Tag Archives: The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Writers Have Secrets? Oh, my!

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

June 3 question – Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?

While I don’t consider that as a writer I have secrets, I suppose there are some topics not well-known about me. For one…

I enjoy bittersweet endings probably more than I enjoy happily ever after (HEA) endings in romances. Why, I don’t know. A true oxymoron considering I currently write HEA romances.

Some great bittersweet ending movies that I love:

  • Out of Africa
  • Message in a Bottle
  • Somewhere in Time – though it did have a happy ending on the other side, getting there was heartbreaking
  • The Thorn Birds
  • Possession

To me, these are great tales of romance, the best of the bittersweet best.

Second, I have collections without realizing I was collecting.

Lighthouses – I have them in every room, except the kitchen. It all started with a crayon drawing my grandmother did of the Biloxi lighthouse when she came to visit me upon my birth. I have wooden shelf lighthouses, ceramic ones, a pillow, blankets, huge pictures on the wall, and more. One day, while looking at one of my posters, my life represented a lighthouse: I was a teacher, sending my light out to those needing it.

Diana’s collection of gem stone hearts

Heart-shaped stones – The first one I received from a boyfriend. One was a gift from my daughter, and the rest I purchased only because I couldn’t walk away from the stone as it spoke to me at that time.

Dragons & The Green Man – The Green Man pieces (I have four) were the result of my medieval studies. I loved the myth because it is a symbol of rebirth, a new cycle of growth and that was my life at the time.

Diana’s collection of dragons.

The dragons were born of my writing Grendel’s Mother. The minute I saw this picture at a renaissance faire, I saw it as Grendel’s mother chatting with the dragon who shares her cave. One-by-one, the other dragons in my collection came from other renaissance faires. With each one, the minute I started walking away, I was draw back to it. Interestingly, once the book was published, no new dinosaurs have drawn me to them, demanding I take them home.

As to other secrets, it’s my characters who hold them tight, having pushed those secrets into the basement of their souls. It takes work to get them talking, to where they trust me to reveal their secrets, the wounds that they’ve carried since childhood.

It’s where our real secrets reside, you know.

I just realized: My characters have more secrets than I do. Some might see this as weird. Not weird to me at all.

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

Check out the IWSG website here.

How to Redeem Unredeemed Gifts on Amazon

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

For November 6, 2019

Rather than answering the question posed to the group this month, which was What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever googled in researching a story?, for which I had no good answer, I’ve chosen to write instead about a topic I needed to google, which then I wrote my own directions so I’d remember how to find the answer in the future.

Once I had the directions written, I realized there are probably other people out there, writers and non-writers, who have gifted Amazon books and not realizing the books may still be unredeemed.

Redeeming Unredeemed Gifts:

Putting Money Back into Your Amazon Account

Have you ever gifted a book on Amazon wondering if the recipient redeemed the book? Well, wonder no more.

The first time I followed someone’s directions to find that list of unredeemed books, I was shocked to find I had $84.00 worth of unredeemed books. Thankfully, I was able to follow this person’s directions and put that money back onto my account.

Recently, I gifted a book to someone living in India. Only after the fact did I learn that with my being in the United States, such a gift is unredeemable. Now, I had to undo my gift but I couldn’t find those same directions again. Plus, it had been a while, so all the online directions weren’t current either.

Figuring my way through a hodgepodge of different directions, I was able to undo the gift, putting the money back into my account.

As to the person I was trying to gift the book to. I asked for his Kindle email address and gifted it directly to his Kindle. Hopefully, that tactic should work. If not, I’ll be undoing that gift and will be sending him a Mobi file, instead.

At any rate, here are the directions I created, producing a document that I can easily follow in the future. I share the directions with you now, wishing you a great find of hidden cash in your account.

Directions

Once you’re signed in on Amazon, click on YOUR ACCOUNT. You’ll see this screen.

click on Your Account 1

Click on YOUR DEVICES AND CONTENT as shown above.

click on your devices & content

 

Click on MANAGE DIGITAL CONTENT as shown above.

You’ll see a screen of all of your eBooks purchased and these menus at top of the list:

click on Manage Digital Content 3

Change BOOKS to GIFTS

click on Change Books to Gifts 4

You want to see GIFTS SEND: PENDING next to the GIFTS button, as seen below.

If you have any gifts that haven’t been redeemed, they’ll be listed, to which the following directions apply.

First, click on the three dots menus on the left side of the book title.

click on menu on left side 5.png

Then, click CHANGE RECIPIENT EMAIL.

(If you need to change the email address of a book gifted to a recipient, this is where you would make that change.  For instance, I’ve learned that I can send a gift directly to someone’s Kindle if they provide me their Kindle email address.)

You’ll see this screen with the original recipient’s email-ID, their name, and your message if you filled them out.  Simply change the email address to your own, and click UPDATE.

click on change recipient email 6

You’ll receive an email stating you’ve received a gift Ebook.

 

Returning the Gift Money Back Into Your Account

Now to change that gift into Amazon credit, click on the button in the email.

click on Get Your Kindle book Gift now button 7

You’ll be taken to Amazon’s website where you can ACCEPT GIFT or LEARN HOW THIS WORKS OR EXCHANGE FOR GIFT CREDIT.

click on Accept Gift screen 8

This screen will open up and you want to click to REQUEST A GIFT CREDIT FROM CUSTOMER SERVICE NOW.

click on Request Gift Credit 9

 

Insecure Writers Support Group BadgePurpose: 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!

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

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?

Plotting spreadsheet

Insecure Writers Support Group BadgePurpose: 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!