Showing posts with label Insecure Writers Support Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Insecure Writers Support Group. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Catch Some Writer's Sparks and Fuel Your Creative Fire!

Recently our Voyagers authors, our publisher L. Diane Wolfe, and IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh shared their favorite writing craft books on this blog.  Today, building on those recommendations, I am delighted to feature a wonderful writing craft book just released by IWSG member Chrys Fey:  Keep Writing with Fey:  Sparks to Defeat Writer's Block, Depression, and Burnout.  
   



Chrys deals with the serious issues of writer's block, depression, and burnout. She shares her personal struggles with each of them, but she does so in a way that fills the reader with hope that these are surmountable challenges.  She sought professional help for her depression, but her personal journey to health followed a self-help path with many holistic practices.  She states that "seeking help is important" and that "there is absolutely no shame in getting medical treatment or talking to a professional."  

However, Chrys's book is not heavy or dark.  It is filled with lightness and light. Chrys writes with a clear, compassionate, sometimes funny voice and provides the reader with positive tools to increase his or her health and to improve and grow as a writer.  I love the structure of the book, with its eighty-seven sparks to inspire, motivate, and help the reader.  Each spark can be read in a few minutes, but the reader will linger on its content much longer.  

In one section of her book, Chrys offers some thirty doses of Bactine to mitigate the pain of writer's block and writer's burnout.  For example, the first dose,  Bactine #1, soothes with its application:  "If you are afraid that you're facing writer's burnout or if you have writer's block, or even if you're not sure...share your struggle with others."  I'm grateful for Chrys doing exactly that. To me, her book is like a book of daily devotions.  I can open it to any spark at any time and read something informative, healing, or encouraging.

When I began reading Sparks, I immediately knew that it would have a prominent spot on my writing references shelf.  But I've changed my mind.  I'm keeping it on my nightstand.
  
I hope you read Chrys's book.  Better yet, I'm betting you'll want to keep it on your nightstand instead of your writing references bookshelf!

Writer's Sparks and Creative Fire



Today Chrys is hosting a Keep Writing with Fey Blog Hop.
She invites you to share your story about writer's block, depression, and/or burnout and how you overcame it or what you are currently doing to heal. Here's a link to her blog:
https://www.writewithfey.com/2020/08/dont-make-light-of-another-writers.html




About the Book:
Catch the sparks you need to conquer writer’s block, depression, and burnout!

When Chrys Fey shared her story about depression and burnout, it struck a chord with other writers. That put into perspective for her how desperate writers are to hear they aren’t alone. Many creative types experience these challenges, battling to recover. Let Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer's Block, Depression, and Burnout guide you through:

•        Writer's block
•        Depression
•        Writer's burnout
•        What a writer doesn’t need to succeed
•        Finding creativity boosts

With these sparks, you can begin your journey of rediscovering your creativity and get back to what you love - writing.

Book Links

Amazon / Nook / iTunes / Kobo / Goodreads





About the Author:  
Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey:  10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication.  She is also the author or the Disaster Crimes series.  Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips on how to reverse writers burnout.  https://www.chrysfey.com  


Coming on Wednesday, August 12, 2020: 
A Surprise!  For me too ~ LOL.  I'm sure it will be worth a visit. 




Till next time ~
Fundy Blue 





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Here Are Some Reviews of Chrys's Book:

“Gracious, there are so many tips and lessons in this book that I dare anyone to pick it up and not be writing furiously by the last chapter.” - C. Hope Clark, author and founder of FundsforWriters.com

“Her no-nonsense approach feels like advice from a good friend, doled out in easily digestible bite-sized pieces.” – Janice Hardy, author and founder of Fiction University

“This is one book every writer should have in their arsenal.” - Best-selling cozy mystery writer Elizabeth Spann Craig


Where to Order Chrys Fey's Book:  
Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer's Block, Depression, and Burnout.  
Writing / Self-Help: Depression – Stress  
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Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Insider Writing Tips for the IWSG 2020 Anthology Contest ~ Part 2


This week we're sharing more insider writing tips for short story writers entering the 2020 Insecure Writer's Support Group Anthology Contest.  Our tipsters are winning authors featured in the 2020 IWSG Anthology Voyagers: The Third Ghost.  And as a special guest sharing her  expert insights, we have the publisher of all five IWSG anthologies, Diane L. Wolfe!  May these tips inspire you to submit an entry, one polished with a winner's luster.

                    



Insider Writing Tips ...





Louise MacBeath Barbour
"Dare Double Dare"











Tips
My first tip is don't do what I did:  postpone writing your story to the last minute, write it in Pages, and submit it a few hours before the contest deadline without another person reading it.  I did everything wrong, and I'm thankful that the judges saw enough promise in my story to select it.  I am also grateful for Diane L. Wolfe's expertise as she guided me through the editing process to prepare my story for publication.

Here is a word all writers should know, a word I learned to my chagrin from my editor:  Head-hopping.  When a writer abruptly changes the point of view from one character to another, it can confuse, disorient, and annoy a reader.  If a writer does this several times in a scene, it can give a reader whiplash.  There are times when changes in point of view are appropriate, but not in a short story.  There is a lot of information on-line about head-hopping.  Here is one source I found very informative:  The Editor's Blog. 

Bio
Born in Nova Scotia and raised throughout eastern Canada, Louise is a writer and blogger who now lives in Colorado.  She writes fiction and nonfiction with the encouragement of her supportive husband.  "Dare Double Dare" is her first middle grade story.






L.T. Ward
"Return to Cahokia"










Tip
Once you're done writing that story that's been stuck in your brain, swirling around and preventing you from getting solid sleep, let it sit. You'll need that pause to allow your mind to see the story as others will. Even then, you'll likely overlook some casual mistake because your mind will correct your written words to the vision you've had. After that second look, send it to beta and sensitivity readers. A theater doesn't put on a show without a dress rehearsal and writers shouldn't consider their work done until they've allowed their stories to be read by an audience. 

Bio
LT writes mostly speculative fiction shorts and novels while spending her days raising her children and satisfying her never-ending thirst for knowledge through reading, meeting people, and first-hand life experiences. She has publications with Dancing Lemur Press and Me First Magazine while querying her first novel and writing another. She currently volunteers as a social media coordinator and content provider for WriteHive, an online writers’ conference.




Roland Clarke
"Feathered Fire"

Tips
I mentioned not hesitating about writing a few weeks ago. Now, it’s the turn of my draft demon. So, having ensured I’m following the submission guidelines, I sketch an outline then a first draft. I advise to hone the story like a sculptor with a marble polisher – every rough error by error. Just don’t remove chunks without saving them somewhere – I keep a discard file for gems to reintroduce later. And I value my beta reader/editors

 And I have to repeat what Ray Bradbury said, “If you write a hundred short stories and they're all bad, that doesn't mean you've failed. You fail only if you stop writing.”

Bio
After diverse careers, Roland Clarke was an equestrian journalist and green activist when chronic illness hastened retirement.  But he hasn't stopped exploring rabbit holes and writing - mainly mysteries and alternative history.




Katharina Gerlach
"Winter Days"

















Tips 
Writing short stories requires a different mind-set than writing a novel due to the limited room. It's best to concentrate on one specific event in a character's life, one moment that changed this character's life. Since you'll need to make the character and it's time/place as real and 3 dimensional as you can, you'll have to limit the plot. A good way to learn how to limit oneself is to write Flash Fiction (stories below 1000 words). If you can do that, it feels liberating to have "sooo much room" when you start writing short stories. Holly Lisle offers a great course (free of charge) for learning how to tell FF stories, and the principles are applicable from FF over short story to novel.


Bio
Although Katharina Gerlach was born in the late sixties, she’s still a child at heart. She inherited her love of fairy tales and words from her mother, an ex-secretary and avid reader, and her love of all things nature and science from her father, an ex-forester. Memories of her rather interesting life in Germany flow back at the smallest trigger, even though she tends to merge her three brothers into one when she tells stories about their childhood adventures. And more often than not, she recalls events truthfully.











Charles Kowalski
"Simon Grey and the Yamamba"











Tips
The key to writing an engaging short story is the same as the key to writing an engaging novel: grab your readers' interest in the beginning, and hold it until the end. The journey is shorter, but the fuel that propels the vehicle is the same: suspense. When crafting any narrative, be it a short story or a full-length novel, I try to keep up the suspense by remembering the formula P + Q + R = S:

 Progressively escalating conflict +
Questions unanswered +
Relatable protagonist =
Suspense.

 In other words: Make readers CARE about your protagonist, make them WONDER what's going to happen next, and make them WAIT for the answer. As surely as one letter of the alphabet follows another, this will create the tension that keeps readers flipping pages, whether there are five of them or five hundred.

 I offer more details about my formula for suspense, and the story of Simon Grey, in this episode of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers podcast: rmfworg.libsyn

Bio
Charles Kowalski has published the full story of Simon, Oyuki and their adventures through haunted Japan in Simon Grey and the March of a Hundred Ghosts.  In addition to to middle-grade fantasy, Charles' thrillers for adults, Mind Virus and The Devil’s Son, have won prizes and nominations including the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold Award, the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Adventure Writers Grandmaster Award.

L. Diane Wolfe
Publisher, Editor, Speaker, and Author

Tips as an editor:
Voice is so important. I know that word stresses out some writers, but it is the hook that will catch the reader’s attention. Voice is about style and personality shining through the words. It’s also about the main character’s voice coming through. Can the reader picture that person without any description just based on the character’s speech and actions? (For fantastic examples of great voice, check out Corners by Corrina Austin or Bloodwalker by L.X. Cain, both DLP books.)

Story is of course important – the obvious flow, hitting all the right notes, a satisfying ending, no continuity issues, etc. But does the story have something unique to offer? What is the writer’s twist on the basic story? What makes it stand out from the standard formula?

And as an editor, I have to add that a polished and properly edited story is vital. I’m not just talking a couple typos. Those don’t bother me. But a constant use of passive voice, telling rather than showing, head-hopping, info dumps, etc. – those are jarring and bring the reader to a stop. Those are issues that should be caught long before the piece is submitted. Which means critique partners and/or an editor are SO important. If a writer can’t even let even one other person go over his/her work, then that writer should never submit it. Have some respect for those editors and agents reviewing the work and always present the very best manuscript possible.


Bio
Diane is the owner and senior editor of Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. and its imprint Freedom Fox Press.  Known as “Spunk On A Stick,” Diane  conducts seminars on book publishing, promoting, leadership, and goal-setting, and she offers book formatting and author consultation.  Diane is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including The Circle of Friends series, How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now! and Overcoming Obstacles with Spunk! 

So give your story a winner's luster and submit it
to the 2020 IWSG Anthology Contest!
  
Here are the details for the 2020 IWSG Anthology Contest:
Guidelines and rules: 

Word count: 4500-6000

Genre: Science Fiction

Theme: Dark Matter

Submissions accepted: May 6 - September 2, 2020

How to enter:
Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your full contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.

Judging:
The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:  Dan Koboldt, Lynda R. Young, Colleen Oefelein, Damien Larkin, Ion Newcombe, Julie Gwinn, and David Powers King.

Prizes:
The winning stories will be edited and published by Dancing Lemur Press
imprint Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will
receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will
have the honor of giving the anthology its title. Please see their website for
general guidelines on the types of stories they publish.



Coming on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 . . .
Next week we will share great strategies for promoting your book. 






Till next time ~
Fundy Blue








Reviews of Voyagers: The Third Ghost:

1. Check out lots of reviews and ratings at Goodreads.

2. Roland Clarke's Bookshelf Review at his website Writing Wings features Voyagers:  
The Third Ghost.

 3. Erin Kahn at The Wood Between the Worlds

Interviews with Authors:

1. Yvonne Ventresca with Stacy Horan at The Bookshop at the End of the Internet

2.  Sherry Ellis with June McCrary Jacobs at Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic 

3. Roland Clarke with Laura Wolfe at The Sustainable Writer

Blog Features:

1. Voyager Authors with Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress (Part 1)

2. Voyager Authors with Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress (Part 2)

Events:

1. May and June - Stormdance Publications https://stormdancebooks.junetakey.com/blog/

2. At various times - IWSG Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theiwsg/

3. Coming on Wednesday, May 19 and 21, 2020 . . .
A great opportunity to learn about promoting your book!
Diane, the publisher of our IWSG anthologies, will be hosting two webinars:
June 9th:  How to Promote Your Book Now - Part 1     Cost: $10.00 US dollars
June 11th:  How to Promote Your Book Now - Part 2     Cost: $10.00 US dollars

Register at 


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You can order a copy of
VOYAGERS: The Third Ghost 
at the links below.

Print 9781939844729 $13.95
EBook 9781939844736 $4.99

Juvenile Fiction - Historical / Action & Adventure /
Fantasy & Magic



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Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Insider Writing Tips for the IWSG 2020 Anthology Contest ~ Part 1


How about some insider writing tips for the Insecure Writer's Support Group's
2020 Anthology Contest?  Over the next two weeks the 2019 winners featured
in this year's anthology Voyagers:  The Third Ghost will share their best writing
tips learned from their experiences as contestants last year.

And how about some insider writing tips from our inspiring leader,
IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh, someone who has read the entries for
all our published anthologies?

These writing tips will help you put an extra shine on your entry
and may help you avoid mistakes like the ones this writer made.

                    





Insider Writing Tips ...





Yvonne Ventresca
"The Third Ghost"









Tip
I’ve learned over time that to write better short stories, I needed to read more of them. I’m used to novel-length fiction, and short stories offer a different satisfaction to the reader. Author Lorrie Moore said, “A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage.” My tip for contestants would be to immerse yourself in previous anthologies and other published short stories. Study the ones that resonate with you, then have a short story love affair of your own.

Bio
Yvonne Ventresca is the award-winning author of Black Flowers, White Lies (IPPY Gold Medal for National YA fiction) and Pandemic (SCBWI’s Crystal Kite Award).  In addition to her novels, Yvonne’s other work includes two nonfiction books and several short stories selected for anthologies, including the previous IWSG anthology, Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life.  She is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. You can learn more at YvonneVentresca.com, where she features resources for writers.






Beth Anderson Schuck
"The Orchard"


Tips 
Having multiple editors examine your work was a true bonus of the anthology process. The editors found different issues to address in my work and their suggestions were clear and easy to fix. Changing tense is one of my most common errors. Using the same adverbs and adjectives in the story is another mistake that the editors identified. A method to avoid these errors, is to read your work aloud. Often hearing the language allows you to catch areas to rework. It was just a joy to work with the fellow authors and editors, that I highly recommend being part of an anthology.

Bio
Beth Anderson Schuck is a retired librarian who believes reading can take you anywhere.  She writes historical fiction featuring willful female characters. Being in nature whether hiking, birdwatching or gardening makes her whole.





Bish Denham
"The Blind Ship"












Tip 
My tip for an anthology participant is simple. Be open to the editing process. Eyes, other than your own, are able to see things you can't. If you disagree with what the editor is suggesting, don't be afraid to question. More often than not you'll go along with what the editor suggests, but sometimes the editor will agree with you.

Bio
Bish Denham is from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where her family has lived for over a hundred years. The author of two middle grade novels and a collection of retold Jamaican Anansi stories, she says, “Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book.”

Blog| Facebook| Goodreads| Twitter| Amazon











Rebecca M. Douglass
"A World of Trouble"












Tips
The first thing I learned (though it’s something my novels’ proofreader has been pointing out for some time so I did kind of know it) is that I am an abuser of the common comma. On that point, I yield to the editorial authority. But I also learned to weigh all feedback dispassionately, and decide for myself if it is right or not. But I found that if the feedback was “wrong” it usually was because I’d not written what I thought I had, and the editor was trying to make sense of it. I learned to look long and hard at why she thought I had made an error, then fix the real problem, not necessarily the superficial problem called out. 
Bio
Rebecca is the author of the delightful Ninja Librarian books, as well as a picture book for outdoor families, a mystery series for the parents, and her middle-grade fantasy, Halitor the Hero.  After more than seventeen years working at the library, she has retired still without learning all the secrets of the Ninja Librarian.












Sherry Ellis
"The Ghosts of Pompeii"
















Tips 
My number one tip for entering an anthology contest is to follow the directions! There are specifications regarding genre and word count. If you don't follow the directions, you will be disqualified. My second tip is to have an editor or beta reader look at your work before you submit it. Another set of eyes can help catch plot discrepancies and grammar errors. My third tip, which is really more of a comment, is that you shouldn't get upset if you don't win. There are many wonderful writers out there, and I'm sure it's a difficult job to pick winners. Pat yourself on the back for submitting something. That in itself is an accomplishment!

Bio
Ellis' books include Don't Feed the Elephant; Ten Zany Birds; That Mama is a Grouch; That Baby Woke Me Up, AGAIN; Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China; and Bubba and Squirt's Mayan Adventure. 

She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information about her work, she invites you to visit her websites at www.sherryellis.org and www.bubbaandsquirt.org.

Website|Blog| Facebook| Goodreads| Twitter| Amazon






Alex J. Cavanaugh
a.k.a. the Ninja Captain
Tips
First, know that every reader and every writer sees things differently. That really becomes obvious to me when the admins vote and at first those votes seem to be all over the place. Tastes differ and no one writer will please everyone. So don’t try.

Character is important. The main characters really have to shine and appeal to people. They don’t have to be great – they might even be a bit deplorable! But there has to be something redeemable about them, something we can connect to.

And the same with the story. We have to connect. We need to feel a sense of urgency and like it’s a real story unfolding. It comes down to – do I buy it? Does it feel real? And doesn’t matter the setting – fantasy, science fiction, real life, whatever. It still needs to feel real.

When reading the submissions, there are so many good ones. A lot! But only the great ones are sent to the judges. So writers need to send something great.

Bio
All of us in the Insecure Writer's Support Group know and appreciate its founder Alex J. Cavanaugh, a.k.a. the Ninja Captain.  He is a fan of all things science fiction, and his interests range from books and movies to music and games.  Alex has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design, graphics, and technical editing.  Alex is the author of Amazon bestsellers CassaStar, CassaFire, CassaStorm, and Dragon of the Stars. 

Take a Chance!  Submit an Entry!  
Here are the details for the 2020 IWSG Anthology Contest:
Guidelines and rules: 

Word count: 4500-6000

Genre: Science Fiction

Theme: Dark Matter

Submissions accepted: May 6 - September 2, 2020

How to enter:
Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your full contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.

Judging:
The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:  Dan Koboldt, Lynda R. Young, Colleen Oefelein, Damien Larkin, Ion Newcombe, Julie Gwinn, and David Powers King.

Prizes:
The winning stories will be edited and published by Dancing Lemur Press
imprint Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will
receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will
have the honor of giving the anthology its title. Please see their website for
general guidelines on the types of stories they publish.



Coming on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 . . .
Next week more of the authors in Voyagers and Dancing Lemur Press publisher Diane L. Wolfe  will share writing tips for this year's contestants.







Till next time ~
Fundy Blue








Reviews of Voyagers: The Third Ghost:

1. Check out a review by author Beverly Stowe McClure at Goodreads. Beverly has just
published her latest teen novel Gabe's Guardian Angel.

2. Here's another by a teen named Julia who reviews YA books, middle grade, and adult books
at her blog Pages for Thoughts.

3. Roland Clarke's Bookshelf Review at his website Writing Wings features Voyagers:  
The Third Ghost.

Interviews with Authors:

1. Yvonne Ventresca with Stacy Horan at The Bookshop at the End of the Internet

2.  Sherry Ellis with June McCrary Jacobs at Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic 

3. Roland Clarke with Laura Wolfe at The Sustainable Writer

Blog Features:

1. Voyager Authors with Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress (Part 1)

2. Voyager Authors with Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress (Part 2)

Events:

1. May and June - Stormdance Publications https://stormdancebooks.junetakey.com/blog/

2. At various times - IWSG Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theiwsg/

3. Wednesday, June 9 and 11, 2020 . . . A great opportunity to learn about promoting your book! Diane, the publisher of our IWSG anthologies, will be hosting two webinars: June 9th: How to Promote Your Book Now Part 1 Cost: $10.00 US dollars June 11th: How to Promote Your Book Now Part 2 Cost: $10.00 US dollarsEllis
Register at:      
     https://www.eztalks.com/r/956771777 & https://www.eztalks.com/r/978993990



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You can order a copy of
VOYAGERS: The Third Ghost 
at the links below.

Print 9781939844729 $13.95
EBook 9781939844736 $4.99

Juvenile Fiction - Historical / Action & Adventure /
Fantasy & Magic




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