IWSG: August 2019 Version

The first Wednesday of the month means it's time for the IWSG monthly blog hop. Kudos to Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this amazing group and to all the administrators who keep it running and moving forward constantly. Join us in supporting each other and find all the participants here.

I'm skipping this month's question. The only thing that ever surprised me about my writing was when one of my publishers closed and even that has happened so often I'm no longer shocked when it happens.

A writing issue I am addressing today is writers' groups. Do you know now much it costs to be a member of IWSG? Zero dollars. The runners of this group spend countless hours behind the scene, all voluntarily. I'm on the board of the state-wide, multi-genre group, Pennwriters. Again, everyone on the board volunteers all their hours and there have been many, many hours of work. Members of Pennwriters pay the low price of $45 per year and receive lots and lots of benefits including a discount to the annual conference that amounts to more than the price of membership. That brings me to my point.

I am a long time member of RWA, Romance Writers of America. For over twenty years, I've paid to be a member of this organization and then an additional fee to belong to my local chapter of RWA. Each year as my career moves forward, I feel like I get less for my money. I won't to into the details of that list, but to pay $99 for RWA membership and then $28 to belong to my local group, I want it to be worth it. And I no longer feel that it is. When my membership expires later this month, I'm finished paying out that money.

I'm sure there are other RWA members on this loop, and I would welcome your thoughts.

On a more personal note, this is a dangerous time of year to shop. All those back to school supplies are on sale. So many clever and cute journals, pen, paper clips, and sticky notes. How is a writer to resist even though I need none of it? I managed to buy only one notebook and two post-it notes.

My knee rehab is complete. My orthopedic surgeon called me his best patient ever. Back to walking an hour a day or doing a day on my elliptical.  Full range of motion and all the good stuff. Not quite back to writing 1,000 words per day but I'm getting there. Also, received another contract for the book I submitted in June.

I'm enjoying the last season of Killjoys on SyFy. My favorite show, The 100, ended its season last night and announced next season will be their last. Sorry to see it go, but I also like when a series knows when to end. I was very excited to learn that Amazon has renewed The Expanse for a 5th season before the 4th even airs. Endgame made me cry as much when I watched it at home as it did in the theater. Football season starts soon so I won't have much to say about TV except to complain how much football my dear husband watches.

Do you pay to be in any writing or other creative groups? Think RWA is too expensive? Do office supplies tempt you? See any good TV lately?

The Normal

Our local chapter had an interesting meeting this past Saturday. As I mentioned before, my group, CPRW, won an award for being the top small chapter of RWA for 2017. After the business portion of the meeting, the handful of members who attended RWA's yearly conference gave a recap of the insights into the industry they gathered at the massive gathering of writers, editors, and agents. One of the interesting thing they shared was how smoothly our chapter runs compared to so many others. Each of our members had tales from other groups of how their chapters suffered from infighting and drama. Some groups are considering disbanding because of the dysfunction of their chapter. There is not one hint of that in our group. We won the 'less than 50 members' group award. And we all support and cheer for each other. There's no jealousy or ego-driven rifts in our little family. I would never have imagined other groups weren't like ours.

Tomorrow I'm taking my granddaughter to library for the first time. We're getting her library card and in three weeks we can sign her up for her first reading group. She'll be six months old so it's time. Not that we haven't already bought her dozens of books. Mostly, she wants to eat them at this time, but I'm sure she'd get over that.

"To me there is no picture so beautiful as smiling, bright-eyed, happy children; no music so sweet as their clear and ringing laughter."  P.T. Barnum

My publisher put together a Best of  Susan Kelley album for me. I mean an anthology of three of the first books in my space opera romance series. I'm excited to see how this does as it's something new for both of us. I'm really excited that I have enough series to make an anthology with only my work in. Though since this contains 3 full length novels, it's more like an omnibus.

Went with my daughter yesterday to use a great coupon we had for The Gap. Way too many people. Have I mentioned how glad I am that I don't have to do back-to-school shopping. I do miss searching for some cool office supplies. But I really don't need them. I buy a planner once per year and occasionally need more pens or pencils.

I've heard about Game of Thrones being the most pirated show in history but how about the leaks and hacking they have to battle all the time? I watched Les Miserables so I understand stealing because you're starving, but what is with the thieves in this world. I don't understand the mindset that it's okay to take something that belongs to someone else.

I'm looking for a new home for my other fantasy series that I received my rights back for after the small press closed. They had published the first book out of three but only for a few months. So I've narrowed down a few publishers who will look at a book that's been published before. There aren't many of them. Suggestions are appreciated if you know of any.

Are you doing any back-to-school shopping or only bemoaning the crowds like I am? Are you a fan of anthologies? Have you ever been part of a writing group that didn't get along? How old were you the first time you visited a library?

IWSG: June 2016

Welcome to June's edition of the The Insecure Writer's Support Group, first Wednesday post. The wonderful supportive group shares our woes, victories and advice once a month. Started by Alex J. Cavanaugh, our stellar band of writers, listed here, help each other on our journeys to publication.

This month I want to say thank you. Thank you to all the people who volunteer and give their time to help other writers. Ten days ago, I attended the Pennwriters Conference like I do every May. I've been the secretary for Pennwriters, a state-wide writing organization, for almost two years and a member of PW for much longer than that. Until I volunteered to serve as secretary, I had no idea how much work went into making the conference, online classes, mini-conferences, newsletter and social media run smoothly. Hours and hours of work and it's all done by volunteers just to help their fellow writers.

If you've participated in the A to Z Blogging Challenge, you know it's a lot of work. For the amazing people who run it, it's many times over the amount of work for them. And it's all volunteer. Thank you to all of them.

And here we are on IWSG. As a participating member, you only have to post once per month and then have fun visiting. But behind the scenes, a lot of things go on. Facebook, the newsletter, Twitter and don't forget the two anthologies.  All volunteer work. Thank you to my fellow administrators.

This weekend will be the monthly meeting of my local romance writers group. RWA have very strict guidelines for local groups and how the officers are elected. But again, all volunteer. Once again, there is an amazing amount of work going on behind the scenes. Thank you to all those unpaid workers.

The writing community, online and in person, is very generous and supportive. I hope we all remember to pass it on. Volunteer when we can. Help someone starting out as someone at one time
helped you.

On a lighter note, from The Old Farmer's Almanac:
There are about 900,000 poppy seeds in one pound.
One should know everything that one says, but not say everything one knows. (1901)

Do you volunteer in any writing organizations? Have you thanked a volunteer lately?  Do people come to you for advice? Who do you think counted those poppy seeds?

What Do You Really Want?

I'm indulging in reading for the past seven days. I've been writing but not as much as I should. During A to Z last year I highlighted books that have taught me something about writing. One of the writers I used as an example was Anthony Ryan and his Raven's Shadow series. Over the past week I've reread the first two novels and now I'm reading Queen of Fire, the third and last book in the series. Though I've fallen in love with the characters, I always like it when a writer keeps a series to 3 or 4 books. One of the things that has struck me as I read these books is how Ryan makes every scene count. Every chapter moves the story forward and makes it really hard to put the book down. At least 3 nights I've stayed up past 1:00 a.m. because I wanted to read one more chapter. Highly recommend this series if you love fantasy novels.

One with some market news. A recent survey by RWA and Nielsen points out that romance readers at least buy first based on authors. Secondly they make their choice based on the book being part of a series. After that, the third things influencing buying decisions was bookstore displays or e-store promotions.

Another news tidbit is the amazing numbers or people who read books on their phones. I know I do this with my Kindle app on my iPhone. Here's an article about it.

Some good news for brick and mortar stores as there is a slight uptick in retail sales of books this year, June being a particular good month, in stats gathered by ABA. I used to buy tons of books but I probably average only one or two physical books per month now though I usually buy at least twice that many on my Kindle. I also read lots of books from the library.

Don't forget the BIG announcement coming up from IWSG next week. Very, very exciting.

The end of summer is getting scary close as more and more people claim to have heard predictions of another brutal winter. Can that really be predicted?

But I'm going to enjoy these lingering days of warmth and sunshine before the leaves turn and catch up on my TBR pile. That's what I really want to be doing on the front porch with a cup of coffee.

Do you read books on your phone? Have you contributed to the uptick in book sales this year? Have you heard rumors of another bad winter? Do you look for books by author first?

IWSG August Version

It's that time again for Insecure Writers Support Group, the ever evolving child of Alex J. Cavanaugh. Every first Wednesday the group shares encouragement and concerns. Join the group and find a list of all the participants here and don't forget to join the IWSG blog and the IWSG Facebook Page where there have been some changes in what the days bring. Now we have Friday News and Promotion.  And in a special tease of really cool things to come, the IWSG anniversary is coming up and something really, really cool and special is going to take place. More on that next month.

Today I'm going to share what I learned about trending from my fellow local writers who went to the RWA National Conference. Trying to write in anticipation of a trend or write quick enough to catch the benefit of a trend is usually a fruitless endeavor. There is no doubt that trends are real but the idea that someone can predict them ahead of time is unlikely.

So what did the editors and agents have to say (guess) about coming trends and things that are out of favor? Remember this was a romance writers conference so they only discussed related genres. First of all in the romance industry contemporary novels are always popular. The industry professionals declared the 'paranormal' genre dead. When pinned to specifics, they admitted that authors have been doing well in the paranormal genre continue to do so but new writers shouldn't try to break in there. Another thing they admitted was that 'dead' label might not apply equally to sub-categories of the big umbrella of paranormal. They said no more vampires for sure though shape-changers are still in vogue. In the YA genre, the professionals claimed the popular dystopian genre is morphing into something more like science fiction. (Isn't dystopian actually science fiction?) So what does any of this tell authors?

As I mentioned, no one really knows. Some book about blue-skinned aliens could break out like some of those early vampire books did and start a new trend. Perhaps the TV world will fall in love with FX's The Strain and evil vampires will become popular. Maybe the Starz's Outlander will inspire a grand upswing in time-travel stories. It all comes back to not trying to catch those trends.

Don't forget to visit the other participants in IWSG. Do you have a guess about the next big thing and please share if you do? Do you agree with what they shared about the waning popularity of paranormal? Is dystopian going away?

Things Change

This past Saturday we had a fun and informative meeting of my local writers' group, CPRW. A few of our members had attended the national convention of RWA and shared the news they'd gathered during their time among the professionals of the romance writing industry.

Some of the big news centered, or course, around the sale of Harlequin to HarperCollins and what that means to writers. My fellow writers shared the amusing words repeated over and over again by the Harlequin representatives during all their presentations. "Nothing will change when the sale to HC is completed." Or course things will change. Positions and offices will slowly or perhaps quickly be combined. They'll tighten their corporate belts and make cuts. They're a business and it's about making promise. Did anyone believe them when they said nothing would change?

Another observation from my friends involved all the traditional publishers. In a direct twist on what we've come to expect, the publishers actively recruited writers. Many of the publishers' presentations were more like sales pitches as they described the things they do for their authors along the lines of promotion, editing, cover design and career goals. Apparently as more writers go the self-publishing route the traditional publishers are looking for ways to compete. At least looking for ways that don't involve paying the authors more money.

This led to a great discussion in our group about what the advantage of a contract with a traditional publisher might be. With some very candid examples, some of our group shared how they're make much more money from the books they have with small publishers compared to their books with Harlequin. But another author shared how little money she'd made so far on her self-published book. An agreed upon sentiment is that publishers give an author a better chance of discoverability. The big publishers will get your book in physical stores or even if they don't, they often have a built in audience of loyal buyers. Small publishers don't put many books in physical stores but they have repeat customers just like the big guys.

None of the news was earth-shattering but lots of it was interesting. Don't forget this Wednesday is the August version of IWSG. And visit the IWSG blog to signup and read an interesting post today. I'll be sharing what my comrades learned about possible trends in the romance and YA fields at RWA National.

Any of the news from National surprise you? Are you published in more than one venue? Do you think the big traditional publishers will ever change their payment percentages to authors to try and keep them?

Back in the Swing

For those of you with college age children or those who aren't so far beyond the college years, you know those winter breaks fly by. As of today, both my college children are back at their respective schools, Penn State and Boston University, and getting back in the swing of learning. I don't even have to add I hope to that because I know they'll both work hard. Their absence also means my house has settled back into calm and quiet, with a thin coating of empty.

My son is starting his last semester at PSU and has two required courses he put off until this late date. One of them he is taking as an online course. Sign of the times that a student attending such a huge university would seek out such a course with no face to face meetings. It led me to think about all the online education available out there for free.

RWA, of which I'm a member, offers a plethora of offerings having to do with anything you need to learn about this business. My own local chapter, CPRW, offers inexpensive classes for our members. The other writer's group I belong too, offers online courses at very inexpensive rates. It's amazing what is out there. The website, IWSG, has links to so many places where a writer, new or experienced, can find help and encouragement. It's very different from when I started.

The very first conference I went to was at Penn State University and run by one of their departments. I think it was the first time I considered myself a professional writer. Since them I've been to numerous conferences and also attended a few one day workshops. One day workshops are a little more difficult to come by these days. Now such courses are offered online. It saves everyone gas money but also the expense of renting a meeting area to hold the class. And they don't have to be held on a Saturday. It's smart and efficient to use modern technology, but I miss those face to face gatherings.

There is something very inspiring I get from those real people gatherings that I don't quite get from taking a class online. But the old days have to make room for the here and now, and I'm not one of those who think the old days are better than now. The holidays are over and I'm back in the swing of being a full time writer.

Speaking of online learning opportunities, next Monday is the What Works Symposium, a chance for a bunch of bloggers to share what online marketing works and what doesn't. You can sign up on the list over at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog where he introduced this great idea along with the co-hosts, Arlee Bird, Yolanda Renee, and Jeremy Hawkins. We can all learn something and help others also.

So have you taken an online workshop? Have you led one? Are you back in the swing of things after the holidays? Are you joining What Works next Monday?

Everyone Has One

Last week I raved about the getting back in the loop with my local chapter of RWA. A lot of things happened at the meeting and I came away energized. While there, I was fortunate to have some time to speak with a few members and share our publishing battle stories.

My writer friend had just had her one publisher close where she had a series of mystery books. The publisher was the first she'd worked with and she had a great relationship with the owners and editors. Though saddened and upset by the news, she immediately went to work and found a publisher, a bigger one, who wanted to take on her series. Out of the ashes rose a bigger, shinier opportunity.

We talked about working with our small presses, what we liked, what we didn't and where we hope our careers go. Both of us have similar plans and hopes though we're working with different publishers and don't write in the same genres. Both of us have a history that includes a publisher going out of business.

Another thing we shared was a story of an editor who was very difficult to work with. Though we both managed, having an unpleasant editor can really take the joy out of getting a book ready to be published. As we sat together and shared, I realized that despite the different types of writing we all do, most of us share the same experiences and the same goals. We all have stories of failure and stories of successes. Get a bunch of writers together and they have a story.

What story can you share of a success or failure? Bad publisher or editor? An agent who didn't do much for you? Do you work with more than one publisher? Are you friends with  other writers contracted by the same publisher as you?

Don't forget to stop by the IWSG blog and see what's happening there?

Writing Groups

The past Saturday was a special day for me. I mentioned in September that I rejoined RWA, mainly so I could rejoin the local chapter, CPRW. I finally attended a meeting with those wonderful people.

Not only did I see many familiar faces, I met many new additions to the group I'd been away from for a while. I'd kept in touch with a few people from the group and only realized just how much I missed them when I saw them again. But much had changed.

My wonderful friend, Ava Quinn, sat in the President's seat. She rules with a velvet covered glove. It's not easy to gather all those personalities onto the same track and keep the train moving forward. Lots of ideas for future events came up and discussion flew about the room. Ava gathered the threads together and gave them some direction so the actual exciting programs could happen. And reminded us why some couldn't. I seriously don't know how Ava finds the time to do everything she does, not just for CPRW but in her real life too. She's amazing.

To my extreme delight, I found a seat beside the past president, Misty Simon. If you have never read something by Misty and you like to grin and laugh when you write, check out her books. And she's as funny in person and so energetic there's nothing she won't take on.

Between the new members and the veterans, the mix of the group is quite diverse. Diversity means each person comes to the group with different needs and expectations. Companionship is nice, but there has to be more. On Saturday the talented Natalie Damschroder gave a mini workshop on how to use Track Changes. I really could have used that when I first had to work with an editor. As it was, I really only had one questions about Track Changes. And Natalie answered it!

If felt so wonderful to write down my goals again and know they'll be published in the newsletter so more than thirty other writers will know my plans for the month. I savored the segment of the meeting when people were honored for their recent successes and consoled for their rejections. I signed up for an online workshop the group is providing.

I could say more, but I feel like I'm gushing. Oh, and nothing to do with nothing, but look what interrupted me while I was writing this blog. This huge turtle was crossing my front yard. He paused for pictures but moved along pretty good when he thought we weren't looking.

Do you help turtles off the road? Have you taken any online workshops lately? Have your worked with Track Changes?

And don't forget to check out the new post at Insecure Writer's Support Group blog from none other than the Captain himself.

Why Join?

Recently I renewed and reactivated my memberships in the two writers' groups I've belonged to nearly since the start of my writing career.

Pennwriters is a state-wide organization of writers. Poets, journalists, nonfiction and fiction writers of all genres belong to this wonderful group of supportive and knowledgeable people. They run an affordable and educational conference every year, bringing in editors, agents and successful writers to lead workshops and answer any question a writer could have. I love the way they cater to writers at every point in their careers from beginners to multi-published.

RWA is the national organization for writers of romance. Unlike some other national organizations for select genres, RWA welcomes unpublished writers as well as the published. They also support local chapters of their organization, in my neck of the woods, CPRW. My local chapter is a wonderful, friendly group that meets once a month in a local library.

Drinking my wine from a Christmas goblet

Why spend the money to join writers' groups? I've found in my first few months as a full time writer that I'm quite happy to sit in my office for hours everyday and work. Alone with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Sure I share with other people online but I don't speak to anyone else about my writing. I need those writing groups for some personal contact with other writers. It's so refreshing to sit in a room with them, exchange ideas, ask questions, answer questions, share in successes and failure. I'm always inspired after a writer's meeting.

A large amount of networking goes on at meetings and conferences. We make plans to promote each other, do book signings together, and some writers find their critique partners there. Being a writer doesn't mean you have to lonely.

Do you belong to any writing groups? Are they worth the money to belong? What do you get out of the group?

Don't forget to visit Alex J. Cavanaugh this week to celebrate the release of CassaStorm.

Thank Others

I'm taking a short break from blogging next week for my first little summer getaway. I don't believe I mentioned that earlier this week, my husband and I celebrated 31 years of wedded bliss. With our fifth and sixth kids now enrolled in college, one finishing up next May, we've had some lean financial years. We've stuck together through thick and thin and not matter how thin, my husband has always supported my writing. I've tried to be as supportive of his activities. But in case I don't say it enough in private, I'll say it in public. "Thanks, dear."

Yes, I call him dear. We're going to celebrate our anniversary and Father's Day by going out of town, on Monday. We're still paying a lot of tuition so we vacation on weekdays when rates are cheaper.

This writing journey has involved a lot of help and support from others. I plan on thanking lots of people over the next few months. Today let me thank a very successful writer who has given my so much advice over the years. Not only about publishers, but simple things like questions about word processing programs, web tools and promotion.

Natalie Damschroder has a blog at Indulge Yourself. She writes for a variety of publishers and is a very active member in CPRW, the local chapter of RWA. And she's so generous with helping writers just starting out. She will answer any and all questions and do whatever she can to help others' careers along.