? Could the popular mean girl in YA please not be a beautiful blonde? In how may YA dystopian novels are the main characters orphans?

So check your own writing? Are you writing stereotypical characters? What quirks do some of your main characters have?

IWSG: Dancing to the Beat

Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh's great idea I'm here once again to share some insecurities. Yes, it's the first Wednesday of the month and dozens of Insecure Writers will Support this Group. If you haven't been part of this bloggy group before, you are surely welcome to join in.

I'll start with my great news first and then explain how if fits into the group angst. I've been searching for a small independent publisher for the first book in my second epic fantasy series. As of a few days ago, First Dragon, Book #1 of The Morbunda Saga, has a contract. Crescent Moon Press Inc., offered me a contract I'm comfortable with and I'm thrilled to work with them. More about the book in a later post.

Those of you who read my blog know I've been flying through my WIP, over 40K written, as of this morning. Whether it's part of my personality or my upbringing, I like to work on one thing at a time. When I'm deep into a new book, I don't want to stop and check my email, look at facebook or even write a post for my blog. I'm trying to do better and have with my blog, but I've let lots of other things go.

Now I have lots of irons in the fire. I feel like I must finish this WIP. I have the third book in my self-pubbed epic fantasy series, Beneath the Mountain, on hold while I wait for my cover art, and I expect to be working on edits for First Dragon soon as Crescent Moon works pretty fast. Too many things going on for my single-minded writing process. Yet I know other people can work on multiple books at one time. Other authors keep up with all their promotion stuff and still produce loads of new material. I like to work on one thing, get it done, then move on to the next.

So my big insecurity is moving out of my comfort zone. I need to learn to juggle and manage my time between many projects. Does anyone else have this problem? Have you ever worked on more than one book at a time?

Insecure Writer: The End

Welcome to July's edition of the Insecuse Writers Support Group stated by Alex Cavanaugh. And happy July 4th, to all my fellow Americans.  I love the US of A.

Besides writing, I do lots of reading. I know it's important for writers to read alot, but I also just really enjoy it. I'll stay up late reading, read in between innnings of my children's ballgames, while in the bathtub, just about any place I can grab a moment. This is especially true when an author has pulled me into their tale, building the suspense, until I can't wait to see  how it turns out.  Often I don't want the book to end, but there is something wonderful about a satisfying ending. I'm sure you've all read those books that leave you thinking about them long after you've finished, replaying the scenes in your mind, and appreciating how the author tied it all together and crafted their story without giving away the end.  And don't we all try to do that as writers?

This past week I read a scifi book by a very well known, successful author.  This gentleman had published dozens of books and I've enjoyed a few of them.  Most are more along the lines of what my son reads with lots of technical speak describing the size of guns and engines.  This book had plenty of that but the plot was too interesting for me to be put off by that.  I stayed up very late to finish it, wrapped up in the struggle of the main characters against alien technology and the resilience of the human spirit.  I went into the last twenty pages, bracing myself for the defeat of Earth, when the author introduced a paranormal element. Suddenly, Earth had won and people were saved and totally accepting of this paranormal entity.  I felt completely cheated by the denouement of the story.

The experience has prompted me to rethink some of the things I've written into the final book in Futhark Chronicles fantasy series. Have I provided a satisfying outcome that doesn't cheat the reader? Are there surprises, but surprises that make sense? Will the reader read 'The End' and feel the story is complete? Will the reader think back over my story and say, 'yes, that is what had to happen?'

I hope I have not made the ending of any of my books a case of 'deus ex machina,' but we all need to guard against this.  Don't take the easy way out. Have you read a book that cheated at the end?

Insecure Writers: Guilt

Welcome to another day of insecurity.  Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for hosting this time of sharing encouragement and advice.

For those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, you have heard this before.  I've really enjoyed my foray into doing more with my blog over the past twelve months but it does cut into my writing time.

The dilema then is where to spend my limited hours. I want to work on my WIP but I also like to keep up with my blogging buddies. I feel guilty for neglecting either one.  I know this problem is common to many writers, not just me.  The secret is to find a balance.  But even when I divide my time between the two, I feel guilt for not doing more for both. 

There is no answer, but there is comfort in knowing this problem is shared by all who have to promote, network and grow their online presence all while working on their latest writing projects.  A shared pain is better than a lonely pain. 

I won't even go to that spot of feeling guilt because you neglect other things in your life to work on your writing or blogging.  Please share your guilt issues and we'll all feel a little better for being one of many and not the lone sufferer.

D: Doggedness Beats Insecurity

D:  It's double down day with the A to Z Challenge and The Insecure Writer's Support Group.  I picked a topic using a word that is more from my parent's time than a contemporary word but the meaning crosses generations.

Many people have story ideas in their heads. Most writers start out with a great love of story telling demonstrated by hours of reading and enjoying the written word.  But to move from that love to actually writing down story ideas takes a great level of persistence, or as my mom would say, doggedness.  It is work.

As a high school teacher, one of the things I preach to my students is the importance of perseverance as a character trait.  It certainly helps in any career but I think it has to be one of the major factors separating published authors and those who are not.  Sometimes reaching that goal takes years and the strength of purpose of even the most determined can be tested.  Don't ever, ever give up.  Work like a dog.

Are you a hardworking dog? Are you confident you can reach your goals if you keep at it?

Melynda over at The Contemplative Cat honored me with the Versatile blogger award.  Am I versatile? Not so sure. Mostly I talk about writing. 

I have a few friends who refrain from passing around awards or who feel burdened by the awards. Not me.  Every time someone so honors me, a link is formed between their blog and mine.  Melynda took that a step further and purposefully used passing on the award as a means of making more links with other bloggers and helping out those of us she selected.  Thank you, Melynda. 

She gathered some names from the A to Z Challenge site and I was lucky enough to be picked.  The challenge is only a week away and I'm already making new friends.  I want to do a group thank to all those people who take the time to organize challenges, blogger awards and blogfests. I can't always participate but when I do, it's always helpful in expanding my online presence.  So link over to Melynda's and learn a little bit about her and find some more cool links.

Want to join a blog fest or challenge.  Visit L. Diane Wolfe if you know some sad songs.  Having security issues as a writing, share those insecurities by joining the Insecure Writers Support Group.  Want to really meet a lot of fun bloggers, join the A to Z challenge. 

Now I'm not passing on the blogger award but I do want to link to a friend of mine who has his first horror novel coming out in April. George R. Appelt Jr. has his trailer up for Shepherd's Fall.

Now only a few things about myself I'm supposed to share with everyone as part of the blogger award.

1. I jog between 5 and 6 miles nearly everyday.
2. I'm retiring from teaching after 33 years in June, 2013.
3. I grew up on a family dairy farm and got up some days at 4 a.m. to milk the cows before school.
4. I hate getting up early.
5. My grandfather was a semi-famous moonshiner during Prohibition.

Enough about my regular, middle class American self.  What do you think of blog awards? Are you up to any blog challenges lately?

Insecure Writer: Social Media

All writers, especially those newly published or seeking publication, are told they need to get their name out there.  We're supposed to have a web presence. I've read endless blogs, attended workshops, read professional magazines and other publications explaining how to do this.  But I have some problems with some of the advice.

I really don't like twitter. I've been on it for quite a while and at first I found lots of interesting links and met other writers, readers and bloggers.  But as my followers and the people I followed grew in numbers, I started to find less and less to interest me.  Some writers and the publishers I follow do nothing but promote.  I don't care about 99% of the celebraty news I see on there.  I check in now and then but seldom tweet myself and almost never click on links anymore.  Guess I failed that part of social media.  I give myself an D-.

I find Facebook amusing at times.  People post some interesting things and I keep up with some of my out of state relatives there.  I also find some links to interesting blogs and keep up with author friends and their successes. Sometimes I post a link there to my blog posts or those of my friends.  I do announce any of my new releases there.  I give myself a C- on FB usage for promoting myself.

The one area I'm doing okay in regards to social media is blogging. I've made lots of interesting and helpful friends.  Blog challenges like the A to Z in April and this Insecure Writers' Blogfest have helped me grow my blog audience and connected to me to other bloggers around the world. And I really enjoy.  But I know I could do better. I could spend more time visiting other blogs and perhaps I could blog everyday instead of three or four times per week.  My excuse is that I need some writing time.  I give myself a B- for my use of blogging to build my online presence.

I'm currently resisting joining pinterest.

So my insecurity for the day is that I should be doing more with social media and my excuses for not are time and lack of interest.  My overall grade on this part of my writing career isn't exactly honor roll status.

Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for starting this blog fest.  You all can still join anytime.  So are you comfortable with the amount of time you spend working the social media angle? Do you do too much or too little? Have you seen results from doing more?

Insecure Writers: Making Connections

It's all over the blogosphere.  Signups for the A to Z blogfest, coming this April, are now open.  I participated last year and made lots of new friends and connections. I thought long and hard before signing up and I was really nervous about my ability to keep up not only with visiting and commenting but with coming up with that many blog post ideas. 

I feared I wouldn't be able to think of interesting subjects to write about and still follow the advice of keeping it short and to the point.  I prepared my first week of posts and held my breath until the first day of posting. I couldn't access my blog from my day job at that time, so I couldn't get into action until I came home in the late afternoon.  Imagine my delight when I logged on and found dozens of comments on my post, a dozen new followers and it was only the first day! I spend all evening visiting all sorts of new blogs. It was wonderful.

It did get tougher near the end of the month when my life got a little busier and I didn't have all my posts ready.  But I learned from it and am jumping in with all ten fingers dancing across the keyboard. I feel more secure about my ability to be a blog people will like. I'm not so worried about keeping up and measuring up.  There will be more experienced and more interesting bloggers on the A to Z than me, but I feel like part of the community.  All because I took the challenge last year.

So if you want to increase your blog readership, make some connections and build your web presence, you have to take some chances.  Dive in.  Join A to Z Challenge or some other type of blogfest promotion. Like this monthly Insecure Writing Blogfest. Don't worry about being the best or the brightest. We're all in the race together.

Do you feel secure in taking on promotional challenges? Are you secure in your blogging or do you worry over your content and audience?

Insecure Writer: Me, Me, Me

When I first starting writing, I thought all I had to do was sit down at my keyboard and spew out my creativity for all the world to read.  Then I joined a writer's group and learned how much I didn't know about editing, submitting, and the publishing world in general.

The glorious day came when a publisher offered me a contract for one of my manuscripts, and I thought the fame and royalty checks would soon be flying my way.  Little did I know how much work I had yet to do. That awful nine letter word, promotion. 

Promotion is time consuming, frustrating and difficult.  I know some people who do a great job of promoting their work, getting their name out there and building a reader audience.  I've tried to absorb the advice they offer so freely and generously and apply it to my own promotional efforts. I admit, except for blogging, I don't much enjoy promotion.  Appearances in person are usually fun but I find facebook, twitter and most everything else a chore. I'd rather be writing.

I've noticed some authors appear all over the web when they have a new release, but I have to push myself to even promote on my own blog. This I must get over and do more to make sure my books are seen, lots of places and lots of times.

One of the places I'm doing this is a new blog, called TBR.  TBR was started by Cate Masters, my heroine for promotional genius, as a place for a few authors each week to talk about writing and their latest works.  We all have 'To Be Read' stacks of books, and after you check out the lineup on the TBR blog for the next few months you're going to add a few more.

Today I'm appearing at TBR promoting my latest release, Beyond the Gate, the second book in my epic fantasy series.  Beyond the Gate follows The Keepers of Sulbreth, book #1.  To help celebrate, I'm giving away a print copy of Keepers to one commenter over at TBR and for those of you who prefer digital, I've reduced the price of Keepers to only $1.99 on Kindle and Smashwords. 

So for today, I've managed to do promotion for my books here and over at TBR, as well as helping other authors by directing my readers to TBR. 

So how do you feel about promotion? Are you confident in your commitment to it or do you think you could do more?

Insecure Writer: Read More=Write Better

I don't know any writers who also don't love to read. Probably lots of writers even enjoy reading more than writing, especially when they're stuck on a plot point or in the middle of dreaded editing. Like many writers, I have numerous projects going.  I have a book coming out in about ten days. I'm busy getting my second book in my epic fantasy series out into the world of online retail.  I want to make even more new friends through insecure writer....you get it. Lots of stuff. And that's only my writing work. Lets not get into the coming holidays and my house being the only one on the blog with no outdoor lights up yet.  Or the day job.

But I have a stack of books from the library I want to read.  I have friends putting out new books nearly every week I want to read. My son bought the first two books in a fantasy series I'm dying to read. And yet there's the guilt of all those hours with my nose in a book instead of my fingers on the keyboard. We all feel it when we indulge when work awaits.  But we also all know that to be a good writer, we need to read. 

I believe we need to read alot and widely.  I write epic fantasy and fantasy romance, yet I read all kinds of stuff.  I love suspense. I'm a bit of a science nerd so I like to delve into scifi.  I really want to travel to the stars especially since I read in the paper today that scientists are pretty sure there are lots of other worlds out there capable of sustaining life as we know it.  I like historical fiction. Some of my favorite authors write mystery and keep me up to all hours reading.

I know reading these various genre, reading famous authors and newcomers, reading YA and adult, all this will help me in my own writing.  So put the guilt away and think of reading as a form of study and education, making you a better writer.

So how big is your TBR pile and will you be pulling a book off of it anytime soon?  Do you feel guilt when you read during your writing time?

Insecure Writer: Torture the Hero

My children and I read a lot of the same books and often they recommend those same books to their friends.  My daughter, oldest son and I shared a laugh two days ago when one of their friends complained about one of our favorite books.  They came to a part where a favorite character died. Died horribly.  Died and left behind a mess for the grieving loved ones to deal with as well as dragged the fantasy kingdom into more chaos. I won't give away what book it was, but the author knows how to make his readers scream.

This was something I had to learn to do in my fantasy novels.  If you want to write epic fantasy, people have to die.  The ultimate goal is to have the reader so emotionally invested in the characters, that they fear the good guys might lose.  Everything can't go the way of good in the classic battle of good versus evil.  Sometimes evil wins.  Sometimes heroes make mistakes and pay for them.  If an author can't stand to make their protagonists suffer, they may as well write children's books.

Demon killer from
The Keepers of Sulbreth

I started the first book in my current fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles, with some important people dying.  Not everyone makes it through the second book either, the third book buries more people and well, you get the idea. 

Even in my romance series, bad things have to happen to good people.  Otherwise you can end the book after the first chapter and type, happily ever after, on about page twenty.

So, do you have a favorite author who knows how to torture their protagonists for great reader entertainment?  Have you ever read a book that was too kind to the hero or heroine? Does the superman in your novel have his kryptonite?

Out of Touch: Insecure Writer

October already.  There's no end to the subject matter I can pull up to address my insecurities. One thing I've felt a lot of in the past three months is being out of touch with other writers.  Starting in July, I've had on and off computer issues.  Viruses, malware, unidentified issues that have kept me off line or forced me to use the old slow desktop.  Some days I only had time to visit three or four blogs and my posting fell way off from about five times a week to one or two times.  I felt out of touch with the writing community I've come to count on over the past twelve months.   I felt alone.

I don't mind being alone 90% of the time but even when I am, I know other writers are out there, just a few clicks away.  When I didn't have a computer, I was cut off.  I couldn't visit the blogs that make me laugh, the ones that teach me something, the ones I can just totally agree with it and maybe even add something to it in the comments.  It was a temporary situation but there are still moments when I feel I need to do more to keep in touch.

A few of the local members of the statewide group, Pennwriters, meet once a month at a local library and have a critique session.  I've only made it once since I decided I must have some actual face time with other writers but I'm determined to get there more.  By joining this fun blog idea of Alex Cavanaugh's, I'm making more friends and being comforted by learning I share the same problems in my writing career as other authors.  Sign up and share your insecurities.

I have a few friends I know I can email when a specific problem or question arises. Many people gave me advice and pointed me to the information I needed to self-publish my book on Kindle. (Nobody had been able to tell me yet how to get through the logjam on Smashwords any quicker though).

There are ways to keep in touch even if you can't attend meetings in person.  I'm still building an online circle of support and hope I provide a little to others.  So stay in touch.  When you feel frustrated and all alone, check out your bloggy friends or other online groups.  Investigate writers' groups on your area, usually they have notices in the paper or maintain a website, and try to get some face time.  Even attending booksignings can put you in touch with other local writers.

What do you do if the isolation of being a writer starts to get to you? What's your favorite way to stay in touch with fellow authors?

Insecure Writer in September

We all have some things in this business that makes our stomachs a little queasy.  For me the list is pretty long and I'm sure I'll have more than enough material to keep up with our monthly sharing of what causes us stress and discomfort.  Thanks, Alex Cavanaugh, for getting out all together.

If you're not interested in my problems, here is a link to the list of other insecure writers sharing their headaches, woes and also the expertise to help each other.

My insecurity this month isn't a little thing. It's a huge one.  I'm getting ready to publish my first book using Kindle Direct Publishing.  Though I manage to do lots of basic things on my computer, I really don't know my way around it. I'm extremely intimidated by the task in front of me. 

A few writer friends have given me starting points and I've ran off copies of the instructions from Amazon but I'm still dithering about jumping into this project.  Do I have my manuscript formatted correctly? Have I done enough editing? What have I gotten myself into? Should I pay someone to help me with the first time?