Wednesday, May 5, 2021

IWSG: May 2021

 


Welcome to the May version of IWSG. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and his team of administrators, we can share our victories, woes, and experiences the first Wednesday of every month. Find the entire list of participants here

The May 5th question, if you'd like to answer it, is:  
Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn't expect? If so, did it surprise you?

This has happened a few times. One reviewer admired a deep theme that hadn't really been the theme as I wrote it, but it was a legitimate interpretation. I really enjoyed that.

Yesterday, IWSG's latest anthology was released. Dark Matter: Artificial appears to be another winner. I purchase all the anthologies in print and have them on my keeper-shelf. Congrats to all the authors.


Many of you know that I'm the current president of Pennwriters, a state-wide multi-genre writers organization. Our yearly conference was once again stepped on by the pandemic. This year, we took the chance and went virtual. Just seven days from now, we'll be running the biggest online event I've been involved with. It's been a lot of work for many people. The list of workshops is incredible. We have three agents and four small presses taking pitches. There is still time to sign up here if you want something inspirational to do from May 14th to 16th.

And because I have nothing else to do, we're putting our large 6 bedroom home on the market. We weren't quite ready, but the down-sized home we wanted came on the market. I'm not a collector but there is still a lot of things to sort, pack, or pitch. And when you have 6 children and a big house, they leave a lot of things behind. If you live in PA and want a really big, country house, put a bid in.😊

My 4-year-old granddaughter keeps me busy and wears me out most days. A few months ago, she started singing along with the radio in the car. I realized that somewhere over the past few years, I stopped singing in the car. My mind is always busy with other stuff. That beautiful little girl brought that small joy back to me. Sometimes we're loud and sometimes soft, but we're always having fun.

I enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Shadow and Bone was okay. Debris on TV has been interesting. Mostly, I'm too busy to even care what's on the screen.

I am looking forward to having some time to write when the conference is over and we manage to move into a smaller home. 

"You fail only if you stop writing." Ray Bradbury

Have you attended online writing events? Ever had your work misinterpreted, good or bad? Do you sing in the car?