Wednesday, January 4, 2017

IWSG--Welcome to 2017.

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html



Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group (click on the badge above for the list) and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

End of the year  Round-up!

I vowed to finish drafting Gorg's book before the end of the year, and I'm pleased to announce that I knocked out the final chapter on New Year's Eve, finishing with nearly 2 hours to spare, though of course I know very well that there will be a lot of work to be done on the MS. That will come after it sits for several months, though.

Other accomplishments for 2016:
1 book edited and published (The Problem With Peggy).
1 story submitted to the IWSG contest.
approx. 40 flash fiction pieces posted on this blog
Add in the draft of Gorg the Troll, and it's not my best year, but not too bad, either. I certainly failed in my resolve to start submitting stories regularly for publication, but at least I did submit one. It's a resolution I'll renew, and try to use those "Flashback Friday" weeks off from writing for the blog to give me time to work on more developed shorts worthy of submission.

Oh--and I read 167 out of the 155 books I aimed for in the Goodreads Challenge. About 1/2 were children's books (middle grade novels, not picture books!). I'm still not sure if this number is a good thing or a sign that I'm dodging a lot of stuff with my nose in a book (or my headphones in a book--a lot of those were audio books).

Where do I go in 2017?
The big project will be to get the 3rd Pismawallops PTA mystery out of the dark hole where I stuffed it a year ago when it wouldn't quite work out, and make it into a real draft, which I can then work on editing. With luck, I'll have it in shape in time to start a new project in November, since I enjoy the NaNo challenge. I'm also going to give a shot, this summer, at doing more writing while on vacation. I need to see how practical it's going to be to keep writing while we ramp up to more travel in retirement.

Now for this month's question.

January question: What writing rule do you wish you'd never heard?
The one about how if you don't write every day you must not really be a writer. Bull. If you write at all, you're a writer. If you want to make a living, working every day is essential. But if you have a life, count every word wrested from the other distractions of your life as a triumph. If you write at all, you're a writer. The more often the better, but I spent far too many years doing less writing than beating myself up over not writing. It's not helpful, and it's not productive.

How about you? What were your triumphs in 2016? What do you look forward to in 2017?

13 comments:

  1. This must be the theme this year! I and some others have the same answer. <3 Congrats on all those accomplishments!

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    1. Thanks, Deb! I think most of us resent that "advice." It actually kept me from writing for several years!

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  2. You're doing well. It's a good list, and we set ourselves a lot of tasks which are above and beyond the call of duty!

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    1. Yeah, but...I just kinda want to be amazing or something. Or at least sell a couple more books each month :p

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  3. Writing every day is only for people who have too much time on their hands. People with real lives write when they can. That's all anyone can ask.

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    1. Exactly! I hold myself much more to the "work every day" ethic now than I could 10 years ago, because my kids are no longer a full-time job (usually. The college student took a big chunk of today, because you are never DONE parenting).

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  4. While I can't crank out words for my fiction novel everyday, I still do other things for it almost everyday, whether it's thinking about the character development and plot or researching a subject related to the story.

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    1. Those things are part of writing. I think that's the other problem with the advice to "write every day." It makes us forget that we actually need to spend (at least in my case) MORE time editing, not to mention planning and researching (well, I don't do too much of that, given the utterly fantastical nature of most of my books). All of that writing, and even those vague rumination that come when riding my bike or walking to work are part of the process, even when I can't remember when I get home what was so brilliant :D

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  5. Bravo, Rebecca! I completely agree with your take on that stupid writing rule. And congrats on all your accomplishments!

    It seems like you're set for another productive year.

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    1. I hope so. Jemima Pett just posted about being so tired, and I am wholly in sympathy. January always takes some time to adjust to, and political realities aren't helping my mood. But the best thing I know to do, besides exercise, is to immerse myself in my writing, so maybe I can get some good out of it!

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  6. I love your post and your defense of those of us that don't write as much as others. I wish I were as prolific as you, but I am who I am. Good luck on editing Grog and getting more books out this year!

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    1. That's okay--I do it too :). And we all do what we can. Some of us have fewer excuses than others, and I'm one of those.

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