The winner is in!

The winner of my first (on the blog) giveaway is Alex J. Cavanaugh! Congratulations, Alex! Whoop, Whoop. I will email you shortly.

Don't be afraid (IWSG)

Thank you so much to Alex, his co-hosts and the entire IWSG team for having made 2015 such a great year. You guys are amazing. 

Today I'm not going to share my insecurities, even though I have plenty. Instead, I want to encourage everyone to embrace who they are, as a person and writer. Don't be like me, afraid of everything. Be proud to be a writer. Be proud to be yourself. Just when I think I'm comfortable being myself, someone mentions something I don't want to hear and my confidence as a person and writer goes crashing down. Please, don't let others change who you are. Be you. Unafraid and unashamed.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the talented Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh so that writers can share their insecurities and/or encourage others who need support with their own. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Getting personal . . . How much do you read a day?

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." - Stephen King.

Hey! I like Stephen King. But I feel like he's talking about me in the above quite. I enjoy reading. I love writing. But how much does one need to read a day for it to be considered reading? The past few months I've decided to keep my reading for bedtime. Because it's so late, I don't end up reading a lot. Maybe a few pages, sometimes a whole chapter. Do you think that's enough? I do.

I bring this up because me and my cousin have been talking about books. We don't read the same authors, but she reads a lot more than me, even though she has an actual day job. She probably averages a book a day, while I probably read a book a month. I know, know! I can feel you rolling your eyes at me. But is reading a book a month acceptable for a writer?

Well, I have a reason for it. When I write, I don't read books in my genre. Mostly non-fiction. However, when I edit, I can read anything I like without it competing or messing with my own ideas/ creativity. When editing, I tend to read a lot more, than when I'm writing.

So, how much time do you spend reading a day? Am I a bad reader? Let me know.


Exciting news!
Everyone who leaves a comment on this post will be entered into a draw and one person will win an e-book of The Amaranthine, by yours truly. Just mention in the comment whether you would like an E-pub or Mobi version. The winner will be announced on Thursday. Good-luck!

Not for everyone

Every writer has their own process of creating their works. I truly believe that. What starts muddling things up for me, is when the legends in writing start giving advice and instead of holding true to our own unique creation processes, we change what works, to do what the legend does. After all, their works are legendary. What makes me qualified to ignore their expert advice? I have the answer. The fact that my brain works differently.

When I decided that I would like to be a published writer, I started reading up on the craft of writing. All those books advise you to find a critique group, or ask a few fellow writers to critique your work and after that, find beta readers to go over your manuscript again. So, that is exactly what I did. I won't lie, their feedback was invaluable. I learned a lot.

Having said the above, my personality and writing doesn't do well during those two processes. I was so insecure during the critiquing process of my first book, that if someone said I should add a clown, I did. After all, this was my first book, what do I know? It was nobody's fault, but my own. I didn't know better.

Having now been through the whole process and having published a novel, I want to do things a bit differently next time. So, no critique partners this time around. Just me and my editor. I may try the beta readers process again, but I also may not. Still not decided on this one. If people hate my book, because they didn't like the story, or how the novel unfolded and it's true to my vision, then fine. I can deal with that. But presenting a book I'm proud of and which holds true to my artistic vision is the most important thing for me at the moment. No more people pleasing. I just can't please everyone.

I'm still stuck with book 2, but I'm slowly returning to a functional human again. So, hopefully the rewrites of book 2 will come along better now.

So, do you prefer working with critique partners, or without them?

Update

Hello friends. How is everyone doing? Well, I hope. 

November hasn’t been such a good month for me. We had some family drama, then my aunt died, making my mom the last of her family. Also, I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I’m still undergoing various tests to figure out which one exactly. I’ve had problems with my hands, especially my fingers for months and I was referred to a rheumatologist and I finally got an appointment yesterday. I still don’t know how I feel about having an autoimmune disease, possibly rheumatoid arthritis.

It’s just been an emotional three weeks and I was too much of a mess to keep up with blogging, or my other social media obligations. But I hope everyone is doing good. 

See you soon

Hello friends

Due to personal reasons I will not be online for a while. Please take good care of yourselves.

So what? (IWSG)

Book 2 hasn't been playing along. It's in worse shape than when I initially started. Is that even possible? Apparently. But, so what? Every book is different, or at least for me it is. This book might take a little longer to whip into shape, but I can do it.

I have noticed that we writers tend to be way too hard on ourselves. Maybe because we have this idea that everything should be perfect, or at least, our writing should be perfect. While achieving that idea of perfection, we drive ourselves crazy, literally. "My writing is terrible." "I'm a failure." And we believe those lies. All because our writing doesn't want to work out how we want it, at that moment.

I don't know about you, but I think we should give ourselves a bit of a break. Yes, our first drafts are a mess, but the second and third won't be. Next time you find yourself freaking out, ask yourself "so what?" So what if I can't find the right word for this sentence now, I will later.

Have a great day, everyone.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the talented Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh so that writers can share their insecurities and/or encourage others who need support with their own. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.