This month’s question for March 1 is: Have you ever read a line in a novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?
Author Envy?
I read sentences and phrases in books all the time that stop me in my tracks, where I’ll reread the sentence several times, soaking up its art and beauty, its construction and perfection. But, envy? No. Never. Admiration? Always!
An unforgettable read in January comes from Verity by Colleen Hoover. She’s describing the house and ends the paragraph, page 44 with:
Ivy covers the left side of the house, but instead of charming, it’s threatening—like a slow-moving cancer.
And then, the end of the next paragraph, same page:
My mother used to say that houses have a soul, and if that is true, the soul of Verity Crawford’s house is as dark as they come.
I was hooked by the promised creepiness of a dark ride into the terror of Gothic fiction.
My intent when writing is that I, too, can create that kind of artistic beauty for my readers, catching them unaware, anticipating the journey before them.
Currently, I’m finishing the last two novellas in my romance series of Lauren Ridge and am working on a nonfiction book that will help writers, but at the same time, I’m also plotting out a new Nicholas Sparks-like romance and two different Gothic suspense stories. I’m excited to be writing all of these stories.
That said, it’s time for me to return to my word for the year: FOCUS! Get that writing done!
*****
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.
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.
*****
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.
This month’s question for Dec 7 is:It’s holiday time! Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?
Writing Through the Holidays
Over 50 years ago, I dreamed of the day when I would be writing full-time, surrounded by books. For most of those years, I was writing on holidays.
In my 20s & 30s: Christmas school vacations meant no writing during the day as the kids were home. We’d fill our time with fun activities and major writing would wait until school started again in the new year. My office was a spare bedroom that also served as a storage room, and I had a couple bookcases in the living room.
In my 40s: This decade was a mixed bag of events of non-writing jobs where I worked on both sides of any holiday, writing on the holiday. Once I became an empty-nester, if I wasn’t traveling during Christmas, I spent it writing. One of the three bedrooms became my office and contained a few bookcases.
In my 50s: Major writing transitions occurred in this decade. From writing a few hours a week because I worked full-time in business to working full-time and going to school full-time. I traded creative writing for academic writing. Midway through the decade, I began teaching full-time while still a full-time student. I collected research and reference books—filling my one-bedroom apartment with 17 double-stacked bookcases. My office was a corner in the living room. During the holidays, I was either writing academic papers or grading student paper, writing comments on them.
In my 60s: Life-altering events filled this decade. Two years after receiving my Ph.D., the campus where I chaired the English department closed, so I retired and became a full-time indie author and publisher, living the dream of writing full-time while surrounded by books. Most Christmases, I was writing while my kids and their families celebrated the day with in-laws.
In my 70s: A new decade for me, where I continue living my dream. I have fewer bookcases, though, having downsized my living space. My daughter says that I’m the only one she knows who has an office that comes with a bedroom and kitchen as the living room is my office.
Hard to believe I’ve been writing for over 50 years. Most of my writing was performed in spare moments: editing at stop lights, playgrounds, airports, or dictating while driving. Huge chunks of creative writing time before retirement were rare. Plus, I sacrificed a social life in exchange for a writing life.
These days, every day is a writing day, even the holidays. In fact, I rarely know what day it is.
The journey getting here is all the sweeter because I recognize writing full-time wasn’t the actual dream. Getting the writing done and published was the dream. From that perspective, I’ve done well.
A dream can come true if you want it bad enough to take advantage of the small moments and keep that dream forever forward in your thoughts and plans.
Merry Christmas!
*****
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.
I didn’t participate in 2014, but I’ve participated every year since 2015. Only in the last two years have I been able to meet the goal of writing 50,000 words, because I discovered a secret about Nano that isn’t highly advertised—my #1 reason for loving Nano.
My 7 Reasons
I can edit for 50 hours instead of writing 50,000 new words. One hour of editing is the equivalent of writing 1,000 words.
I’m forced to concentrate on just one project rather than my usual 2, 3, or 4 projects.
Forced to concentrate on only one project, it’s likely to be finished and published soon.
My daily writing habits are reinforced.
I work best with deadlines and since I’m an indie author, I have only self-determined deadlines… rarely met. Weekly and monthly deadlines I can handle, but end-date deadlines, I blow right past them. Participating in Nano provides that 50 hours/50,000 words deadline.
I know that thousands of other writers are huddled over the keyboard, doing the same as I am. It’s comforting knowing that.
I enjoy seeing projects I started years ago come to the forefront again and become published books or screenplays.
*****
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.
The question for this month is: What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre?
Because I have a number of favorite genres, that question becomes long in answering. Instead, I’m choosing to write about my favorite month of the year: October.
October’s Glory
As much as I had to see summer end because it means having to shut the windows and doors and blocking the sounds of nature—mostly the birds—I am absolutely thrilled when October arrives. Here are the many reasons why I love it so.
My favorite season, fall, is finally here!
The vibrant and picture-worth colors start arriving. Reds, orange, yellow, lots of various greens and browns, where the trees become a fashion parade of brilliance. Breathtaking around every corner and at every glance. If only those colors could last longer than just a couple weeks.
The air becomes crisp, requiring a light jacket in the morning and evenings. If the temps do warm up a bit, there’s a cool undertone just waiting for the warmer temp to slip up so that it can sneak in again.
The food – Candy corn! Pumpkin pie, the bounty of vegetables from the garden, casseroles, soups, chili!
Cuddling up under a blanket.
SWEATERS! Need I say more?
And, it’s my birthday month. What better way than to celebrate my favorite month, my favorite season, right?
How about you? Do you enjoy October?
*****
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.
The question for this month is: What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why?
I write in multiple genres. Basically, I could write in any genre I chose provided my passion remains high; therefore, there isn’t any one genre that would be worse than another, but It wasn’t always that way. In the beginning, I struggled in the fiction genre and had to learn how to find and keep my passion high for those projects.
I’m in a lot of writing forums online, where a good number of the members are relatively new writers. The comments I see repeatedly are:
I’m bored with my characters. What should I do?
I can’t think of anything to write about. Can you (meaning all of us) give me some ideas?
I don’t read [insert genre, like romance, mysteries, sci-fi] and I’m writing one. Is that a problem?
I only write now and then, when I feel like it. How do I become more interested?
What must I do to write every day?
You get the idea. They sound a bit lost, don’t they?
I remember when I first started writing feeling that same way.
I didn’t write every day.
Halfway through a manuscript, I became bored with my characters.
Writer’s block became a constant companion.
My one redemption was that I read a lot. Basically, a book a day, reading both fiction and non-fiction. And when I started writing, I was reading in the genres I wanted to write.
While reading can broaden and deepen your writing skills to a point, it’s about the practice of writing that creates the difference between an experienced writer and an aspiring writer.
Suggestion #1 – If you’re going to be a writer, you need to read more than just the genre you’re writing in. Read fiction and nonfiction, read how-to books about the craft of writing. Read articles and books about writers. Read their blogs. Read everything.
Suggestion #2 – While you’re reading, pay attention to the writing structure, the use of the authors’ words and phrases. Reread passages that take your breath away or have you nodding your head. What are they doing that you’re not doing? I learned more about how to write fiction by reading screenplays than I did by reading other novels. Be willing to diversify.
Suggestion #3 – Write every day. Every. Single. Day. Even if it’s only ten or fifteen minutes to start with. Even if you don’t want to do it. Just do it.
Suggestion #4 – Write every day using the same tools, in the same place. What you’re doing is creating a habit. When I sit at my desk every day, I know that while I may dink around a bit cleaning my desk and answering emails, I will be writing eventually. Even if only for ten minutes on certain days. Most days, once I settle in, I’m writing anywhere from 3-10 hours—writing new words, editing, or polishing.
Suggestion #5 – If you’re not interested in writing in your current WIP, then write something else. Write a blog, or a letter to the universe (no one in particular) where you rant about a problem, which then you destroy the letter afterward. Or better yet, turn your rant into a blog, putting a positive spin on it. Write a list of questions that you then find answers by researching qualitative websites.
Suggestion #6 – Have no ideas on what to write? Then create a list of everything that interests you, or list your complaints, list what you’d love to share with other writers, characters you love, books you love, then list why you love them. Guess what? In generating a list, you’ve spent time writing! Ideas will come from the list-making.
Suggestion #7 – Bored with your characters or their story? Guess what? If you’re bored, so will be your readers. When I’ve lost interest in my characters, that tells me that I don’t know them well enough, yet. As a result, I get stuck (some call it writer’s block) in my story, not knowing what should come next. It means, I need to go back to the beginning and add to their character development, dig deeper into their personalities, ask questions until they’re spilling their guts.
Suggestion #8 – Being stuck means I need to go back and create more conflict for those characters based on their decisions. Once my characters can make me laugh out loud as they dictate dialogue or because of their actions, I know my readers will laugh too. My characters’ ability to make me laugh or turn the page—no matter how many times I’ve read the pages—tells me I have found my passion for that project again.
Suggestion #9 – If none of these suggestions are working for you, have you considered reading my book, Finding Your Fire & Keeping It Hot? (available at any bookseller). In it, I share a lot of reasons why your passion has disappeared, more than I could list here.
This book was the foundation of a class I just finished teaching, and where students were saying that my book had changed their lives. They had found their passion to write again.
My desire in writing the book was to share with other writers the research I had done and the steps I took to find and maintain my writing passion, keeping it hot most days.
What’s your writing passion level these days?
Cold and dead?
Somewhat warm?
Or hot like mine?
*****
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.
The questions for this month are: When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end? If [you] have not started the writing yet, why do you think that is, and what do you think could help you find your groove and start?
How to Become a Writing Maverick: aka, a task-oriented and persistent writer
What do I use to help me find my groove when starting to write?
I’ll listen to genre mood music, usually soundtracks from favorite movies; or, I’ll listen to sounds of nature.
I’ll just start writing, knowing the first couple page equates to priming the writing pump so that the well of words will flow easily. These first few pages will probably be garbage and that’s okay.
If I haven’t started the writing yet, why do I think that is?
I’m procrastinating. Climbing any new mountain looks daunting. I’ll find a writing task to do instead.
I’m exhausted from finishing the last project. I’ve learned I need a short break between major projects. That’s when I’ll file papers, clean off my desk, and perform other types of writing tasks.
When the going gets tough writing the story, how do I keep myself writing to the end?
I gut it out. I put my butt in the seat and make myself write the words.
I write every day. Even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. If that’s all I can accomplish that day, it’s enough.
I write first drafts now by ignoring the mistakes, the rules, and the inconsistencies because this is where I can get taken down by trying to rewrite before the first draft is finished.
It happened with Grendel’s Mother, which was a 10-year process, with a 7-year gap between starting the first draft and its completion. The first three years, I spent rewriting the first 40 pages multiple times.
It happened with my Laurel Ridge Novella series, where the first book, Shattered Dreams (#1), was published, and now five years later where I’ve just published Burning Desire (#2), and have Arrested Pleasure (#3) set up as a pre-order. I discovered I had to write all of the following six books as first drafts before I could publish #2. The other four books of the series will be published closely behind #3.
Every day is about priming that pump, finding that zone.
If I can’t find the zone, I just write anyway. I know from experience that without any words placed on the page, I’ve got nothing to work with later.
Some days it’s easy, other days it’s not. But the end result, the opening of that box of new books, is always the same. Pure ecstasy.
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.
The question for this month is: It’s the best of times; it’s the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)?
Writing Highs and Lows
In the beginning…
It was a good thing I didn’t know of the lows that were to come because those lows could have fractured my early naive passion for wanting to be an author.
As it was, I started with my own insecure low, not believing I could write a novel. That I needed to start small and work my way up.
So, I did, starting with magazine articles and short stories (pre-internet days) and a newspaper column, traveling a path that today has me as an indie publisher.
The highs are:
Seeing my name in print, my words on the page.
Getting a phone call early on in my career from a complete stranger, an older gentleman from Oklahoma who shared my husband’s first name and my former last name, and who wanted my help in finding his own inspiration based on my inspirational article he’d just read.
Learning of readers who look forward to my next book or who just read one of my books and liked/loved it.
Helping other writers, sharing with them what I’ve learned.
Opening a box of newly published books. Opening those boxes never gets old.
Seeing my book on a library or bookstore shelf.
Being driven to write the next story, with characters following me around, plots wanting further development, and projects clamoring to be finished.
Sending a finished project out into the universe.
Being alone in my workspace and being surrounded by books. This was a vision I always had from the beginning.
Being able to have a day job that embraced my writing passion. It happened when I became a professor of writing.
In the early days, I saw rejections as a low. Today, I view rejections as paths of not where I want to be or go. The rejection simply means my work isn’t a good fit for that publisher or producer. Nothing more, nothing less.
Likewise, if I don’t place well in a contest, that simply means that there were different stories that grabbed the judges’ attention more. It didn’t mean that my work sucked. Only that it didn’t fit what they were looking for or enjoyed reading.
Today, the lows are:
Needing more reviews. The few I have are GREAT! Sadly, to deal with a platform’s algorithms, I need more of them.
Wanting more sales. While I’m okay with not being a best-selling author yet, more sales would indicate that I’m reaching more readers, which is my ultimate goal. With so many books out there today, it’s a big ocean we authors are sailing within.
Needing to hire an assistant. One of the tasks of writing I prefer not to do is all of the promotional work that is required. I’d rather turn that over to a creative assistant, allowing my time to develop new stories and just write.
Wishing I lived closer to more writers. Lately, I’ve dreamed of owning a big Victorian house with a wrap-around porch, which I could turn into a writer’s retreat haven, a place where I could mentor and coach, and where I could other writers who are looking for an inspiration landscape in which to write. Where I could be surrounded by writers more often than not.
In the end, some of my lows aren’t really lows but are wishes, instead. Even though I’ve achieved many of my dreams, I’m still dreaming. Are you?
*****
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.
Asked to write an introduction to a Facebook writer’s group recently, Not wanting to write the usual intro composed of achievement, instead, I wrote…
She steps out from the center of the crowd, several dozen individuals all clamoring for individual attention. She’s listening, waiting for that one voice to stand out. Those standing closest to her, whisper. She nods, acknowledging. They are the once-was, having passed through that thin veil of death. Some guide, some want messages passed on to those still alive. Some are waiting (for her), others are hoping to get another chance (will they return to reunite?). The others–the shouters–clamor that their story be told. It’s their turn. She listens for that one voice that will provide that missing element that will raise their story above all others, providing her with that hook, that aha element that connects the character/story tissues.
She is Diana. The eclectic mystic, intuitive, observant, learner. The writer who follows her goosebumps, knowing they are the true path toward that shiny golden Oscar. The deciders had loved her voice but the projects presented weren’t quite the fit they sought. “But, send us everything you write,” they instructed.
So close.
Then, as life does, interference jungled that path and took her to the land of depth and breadth. She emerged the wiser, with creds and authority. And now, she has returned to the land of creation, embracing the cacophony of voices all clamoring for individual attention as she chooses the next story, the unfolding adventure that mysteriously and magickly arises from the synapses mist and fog, listening to those who have gone before and point the way.
To learn more about Diana’s portfolio, awards, presentations, blogs, and more, visit her website, the center of the wheel from which all paths, like spokes of the wheel, extend.
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day with a purpose to share and encourage. Writers are offered a question to answer each month or to write a block of their own.
This month’s question – Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?
The Struggle for a Decision
My biggest writing conflict occurred over non-fictional material. From the start of my writing career, I wanted to help other writers.
Back then, the problem was that I was young, didn’t have any writing education other than a journalism class, and most of my publications—mostly nonfiction—appeared in magazines.
Fast forward to where I traditionally published several books, to where the internet happened and exploded with teaching opportunities, to where a local college asked me to teach writing craft classes, to where I got the education I had craved and was able to combine a career with my passion of writing, where I taught university-level composition classes.
And then, upon retirement, I became an indie publisher, finally able to work on and produce some of the many projects I had started so long ago. (And am still continuing that work!)
After a couple years, though, I found myself in conflict. I wanted to teach creative writing classes again. Or, should I just write the classes up as short how-to books?
In the end, I’m doing both. The decision was made.
This book is the first of my how-to series and while the books address writing issues, some of the topics apply to non-writers as well. This first book is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to find and reach their life’s dream based on a passion, a fire within.
As a new release, the first book in a series that I dreamed about writing for a long time, and which is now tied to a two-week class by the same title, I couldn’t be more excited!
