Tag Archives: Blogging

A Community of Writers

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Congratulations, Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh, as you celebrate IWSG’s 12^th anniversary, achieving the status as one of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers!

The question this month asks: When did you discover the IWSG, how do you connect, and how has it helped you?

A Community of Writers

I started a writing blog on May 13, 2010. Called Only for the Brave, originally that was the name of my five-year, weekly newspaper blog-like column I wrote back in the ’70s. Only for the Brave was about life as a writer.

A few years later, I started a second blog, Behind the Scenes, with a focus on the craft of writing. Around 2019, I combined the two into this blog you’re reading now.

During that same time period, my attention was drawn to the IWSG blog as two writer friends—Nancy Gideon and Diane Burton—had posts with the IWSG insignia and linking website each month. By May 2019, I was a member and have been writing monthly IWSG blog posts ever since.

What I like most about this group is that they’re all writers. They’re my tribe of people even though we’re in different seasons of success or angst. It’s comforting knowing that I’m not alone.

The benefits of belonging to this group of writers outweigh what can be seen as a negative for some—having to write a post each month, but that requirement is a positive actually. That have-to becomes motivation; it acts as an accountability partner. Any month I don’t post, I’ll lose my spot and be removed from the list, immediately. Those at the top of the list have been blogging since the group’s inception—12 years of monthly blogs!

Joining this group of bloggers motivates me to put my butt in the chair regularly. Any help we writers can get in that regard is always a plus.

I belong to a number of different communities of writers; this is just one kind of community that can help you as a writer.

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Dr. Diana Stout is an award-winning writer in multiple genres and media who enjoys helping other writers. She just published the last book of her Laurel Ridge romance series, Sweet Craving #7. The print book of all seven stories will be published later this month. Also, she’s working on a plotting workbook for writers.

In January 2024, she’ll be teaching a Master Class, Punctuation and Grammar Made Easy, with limited seating, so enroll now!

To receive updates and announcements subscribe to her newsletter. Learn more about Dr. Stout at her website, Sharpened Pencils Productions.

Her other blogs are:

Into the Core – a blog about her paranormal experiences and from time to time shares how you can strengthen your intuitive abilities.
Featured Guests with Diana Stout – an interview blog that features writers, editors, publishers, producers, and other guests who work in the writing industry.

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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 and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!

A Writing Career Path: Finding the Joy

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While writing a book wasn’t the start of my writing career, I do remember when I decided to write a book and how the excitement of possibilities appealed to me.

At the time, I was reading a book a day—mostly romances. Those slim, Silhouette and Harlequin romance books that had new titles every month. The books read fast and left me feeling good and filled with hope.

How hard could it be to write them?

Actually, it was way harder than I had imagined. While it looks easy, it really isn’t. It took me a year and a half to write that first book. Selling it was another matter altogether.

It took writing five books to learn about determination, needing a plan (more like an outline), diligence, and sheer grit. Along with agony and disappointment.

I was writing the first few books in an era where there were no computers, only typewriters. Where you had to have an agent in order to submit your manuscript to the publisher. And, where all manuscripts were mailed via USPS, where it could take months or a year to hear back from the agent, let alone the publisher.

Thankfully, the computer came into being amid writing those books. Rewriting became easier. Not much else became easier, though.

Early in my career, I was successful in writing short nonfiction via a newspaper column and then magazine articles. Writing nonfiction, whether creative nonfiction, academic, or technical came easy and still does. I was published in nonfiction within a couple years.

Writing fiction, however, was much harder and required a lot of trial and error. I wrote piles of romance short stories before attempting my first novel.

I remember taking one of those Harlequin books and wrapping it using the brown paper from a paper bag like we used to do with school textbooks, and I put my book’s title on the cover along with my name. I planted that book in front of my typewriter.

I had a goal.

It would take 12 years before I would publish my first book. I nearly gave up in the 10^th year. Why? I had sworn that if I hadn’t published a book by the time I was 40, I’d stop trying. When I turned 40, I was too close to quit.

In fact, one author friend said, “Diana, it’s like your heels are on the edge of the cliff and yet you don’t fall off the cliff. I don’t get why you aren’t published.” My heels had been on that cliff for over seven years.

I didn’t get it either. I’d had two agents come and go, I placed in contests, and every editor said they loved my writing, but…

At 42, it took my being in the right place at the right time to connect with an editor whose publication house was entering the romance genre for me to become a published author. My book was their introduction into the field and they hyped that book heavily.

Two more books published with another house followed quickly, with a sale of a fourth book to yet another house.

Since then, it’s been a fun-filled journey of writing—screenplays, stage plays, poetry, academic writing, a dissertation, more contests, more awards, blogging, and becoming an indie publisher where I’ve now published 14 books, with plans for several more publications this year; Tangled Passions, the fifth book in a series of seven was published on Valentine’s Day.

My writing career has endured the highs and the lows for over fifty years, and finally, after much experimentation and meeting various challenges, I’m finding the genres where my writing joy truly thrives.

Looking back, I’m grateful for the entire journey. It’s been quite the process where the joys outweighed the disappointments. Even the frustrations were short-lived.

May everyone experience such joy.

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This year, Dr. Stout expects to publish the last two romance novellas in the Laurel Ridge Novella series, a writer’s resource book, a historical Gothic romance for an anthology, along with a comedy screenplay. Additionally, she’s plotting a Gothic novel and finishing up several other writer resource books. In June, she’ll be teaching a two-week Master Class, “Using (& Avoiding) Procrastination.” To learn more, click here. If interested, sign up soon! Class is limited to 25.

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Purpose of The Insecure Writer’s Group: 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 and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting.

Cover Adventures: Creating Covers

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

This month’s question for February 1 is: If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish trad, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?

Cover Adventures: Creating Covers

My first three books were traditionally published in the 1990s with two different publishers.

While I wasn’t thrilled with the cover of my first book, The Man on the Romance Cover (’93), at least the faces matched the magazine pictures I had sent them, providing a sense of how I saw the characters.

With the second and third books, Tomorrow’s Wishes (’94) and New Beginnings (’96) published by Avalon Books, who sold books chiefly to libraries, I had no say in the covers and wasn’t consulted. I mailed them the manuscript each time, and then one day a box of books would appear on my doorstep.

When I began to write fulltime—my dream come true—and became an indie author/publisher, I already had the rights back from those first three published books, so I updated the books’ text, retitled them, and created new covers, using my artistic background and formatting education.

My designs were okay but needed something more. I found a cover designer, loving her work. She took my designs and improved them, then created Grendel’s Mother from just an idea. I provided the stock photos for my seven Laurel Ridge novella covers, along with three other books. She did a fantastic job with all the covers and was a joy to work with. She left the business upon the birth of her second child.

A designer from a writer’s group I recently joined introduced herself with a redo cover of that nonfiction Fire book—a cover that was gorgeous, but the design didn’t fit my overall series design. Quickly, through a Zoom meeting, we became friends and I mentioned that I needed a cover for my Christmas story screenplay that I was publishing, Charlie’s Christmas Carole. She’s an absolute delight to work with, so I’ll be using her for future books.

With the help of a good friend, we redid Love’s New Beginnings, and then she helped me create the template for my non-fiction, Finding Your Fire & Keeping It Hot, which is the first in a series of books that writers will find helpful. I’ll be creating the other covers now that I have the template

With the anthology, Lost and Found that I edited and was a contributing author, the lead author and I designed that book’s front cover, which then I finished the spine and the back.

As an indie author/publisher, all of my covers have been a collaboration, where I find the main stock photo, relay my idea for additions, and then the designer takes what I’ve presented and runs with it, adding their spin, which is always perfect.

I enjoy seeing my visions come to life, and it allows me a bit of artistry playtime now that I’m not painting or sketching anymore. I put that hobby aside in favor of writing decades ago because I saw writing as a career, wanting to devote the bulk of my time to it.

Today, I would have trouble handing over total design of my covers to a publisher, even one of the big five publishers. I would always want to have a voice, even if only a small one.

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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 and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting.

The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner!

The Joy of Writing & Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

December 4 question – Let’s play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

Rather than answering these questions, I’ve chosen to write about an important topic that came up this past month.

The Joy of Writing & Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

Throughout my writing career, I’ve seen a few writers who have said, “I’m quitting. It isn’t fun anymore. I’m not selling anything. No one is reading my stuff.” And, then, they do quit.

I’m watching a writer friend saying that they’re giving up writing. Many are rushing to the writer’s side, saying, Oh, no! Don’t quit, or This makes me so sad. It’s nice that they’re being empathic; however, I don’t think these people are listening. This writer is stating a truth, and I believe this writer actually wants someone to say it’s okay to quit or that it’s okay to take a long sabbatical.

A few are saying so but the words are wrapped in subtle positivity where the message of it’s okay to quit is buried in words of You’re talented in so many areas, and Don’t stop being creative.

Yes, there is creativity in all of us. Some are creative with yarn, others paint, others still with trash. Many are creative with food, decorating, playing a musical instrument, singing, and so forth. So many outlets for our creativity.

No one, though, can do everything well.

It can take years of trying and learning before a specific craft or art form is mastered. So, it goes: we try, quit, and try something else until we find that thing that fills us with passion.

There are some writers, though, who get lucky and find their passion and monetary success in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, those are the writers who too many of us compare ourselves to.

That said, writing is not for everyone.

Writing is hard.

Even for those of us who love to write, there are days that it makes us want to scream and cry out, Why am I doing this?

The other day someone was asking me if I’m able to write every day because I’m inspired. Not really. Somewhere along the way, an idea inspired me, but to do the actual first-draft writing, I’m usually gutting out the words. We know these words aren’t great and even somewhat stinky, fodder for the compost pile of prose as they read first written. We stick with it, though, knowing that stinky first words must occur because once shaped, they can become something wonderful—material that others want to read.

Thus, while the original writing comes first, writing is really about the rewriting. Hours and hours of rewriting.

It’s about rewriting, revising, polishing, and proofreading. And, for the self-published…promoting.

These are the parts that most people enamored with writing don’t want to do. Because it’s hard.

We writers don’t write every day because we’re inspired. We write because we put ourselves in the chair, turn on the computer, and just write—one word, one phrase, one sentence, one paragraph, one page at a time.

The joy comes once we get into the zone and where time ceases to exist, which for me can occur after a few paragraphs or a smattering of dialogue. It’s just getting those first words down that is sooooo hard.

Writing is a solitary craft.

Write because you have a story to tell.
Write because it excites you.
Write because you’re amazed that you wrote that.
Write because if you don’t, you’ll be miserable.
Write because you have a truth to share, characters who want their voices heard.
Write because you need to share.
Write because there’s no alternative activity or craft that provides the same joy.

Write because you simply have to.

Write because you’re willing to do the work!

A writer should never compare themselves to any other writer. Especially the monies earned, or what we think they’ve earned. Did you know that the average income for a writer is about $5,000 or less per year? AVERAGE!

It’s no mistake that so many writers teach, coach, edit for others, and work at jobs centered around writing. It allows them to earn an income that’s compatible with their passion.

Ultimately, no writer’s journey is the same as another’s.

So, to that writer who is talking about quitting, I say:

Listen to your inner voice, your gut feeling. You and you alone know why you want to quit. If writing isn’t fun, it’ll only make you angrier and more frustrated in the future.

Give yourself permission to know what’s right for you.

There is nothing wrong with saying, this path isn’t for me anymore.

If there’s no joy in what you’re doing, you’re doing the wrong thing.

Me? I’ll never quit writing. I enjoy it that much, even the repetitive, time-consuming, polishing, and proofreading parts.

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This year, Diana published Love’s New Beginnings and Tomorrow’s Wish for Love. She’s currently writing six novellas all at the same time because they are six couples with six stories, all living in the same community, and who are in and out of each other’s stories, which included the first novella, Shattered Dreams, that is already published. She’s working toward a 2020 publication for all six novellas.

Love's New Beginnings EBOOK 6-20-19 FINAL JPEG resized w-1000 pixels

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http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

11 Reasons Why I Continue to Write

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Posting for the first Wednesday of the Month, October 2, 2019

Because I’m in the final editing stages of my upcoming book, Love’s New Beginnings, which I plan on publishing in October, I thought I’d share some encouraging thoughts and moments I’ve experienced in my forty years as a writer.

11 Reasons Why I Continue to Write

Opening a box of newly published books never gets old. Never.

If I don’t write, I get grumpy.

I like to believe that one day I will be a best-seller author and have my story portrayed on the screen. At this point, I’m not fussy; while I had preferred the big screen, the little screen will do just fine.

I get to hang out with other writers! And, they are the best people ever. They know how to spell! They laugh a lot. They know how to add to my idea, thus making it a great idea. They’re just as geeky about grammar as I am! They get me.

I’ve become an expert in something: plotting, developing characters, writing, punctuations and grammar, writing loglines.

I get to have geeky conversations on Facebook, such as whether the Oxford comma is needed or not. And, the conversations create more posts from one question asked than any political conversations elsewhere.

Books and movies—old and new—get recommended.

It’s okay that I have a lot of books. Lots.

When writing, I enjoy losing track of time.

It’s the only way I can get the voices out of my head.

Oh, and Reason #11 – Do I really need a reason when it’s pure fun?

Why do you write?

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

Failures – Part IV: 7 Lessons of Failure as a Writer

7 Lessons of Failure as a Writer

People look at me and see success. Published in multiple media, in multiple genres, with various awards. With an MFA and a Ph.D., too, but there have been many failures along the way.

I have failed so many times I’ve lost count, from beginning, middle, and end.

In the beginning, I couldn’t get anything published. I tried big publications, national publications, regional, and small publications. All submissions boomeranged back. Once in a while, I’d get a handwritten note at the bottom of the mimeographed rejection, saying, I like your voice, or Please submit to us in the future. I learned from others these handwritten notes were excellent rejections because they were encouraging, that I needed do as suggested.

Only after a friend read a couple of my rejected essays and said, “This sounds like Erma Bombeck,” did I realize I needed to approach our local newspaper with a suggestion for a weekly or monthly column. Success! A six-month trial became a five-year career start.

Lesson #1 – If you can’t start big, start small.

When I turned to fiction writing, specifically romance, I already had a number of magazine articles and short story publications. I was reading a romance book a day, thinking how hard can it be? Over time, I found out. I wrote four books, all getting rejections. Even a published writer friend was amazed at the rejections, saying, “It’s like you’re standing on a cliff with only the back of your heels touching. Why aren’t falling off that cliff?”

The most devastating rejections occurred with an editor writing, “I just bought a book like yours last week.” So close, yet so far away.

At 37, I had been writing romances for nine years. I vowed that if I wasn’t published by the time I turned 40, I would quit.

I turned 40. More small magazine publications, but no books. I was getting closer, though. I was winning awards and placing in contests. I had an agent. Then I lost the agent, and then a second one. They were trying to put me into a publishing box I didn’t want to climb into. They were trying to make me into a specific kind of writer that I wasn’t and didn’t want to become.

At 42, I finally published my first book. Two more book publications quickly followed.

Lesson #2 – Don’t quit. Success will come but in its own time. Quit only if you truly have no more interest in pursuing that endeavor. Ever.

About that time, I turned to scriptwriting. Producers were impressed with my book publications. While I did option one script to a producer for six months for no money, the option ran out. He wanted to renew for another six months, again with no money. I said no. About every two years after that, he would call me, asking what I’d done with the script. I knew I had a good story. (I’m in the process of rewriting and publishing that script now.)

In the meantime, I developed relationships with another five producers, all who loved my writing but couldn’t say yes to my scripts. It became a matter of trying to find the right material. They wanted me to submit anything and everything I was writing.

Lesson #3 – Rejections can be a yes.

One of my first book submissions was a colossal failure. The Senior Editor wrote:

Thank you for submitting BOOK TITLE for our review. We have found that your manuscript does not fit the requirements for PUBLISHER LINE. It is too melodramatic, based on trite misunderstandings among the characters as well as contrived circumstances. Sincerely . . .

So, she tore down the plot and conflict, the characters, the dialogue, and the…wait, there was no comment regarding the setting. Oh, wow, she liked the setting!

I used that setting in another book, with a similar conflict, different plot, different characters, and different dialogue. It sold and was published.

Going back to that rejected manuscript later, I could see that the editor was right.

The writing was horrible. At least, she saved me from that humiliation. I had mixed tenses, multiple ping-pong points of view, mixed metaphors, wordiness, too much telling, and too many details that added nothing to the story or to the characters. The book was boring.

I should have burned the book, but I didn’t. I started looking at my writing from an editor’s point of view, and that’s when the real learning began.

Lesson #4 – Learn from your mistakes.

Never compare yourself to another writer. Not by their sales numbers, the number of books sold, how fast they can write, how few drafts they have to write, by their having an agent, or being traditionally published.

When you compare yourself to others, you’ll always be a failure.

Ironically, what you don’t see is that others are probably comparing themselves to you and feeling like failures.

Lesson #5 – Don’t compare yourself to others. Ever.

Their journey is not yours. Yes, some get lucky when they are young. Some get lucky with their first book. Some get lucky winning the highest awards. Some get lucky with their self-published book, earning thousands of dollars.

When I published my first book, I was in the right place at the right time. I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to an editor, actually being the first writer to talk to this editor, an editor looking to publish romances. He said, “If you know of anyone who has a manuscript, send them my way.” When I told him that I had one, he invited me to send it.

He rejected it! Then asked if I had anymore. I did, I sent it, and he published it.

Lesson #6 – Luck is nothing more than a preparedness meeting opportunity.

I’ll never forget a writer who was angry about some contest scores she’d received. When I told her it wasn’t personal, she said, “It’s personal to me!”

I’ll admit that early in my writing career, rejections felt personal. When I started coming back to the rejection and analyzed what was being said more closely, I realized that everything said was true. So, how could it be personal? That criticism was helpful, meant to show me that I had areas that needed improvement.

Here’s the thing: As a writer, you can’t make it personal, all about you. I learned to step back and look at it from their point of view. If I’d been that agent, producer, publisher, reader, etc., I probably would have done the same thing.

Stepping into someone else’s shoes is how you don’t make it personal.

Lesson #7 – Rejections, failures, and criticism aren’t personal.

Failure means what you’re currently doing isn’t working.

That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing personal.

Step back. Rethink what you’re doing. Rethink the path you’re taking.

Then make a change.

Here’s the real secret. No two writers ever arrive at their level of success by taking the same path. It’s different for each and every one of us.

What’s your path going to look like?

Should’a…Could’a…Would’a…

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Today, I have a guest blogger.

Keri Kruspe, fellow writer and friend, writes this blog and shares with you her experiences as a first-time author and what she wished she had known beforehand. I wish I had known, too.

SHOULD’A…COULD’A…WOULD’A…

What I wished I’d done differently

By Keri Kruspe

Now that I’ve gotten more than six months of being an indie author under my belt, I wanted to take a step back to see what (if anything) I would have done differently to start my publishing career.

The short answer is yes…yes, I would do a couple of things differently if I could do it all over again. In order to give a clear reason as to why I say that, let’s take a look at where I was back in October of 2018 when I launched my first novel.

Back then, I had to start everything from scratch–

Website (you mean I need my own…?)
Media Presence (i.e. Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest – which ones – how do I use them?)
Author email
Author Brand (Brand…what in the world…)
Decide to go “wide” or “KU” (huh?)
What software to use to format for electronic readers as well as paperback (never heard of epub…mobi…again huh?)
Newsletter or blog
- Create your newsletter subscribers (where in world would they come from?)
How do I find an editor who will work with me? What about a proofreader – do I need both or more?
Where do I find a good cover artist for my genre (heh…I read/write in a genre?)

More importantly – where in the world do I go to learn how to do all of this??

Instead of diving deep into each one, I thought I’d give an overview of what I strongly feel I’d like to do different if I could go back into time and have a do-over.

WIDE OR KU?

Ah, the ago-old question. In all of the training I’ve taken, the overwhelming answer you get is, “it’s up to you…it’s a personal decision.” A very nice, safe, gentle non-answer that doesn’t help much.

So, here’s my two cents worth: If I only had one book to release starting out – I’d do KU first.

Let me explain.

When I started as a new author, I had A LOT to learn (see above). I figured, no big deal, why not go wide and reach not only Amazon customers, but everyone else in the universe as well. Why get stuck for 90 days in only one vendor – I planned to release the other books right after the first.

Well, things didn’t work out quite that way. Because of my inexperience, I didn’t realize how much time it took to get each novel ready (and I’m talking about after I’ve written it and done my own “due diligence” in editing it on my own).

Because I had so much to learn and do – if I’d gone with Amazon exclusive with the first one, I would have gotten a little “boost” in launching my book – plus have a little extra “time” to learn the ropes while I got the other books ready. I could have stayed there for 90 days, and by then at least my second book would be ready and I might have gone wide then if I wanted to.

READER MAGNET

In all the “noise” of trying to get advice on what makes a successful author (by noise I mean, training, websites, various advice on social media) the one that stands out the most is you have to have a healthy mailing list (okay, had to admit I didn’t know what a mailing list/reader magnet was until after I launched by first book). And in order to get that list, you need to over a “reader magnet.” Which, loosely defined is a prize your readers gets when they join your mailing list.

There were several suggestions on what to offer for a reader magnet: a book in a series (ack – only had one book…so this was a “no go”) or a short story or even something exclusive to what I was writing. So, I used my “writers bible”, something I created about the universe of my trilogy. It was a thirty-page “encyclopedia” with various info of my characters and the aliens (the trilogy is a sci-fi romance). Should work…right?

Wrong.

Seven months after my launch, I only have 40 subscribers on my list. If I could have this “do-over” I’d have a short story reader magnet ready to go before I launched my book. Because I thought my little catalog would be a good incentive, I waited until three months into my publishing career to rethink the whole thing.

So, taking a deep breath, I pulled out an old short story (around 35,000 words) I wrote ten years ago and gave it a complete overhaul. I’m hoping to release it in July and then start a mailing list campaign (fingers crossed). My goal is reaching at least 100 subscribers by the end of the year.

Wish me luck.

VARIOUS STUFF

In hindsight (don’t you love hindsight?…it’s always so spot on…), I wouldn’t have tried to learn everything at once. It’s so hard to figure out how to make a website from scratch while learning the ins-and-outs on how to create/maintain several social media business accounts. Add to that how to effectively create visual ads (Canva and BookBrush are my friends). Also, how do you make those ads profitable? What makes them profitable?

Let’s not mention that at the same time I had to learn how to polish my writing skills (this includes eliminating my unnecessary adverbs/filler words and creating an in-depth point of view for my characters).

What I should have done was finish learning my writing craft first. This may or may not include working with an editor. Then I would have mastered these skills one at a time (instead of trying to do them all at once) and I would do it in this order:

Hire a reputable cover artist
Find appropriate editors
Design and create my website
Sign up for an EMS (email mailing service) and produce a landing page with my reader magnet ready to go.
Learn how to upload/format my books (including paperback)
Discover how to upload formatted book onto the appropriate retailers (i.e. Amazon, Barns & Nobel, etc)
Marketing – this could include making ads (and how to determine if they’re viable). How to join/create a blog tour, and/or newsletter swaps. Let’s not forget social media. Learn when and how to use them.

WRAP UP

Okay..whew..got my frustrations out. Now that I’ve finished venting, what’s next?

Now it’s catch-up time. My trilogy is out in the world and it’s time to create a new story. I’m getting back into the habit of reaching my writing goal every day. As I mentioned before, I want to finish working on my reader magnet and start the campaign to increase my subscription list. Still trying to master making ads and monitoring them. I’m sure I’ll be working on that for the rest of my career.

As for the “should’a” part of this article, well, wallowing in regrets isn’t quite my style. I’d rather learn from my “mistakes” and move on. If my experience helps others, that makes me happy. Please keep in mind this disclaimer…what I’ve written is only my opinion. There’s no guarantee what I think should have worked better actually would. You know what they say about opinions…everyone has one!

*****

Keri Kruspe, author of Otherworldly Romantic Adventures – writing about feisty heroines who aren’t afraid to take chances in life or love.

Keri has been an author since the age of twelve and has always been fascinated with otherworldly stories that end in Happily Ever After. Her current sci-fi romance trilogy, An Alien Exchange (winner 2018 SPF Galaxy award) had its first release winter 2018. The story continues with D’zia’s Dilemma and concludes with Ki’s Redemption.

A native Nevadan, Keri resides with her family in the wilds of Northwest Michigan where she enjoys the stark change in seasons and the pleasures each one brings. An avid reader, Keri loves an enjoyable bottle of red wine, a variety of delicious foods and watching action/adventure movies…usually at the same time. You can find her most days immersed in her fantasy world on her latest novel while foot tappin’ to classic rock. When not absorbed in her writing, Keri works alongside her husband in building their dream home or discovering intelligent life in America in their RV. Join the fun and sign up for her mailing list at www.kerikruspe.com

Failures – Part II

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This blog was originally published December 27, 2017, on my Only for the Brave blog, which is being eliminated as I decided to merge the two blogs. Because failure is an important part of succeeding for writers, I felt it was worthwhile reprinting the series about failure here.

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My last post provided a list of successful people who failed early in their careers. Did you see it? If not, you may want see it or revisit the list for inspiration. It’s quite an eye-opening list. (Failures: Part I)

But let’s focus on how we fail and how we need to fail in order to learn.

Consider babies learning to walk. They fall down a lot! No baby ever gets up and starts running. They practice.

Kids learn a sport through practice. After school, on weekends, during games, alone, with others.

Most anyone who plays a musical instrument, do so because they practiced. Same with dancers, painters, anyone learning an art, or a trade. They practice. (I say most because there can be the savant that amazes everyone.)

Failure Is Part of Practice

We learn when we’re frustrated, when we’re unhappy.

Let that sink in for a moment.

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We learn when something is hard, when it requires our full attention, our full determination.

We learn most when we fail.

In failure, we learn how to do it right. Edison said, “I learned 999 ways how not to create a light bulb.”

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So, how does a writer move from failure to success?

Keep writing. Finished your first book? Great. Start writing a second one, while you edit the first. Finished your fifth? Great! Start writing the next one, while you edit, polish, submit, or consider making changes on the other three.
Be prepared to gets rejections. Maybe lots of them. I can paper the walls of my house with my rejections. Even the best writers still get them. Know that rejections are never personal. Your work just wasn’t a good match (think dating which leads to marriage) for that publication.
Enter contests. Placing in a contest is a sign that you’re writing is better than the average. However, different judges could have determined different results. Humbling, isn’t it?
Keep writing. Keep practicing.
Take classes. I’ve been writing for nearly forty years and I’m still taking class AND learning new things.
Get a degree in writing. Getting my BA in creative writing and then an MFA in drama were the best decisions I’ve ever made. One, because I was forced to embrace writers and readings I never would have chosen on my own, and second, the MFA allowed me to get a day job in my favorite passion and that job became fun! That education both broadened and deepened my writing skills.
Read everything, especially read outside your genre. Analyze what you read. Stop and think about that phrase you praise.
Write and experiment in different genres. If nothing else, try them just for the fun of it. I learned how to write better fiction by learning how to write scripts. I learned how to write better dialogue by writing plays.
Find your niche. Most find their niche in a single genre. I finally recognized that my niche is a variety of genres. When I began having success in romance writing, I became bored. I still write romance, but I write fantasy, nonfiction, and other genres, as well. Thus the romance writing is part of the spice again. Variety keeps all genres fun and interesting.
Keep writing. Keep practicing.
Learn about the business!!! I can’t stress this one enough. If you know the business, you’ll know when someone is trying to scam you.
Learn grammar. Yes, learn it. Find an expert who will teach you the rules. Otherwise, be prepared to spend lots of money to line editors who will fix your errors. It’s not a wasted skill. I wasn’t an expert when I began writing, but I became an expert by having to teach others. Seriously, the best way to learn something is to teach it.
Read articles, the how-to books, and then ask your questions. Don’t join a forum and ask questions that you could have easily found the answers to.
Join writing groups. If nothing else, find a few people and start your own group. There’s nothing more inspiring than meeting with people who talk your language.
Find beta readers. People who will read your work and provide honest feedback. Like finding a marriage partner, agent, or editor, it could take a while to find good beta readers. They shouldn’t be relatives or best friends, however, unless they have a degree in English.
Become a beta reader yourself. You’ll learn lots by reading the writings of others. You’ll see your mistakes in their work. And you’ll probably discover that you’re writing is better than you thought.

And above all, keep writing. Keep practicing.

If you still keep failing, remember Edison’s lesson of finding 999 ways not to do something. He had to keep changing his process 999 times until he found his success on his 1000th try. Nine hundred-ninety-nine times. Are you willing to go that distance?

Do you have the ability to change up what isn’t working? To put in the hours of practice?

If you do, then you’ll preserve your way to success . . . eventually.

Happy writing!

Failures – Part I

Personal Traits and Deepening Characters

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

July question: What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?

Personal Traits & Deepening Characters

Currently writing a romance series of seven novellas, I’m starting the first draft of the fourth novella, Buried Hearts.

The first one, Shattered Dreams, is already published, with first drafts for the second and third, Burning Desire and Arrested Pleasures respectively written.

Because I’m writing the last first drafts of the last six before any more are published, it meant plotting the stories and creating the characters all at the same time.

Seven couples, seven romances, seven stories, with either the hero or heroine, if not both, all went to school together. Most were in the same graduating class, with two of them a class ahead of the rest. Some are best friends, some dated in high school, some wanted to date the other in high school but didn’t.

In Buried Hearts, Clint Anderson, a life-long resident of Laurel Ridge where all the stories take place, is giving a fiftieth wedding anniversary party for his parents and has hired balloonist, Gabriella (Gabby) King. He gets to know Gabby during the flight with his parents, and he’s smitten.

A long time ago, I learned when developing strong and interesting characters, I need to go deep. Down into the dark where their secrets are hidden. Secrets they haven’t talked about and feel ashamed to let others learn.

I learned that those secrets, those wounds drive that character. That secret determines how they act, what they do, what they wish for. Because I know all these things before I write word one, I’ve become a monster plotter.

Because all seven novellas take place within the same time period, I’m now in the process of plotting out their events on a monster spreadsheet. Did I tell you how much I love spreadsheets?

Behind the Scenes with Dr. Diana Stout

Musings of a screenwriter, author and what goes on behind the scenes

Tag Archives: Blogging

A Community of Writers

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

A Community of Writers

A Writing Career Path: Finding the Joy

Cover Adventures: Creating Covers

Cover Adventures: Creating Covers

The Joy of Writing & Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

The Joy of Writing & Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

11 Reasons Why I Continue to Write

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

11 Reasons Why I Continue to Write

Failures – Part IV: 7 Lessons of Failure as a Writer

7 Lessons of Failure as a Writer

Lesson #1 – If you can’t start big, start small.

Lesson #2 – Don’t quit. Success will come but in its own time. Quit only if you truly have no more interest in pursuing that endeavor. Ever.

Lesson #3 – Rejections can be a yes.

Lesson #4 – Learn from your mistakes.

Lesson #5 – Don’t compare yourself to others. Ever.

Lesson #6 – Luck is nothing more than a preparedness meeting opportunity.

Lesson #7 – Rejections, failures, and criticism aren’t personal.

Failure means what you’re currently doing isn’t working.

Should’a…Could’a…Would’a…

SHOULD’A…COULD’A…WOULD’A…

What I wished I’d done differently

Failures – Part II

Failures – Part I

A Community of Writers

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Cover Adventures: Creating Covers

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The Joy of Writing & Knowing When It’s Time to Quit

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11 Reasons Why I Continue to Write

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7 Lessons of Failure as a Writer

Lesson #1 – If you can’t start big, start small.

Lesson #2 – Don’t quit. Success will come but in its own time. Quit only if you truly have no more interest in pursuing that endeavor. Ever.

Lesson #3 – Rejections can be a yes.

Lesson #4 – Learn from your mistakes.

Lesson #5 – Don’t compare yourself to others. Ever.

Lesson #6 – Luck is nothing more than a preparedness meeting opportunity.

Lesson #7 – Rejections, failures, and criticism aren’t personal.

Failure means what you’re currently doing isn’t working.

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SHOULD’A…COULD’A…WOULD’A…

What I wished I’d done differently

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