Seeing my Stories Through, an Open Book blog hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

How did you decide that you finally wanted to write your stories?
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I've always written--poetry and journals as a child; poetry, journals, essays, and stories as a young woman. But I was really haphazard about finishing things and seeking publication. I always let something else take precedence. I poured my creative energy into teaching, raising my kids, and building a life. And I wondered why I was feeling burnt out. 

For me, the moment of decision came when I was 42. Anyone who has read Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy knows that 42 is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, so I took that as my cue from the universe to get off my duff and take my writing life seriously. Stop playing at writing and do it for real. 

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"Doing it for real" for me meant committing to a daily writing habit and forcing myself to stay focused on a single project and bring to completion before allowing myself to chase the shiny new idea that flitted across my brain when the going got tough. It takes discipline to move from playing at writing to bringing your vision into a form where it can be shared with others. Discipline and bravery. 

I say it takes bravery because sharing your creative endeavors with the world is a highly vulnerable act. You'll meet with a mixture of responses. You may find love and support, you may find vitriol, or you may find indifference. Most of us find a little of all three.

So, that was what did it for me: I turned 42 and decided it was now or never. I chose now. 

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Words I Love, an Open Book blog hop post

  

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What's your favorite word in the English language? Any other language?
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I love words. 

That's probably no surprise given that I'm a writer, but I'm a real word nerd who loves collecting unusual words and am thrilled when I run across a word "in the wild" that I've never seen before. I was that kid who actually liked the etymology assignments. I did a series of blog posts about evocative words back in 2014 for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. 

My first writerly love was poetry, in part because of the words. 

I am, however, bad at choosing favorites. You'll get a different answer from me every time you ask me that question, I'm sure. 

I love collective nouns for animals. There's so much whimsy in them: 

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But here lately, I've been intrigued by old vocabulary. Phrases that have fallen by the wayside over the centuries. I follow several different word-nerd social media accounts just for the delight of exposure to these words.  Things like: 

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And: 

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I also used to teach Spanish, and I learned to love place names like Tegucigalpa and Guadalajara for the way they feel when you speak them aloud. My favorite Spanish word is my favorite because of mouth feel. The meaning is rather mundane: We were speaking. 

Trabajábamos

(click here to hear it pronounced)

So, there are today's answers. Ask again another day and I'll have a new favorite. I'm fickle that way :-)

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The good bits of publicity, an Open Book blog hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Many of us are frustrated by publicity. It's our least favorite part of writing. But what's your favorite part of publicity?
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Talking about my imaginary friends can be a delight, so I enjoy in-person events more than any other kind of publicity-seeking. Over the years, I have gained a lot of comfort with vending at a table and having one on one conversations with readers, and I really enjoy it when the pace is good (neither overwhelming nor lonely). 

I've got two of these events upcoming: 

Bookmarks Festival and Splatterflix Movie Festival, my next two vending venue

I also enjoy being on panels with other writers at conventions, bookstores, library events, or the like. That's half networking/socializing with other writers and half engaging with readers. It's a great opportunity to get to know other writers and build community AND, especially when the other panelists are generous with their support, a way for us to help one another reach new audiences. Someone might attend because they know one of the other writers, but stick around to hear about my work, too, just because we were paired on the panel. 

I'll be a part of one of these through Horror Writers Associations in November: 

Here lately, I've been enjoying doing panels and interview for channels on YouTube or podcasts, too. It's nice that geography doesn't have to be a limiter for a taste of some of that camaraderie. 

So far as online publicity, I enjoy blogging or writing articles about some aspect of my writing life (like this blog hop, for example!). I get a kick out of choosing pull quotes and making little images to highlight them. 

The Menopausal Superheroes, as drawn by Charles C. Dowd

For me, this doesn't feel as yucky as "buy my book" types of online marketing. It's more about trying to be clever or cute and highlighting what's cool about my story and the people in it. 

I have the best time, when I look at publicity opportunities as time to engage with other artists and the public and let go the pressure to sell a lot of books. When I feel too much pressure to sell well, the interactions get tense and weird and I don't enjoy myself (and probably neither do my potential buyers). 

What about y'all? When you have to promote something, how do you like to go about it? Or when you're receiving the promotion, what's the least annoying/most engaging? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

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Grammar school, an IWSG blog post

    

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.  The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!

September 4 question - Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

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Overall, I've been able to separate lessons meant to apply to academic essay writing from my fiction writing life. I have a tendency to use "good grammar" even in more casual writing, but that's not all bad. 

I do remember being told I couldn't start sentences with conjunctions. And that's something I do all the time now. 

I was also advised to write in full sentences and eschew fragments. Don't really do that either. 

Joking aside, I really don't spend a lot of time angst-ing over grammar. I make up words. I mix up phrases. Perfect correctness isn't necessarily right when the writing is art--fiction, poetry, plays. What matters is taking the reader with you on the journey and using words to elicit the effect you're after. 

Words are fun and stringing them together in unique ways? Even better!

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(BTW, FYI writer friends: I'm scheduling this post ahead of time because I won't be available on IWSG day--I'll still pop by and visit all your blogs as soon as I can! Thanks so much for stopping by mine)