Insecure Writer's Support Group

www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
Founder: Alex J. Cavanaugh

Happy New Year, everyone! 2020 is here, and with the new month comes another installment of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Visit the websites above to join in with our founder and this month's co-hosts.

When I take a break from blogging, I get the itch to post again, and I'm grateful for that. It means I still want to blog! The break was much needed, and I hope to get back in the swing of things and visiting other blogs again.

This month's question is: What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just "know" suddenly you wanted to write?

Some who follow me may remember that my first urge to write came from a tv show: X-Men: The Animated Series. I wanted to write a book about teenage mutants (not of the ninja turtle variety, although that was one of my favorite shows, too). I wrote and illustrated those books for about 7 years before I moved on. I keep saying I'll revamp that series, and I'm slowly, slowly doing so. We'll see what happens.

A quick reminder that #IWSGPit starts next Wednesday from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. If your new year's resolution is to see your book published, the IWSG is here to help! Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch - it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.

Here are the rules: Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On January 15, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.

See you next Wednesday!

Insecure Writer's Support Group

It's the first Wednesday of the last month! That means it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Stop by the IWSG website and also visit Alex J. Cavanaugh and this month's co-hosts.

This month's optional question is: 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?
If all finally goes according to plan, my future writer self will have at least 5 published books, some maybe even traditionally, and a movie out there. I'd also get to tour and win a few awards. That would be nice.

How about you all? Thanks for stopping by!

Taking a Break

Dagonit, it's Thursday.

I'm just going to take a break for the rest of the year. I have a lot on my mind right now. Hopefully, I'll be up to blogging again in January, but I will still have my Insecure Writers' Support Group post up in December.

Have a great Thanksgiving (it's my favorite holiday), and enjoy the rest of Fall!

Wednesday Words: When She Reigns by Jodi Meadows

Oh my gosh, it's still Wednesday at least. So, this is usually the day where I share what I am reading, so now it's the night. Ah well. I'm really excited about this one.

Eeee, it's here! Thank you @jodimeadows for making me part of this journey! This series is amazing! pic.twitter.com/aeyQETuxJn

— Debra Renée Byrd, author (@DebTheAuthor) September 10, 2019

We've come to the final installment of Jodi Meadows's Fallen Isles Trilogy: When She Reigns. I'm still so blessed to have been a sensitivity reader for Jodi through this, and by this book, I was just basically a beta reader. I'm already halfway through the book, and there's so many things I can share. This time, though, the blurb speaks volumes, and because it's already 9PM, I'm going to go ahead and share that for you all.

THE FIRST DRAGON
The Great Abandonment has begun. Panic has seized the Fallen Isles, where no one knows which god will rise next. Mira Minkoba believes her dreams hold the secret to bringing an end to the destruction, but in order to save her people, she'll have to find a legendary treasure: the bones of the first dragon.

THE LAST HOPE
Mira's desperate search leads the Hopebearer and her friends on a dangerous journey into the heart of enemy territory: the Algotti Empire itself. The empress is more than willing to help--for an impossible price. And as tensions escalate beneath the shadows of the risen gods, Mira grapples with a terrifying question: What will she have to sacrifice to preserve what she loves?

I love it.

What are you reading this month?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Happy Turkey Month! It's already November, and that means it's time for another installment of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh and his co-hosts for this month for keeping this bloghop alive so we writers can support each other through our highs and our lows in writing and life!

To join in with us, visit the IWSG Site to sign up!

I'll be on the road when this goes live. This year has been quite a whirlwind: my mom getting a scary cancer diagnosis and helping care for her, travel to chemo appointments with her, moving her in and out of various houses (she was with her friend first while she went through the hardest part, then my little sister and I, and now she's permanently in an in-law suite with my big sister, and she's loving it!), self-publishing my book, and now unfortunately getting my own bad health news.

And first off, sorry to be a downer this month!

Not even 2 weeks ago yet, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. I'd suspected it when the first biopsy came back negative for non-Hodgkin and my neck swelling didn't go down, but I waited until I had more worrisome lymph nodes start to swell up, and that's when I had the surgery I mentioned a post or so ago. Telling my friends is the hardest part, but they're so supportive. It's just been an overwhelming few days, though. If you're the praying type, I'll take those as well as positive thoughts.

Writing wise, I'm actually doing the cardinal no-no of editing something I haven't finished. I've always done that, so screw the rules and play the game. It's my NA Fantasy, and there were things that weren't making sense to me, so I have fix those before I continue, or I'll have even more work on my hands later. Has anyone else ever done that?

All righty, this is longer than I like these to be. The monthly question is: What's the strangest thing you've ever googled in researching a story?

I know there has to be one thing I've googled, but I can't think of it. Probably baobab fruit haha. But also, my mom's a nurse, so we grew up with medical dictionaries in the house. I spent many days looking through the biggest one for my fan fictions. Cardiomyopathy might have been one of the weirder things I looked up, because I liked to kill off love interests with heart diseases. I've grown out of that. A little bit.

Have a great November!

Monthly Review & Quarterly Goals

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

It was Friday when I remembered that I hadn't posted a Monthly Review. I'm sorry guys. I actually had surgery on my neck a week and a half ago, so I wasn't able to look down at a screen for long periods of time.

October FLEW by. I don't even know if I did any writing. I finally finished The Bluest Eye, and that is not a book I ever want to see again. Aside from the fact that I just couldn't stay engaged in the book, the core of the events are triggering and drawn out. There was also a bad take about asexuals that turned me off, but I was almost done by that point.

I finally get to read the finished version of Jodi Meadow's When She Reigns. The series has been a journey, from making a new friend to helping her get through the scrutiny from other authors and readers for an issue that wasn't completely under her control, to encouraging her when publishers didn't push the sequels probably due to the scrutiny (like they didn't have a hand in it, but whatever), I'm so glad to have been a part of the Fallen Isles trilogy, and I can't wait to see what Jodi's fans think.

My quarterly goals are to keep writing and reading. I have a couple more ideas, one that stemmed from finally catching up on the Supernatural episodes I missed. My sister re-watched all 12 seasons she had watched, then caught up on the 13th and 14th. We both agree that the show should have ended after Season 5 the way Kripke intended, but it was a cash cow, so . . . Now, let's get my boys some counseling and new jobs to work on. Anyway, if my mind were that meme of the boy with the girlfriend looking at the other girl walking by, the boy would be me, the girlfriend would be my working in progress, and the other girl would be my new story ideas. I'm sorry, WIPs.

Don't eat too much candy tomorrow!

October Writing Update

Found on Pinterest

As I renewed my domain for another year, I realized it's Wednesday. I'm a terrible blogger.

Writing-wise, I'm reviewing and rewriting some things I did on my NA Fantasy, so that it's a little more cohesive. Some things just aren't making sense plausibly, so I need to get those kinks out before I go any further.

Sequel-wise, I've gotten a few more words down on Divided Princess. Fleshing out the characters in their new setting (no spoilers) isn't that hard, but it is fun to explore their personalities right now.

Also, I need that meme of the guy with his girlfriend, but he's watching a girl walk by. He is me; his girlfriend is my WIPs, and the other girl is new ideas, because those are popping up! I can't wait to work on them, but I think my WIPs would protest.

How has your writing been going?

Wednesday Words: Still Reading The Bluest Eye

This is going to be a short one.

So, I've been on and off reading Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye for a month now. I don't know what it is about it. It's probably one of the shortest books I've picked up in a while, and still it took me a month to get halfway through it. The chapters have a purposeful feel of being disjointed, so that could be one of the issues. It can't be that it's a period piece, because I had no problem getting through Sula. I guess some books just don't hook you the way others do.

Have you ever had that issue with a book?

IWSG: Writers Who Don't Read?

It's the last quarter of 2019! This is getting ridiculous. But, that also means it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! IWSG was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and you can visit his site as well as the official IWSG site to join us or read other writers' posts.

So, if you read my quick post last week, I didn't have food poisoning, but my stomach definitely did not agree with what I had eaten the night before. I also had a cold I wasn't aware of--I thought it was allergies until it went from my head to my chest, the normal route for colds in my body. But anyway, Tobago was BEAUTIFUL, and I would love to visit it again.

Now, IWSG has a question every month we can answer if we like. This month's is especially interesting: It's been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don't enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?

My thoughts: 1) there is nothing new under the sun. No matter how much someone may try to be original, it's already been done before in one shape or another. Thus, there are no new and original ideas, not completely.

2) Are there really writers out there who don't like to read? How did they start writing in the first place? All writers I know got their start from reading others' works. It helps you become a better writer, find your place as a writer, and it just helps broaden your horizons. I don't read as much as I used to, but I still love to read when I can.

3) And I agree, if you don't enjoy reading, how can you expect others to want to read what you write? And wouldn't be a little arrogant to not like reading others' works but write for others to read yours? In my opinion, yes.

What do you all think?

See You Next Week!

I am in Tobago with food poisoning, but I've had a great time up to this point. I'll be back with real posts next week!

Wednesday Words & September Writing Update

All right, it's 11:30 am, perfect time to be late to post.

This week, you will be getting a double dose of my posts, so first let's start wtih Wednesday Words! Typically, I share with you all what I am reading on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, but I was with my Mom last week, so I didn't remember to post until Thursday. She's recovering, and thanks for those who sent well wishes!

Following Toni Morrison's death, I vowed to read her work, because I actually hadn't read any of it. Last week, I was reading Sula, and this week I'm reading her first book, The Bluest Eye.

I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but the first page is a mind-numbing repetition of See Jane Run (I think), and then the beginning of the story starts with some heavy stuff. This book is short, so I don't want to give anything away for myself. I will say her work is a raw, unapologetic look at the life of African Americans, and I appreciate that she held strong to her view of writing for us and no one else. I'm very interested in what this book and the rest of her work has in store.

And now for a brief writing update!

I actually worked on some pre-sequel work that will never see daylight, but it did help to get my mind working. I think I actually have an ending for Divided Princess now, so I will be writing that down soon. It's bittersweet, but so was the ending of Fractured Princess.

I'm thinking of changing something I wrote out in The Queen's Daughters. I'm also trying to figure out if I want to keep it 1st person and focus on just one character or slip in 3rd person with some of the other characters. I feel like it might flesh the story out a little more, but I'm not totally sure I want to do it. There are also some factors I want to work on that might raise questions I can't answer. We'll see. Work in progress!


I'll be on vacation next week! I may do a Monthly Review; I may not. It hasn't been very eventful.

Have a great rest of your week!

I'll Be Back Next Wednesday

WHOOPS, SORRY!

I had a family emergency yesterday, so I missed Wednesday Words.

I'll add them to my post next week. <3

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Dream Writing Spot

We have entered the final four months of 2019. Can anyone believe that?! I can't.

Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a place for writers to come together, share our insecurities, and encourage each other! Visit our founder, Alex J. Cavanaugh and the co-hosts for the month. There's also an Insecure Writer's Support Group website where you can join us and visit other writers.

#IWSGPit returns to Twitter at the beginning of 2020. If you have a finished, polished manuscript you're ready to query, feel free to join in for a chance to nab an agent.

The question this month is: If you could pick one place in the world to sit and write your next story, where would it be and why?

I'm actually going to Tobago on the 23rd, so I would have to pick a secluded beach with steady weather and a tiki bar close by (I mean, I could stop writing to fish when I'm hungry, but I don't know how to). Swimming in between writing sessions sounds like a plan. What about you guys?