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?
 ______________________

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?
 ______________________

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?

__________________________________________

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)

 

What We're Famous For, 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 is your area of the world known for (in your opinion)?
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I live in Hillsborough, North Carolina, United States. Chance are high that, unless you're relatively local, you've never heard of it. It's a nice little town. Roughly 10,000 people including a mixture of "townies" (people who live downtown), housing development/neighborhood folks (like me), and more rural or agrarian settings. 

Hillsborough's main claim to fame is the Revolutionary War/Colonial era in American History. Lots of state politics included meetings or people in Hillsborough, and even some national. There's also a Scottish connection that got Hillsborough mentioned in the famous Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon and the television adaptation. 

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These days, Hillsborough has a reputation as a great place for writers and artists. We've got a pretty robust literary community for such a small place. There must be something in the water. 

In fact, I joke that you can't throw a stone without hitting a writer in Hillsborough. Some of the ones you might have heard of are: Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle, Allan Gurganus, Michael Malone, Annie Dillard, Hal Crowther, Frances Mayes, and David Payne. 

Of course, there are also less famous working writers around here too, like me! Some of my writing friends from Hillsborough include James Maxey, Adrienne Moore, Jane Buehler, and Barbara Claypole White. (They're all fabulous, by the way, and you should read their books!)

I've lived here seventeen years, so I don't count as local yet (by Southern United States standards, I think it takes three generations before you count as local), but I've come to love my adopted hometown. We have truly lovely parks, a good range of businesses, and lots of social opportunities that stay small enough for an introvert like me to actually enjoy them. 

Let me know if you want to come visit! I'd love to show it off!

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IWSG: The end of an era

   

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 August 7 posting of the IWSG are Feather Stone, Kim Lajevardi, Diedre Knight, C. Lee McKenzie, and Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen!

August 7 question - Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio?

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I'm tired of talking about AI right now. If you want to see what I've already said about it, you can find it here, here, and here. The short version: there are ethical issues to sort out and I'm not interested for the most part right now, but may be open to it at another time. 

So, instead, let me share my big writing news: 

I FINISHED MY SERIES!

The Menopausal Superhero Series has been a ten year journey in the creation of five novels, two novellas, and a collection of shorts (and an omnibus edition!)

The series, where it's stood since 2021

It's been a roller coaster!

• from the contract signing 

• to the end of my first publisher relationship 

• and into my new partnership with Falstaff Books 

• and the rebrand there. 

• There was that time I had a book launch party with no books. 

• And that time I had to do a complete revise and resubmit because I tried to rush and the book wasn't ready. 

• Then there was getting back in after a two-year hiatus while the publishing drama worked itself out. 

• Finally there was writing the series ender, a whole new level of writing challenge, especially for a pantser like me. 

But here I am, ten years later and I've turned in the final book and can expect publication in summer 2025! I can't wait for y'all to see it. I'm feeling good about my ending. 

Pumpkin is proud of me, too.

So, what am I doing now? Celebrating! 

And nerd that I am, I'm celebrating by writing something entirely new, my first foray into romance. Watch this space for more :-)

The Role of Feedback in a Writing Life, 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.

At which stage of the writing process do you seek feedback and from whom?
 ______________________

Feedback is a tricky beast. Good feedback can be invaluable. It can help you figure out problems with your work, let you know what is and isn't working and how much of what was in your brain is actually there on the page. 

But feedback can also be useless or actively harmful. I've definitely been in critique situations with toxic people or people who were so conflict adverse that "feedback" was just blowing sunshine. Mutual admiration is lovely when it's sincere, but kind of useless for improving your craft. 

So that's why that second bit ("from whom") matters. 

My own process varies. Sometimes I tunnel away and work on something for a long time before I let anyone know what I'm doing. Sometimes I want to hash out ideas with a sounding board friend before I put fingers to keyboard at all. Sometimes I feel stuck partway through and I want someone to read what I've got and help me figure out why it's not working. 

But no matter where I am in the process and what kind of feedback I want, I have a trusted set of folks I turn to for that. Here they are: 

There's my Sweetman. 

1. My husband. He's great for the "sounding board" bit of things--helping me flesh out a vague idea or troubleshoot the problems with an idea I'm already working on. He's supportive and never tries to take over or fall into "you should" sorts of directions. But I know he really wants me to succeed, and more importantly, to be happy with my creations. 

(sometimes my kids, my mom, and my sister help me with this part, too, but it's mostly him)

Most of "Works in Progress" on a retreat

2. My long-standing critique group. I've been working with a group of fellow writers for about 16 years now. The exact membership of the group has shifted over time, as people moved, retired, or just left the group and new members have come in, but Works in Progress has nourished my work for all these years.

They helped me establish regular writing habits and start finishing things. They've helped me figure out why something wasn't working. They've helped me polish up my work and make it shine brighter. What I love about them is that they come to critique with a heart to help. We all want to see one another succeed. 

3.  I call my other writing group the Dulce Writing Group because that's the name of the café where we meet when we meet in person. I've only been working with Michael, Emily, and Sarah a few months, but it's already made a tremendous difference in my writing life. I fully credit the three of them with helping me figure out how to end my Menopausal Superhero series, a task that had been kicking my butt these past three years. (Coming your way in 2025!)

We came together because we share a publisher and we're all at a similar stage of career and development of our craft. Since all of us are striving to build a career, we have a lot to offer one another in terms of inside information on publishers and area events as well as the writing itself. 

4. Professional editing. Most of my writing is published through small presses, so generally an editor is assigned to me. Over the years, and different publishers, I've received a range of editing feedback, but I've learned something to improve my work each and every time. 

Of course, this comes late in the process, after you've already made your book the best you can on your own. Fresh eyes on the finished work are invaluable for finding any gaps or confusing sections of your work. And if those eyes belong to a seasoned professional who understands genre expectations as well as grammar and conventions, well, sign me up!

5. Reviews. Lastly, I look to the reviews that readers post about my books. (BTW: If you've read my work, please leave a review!) This is tricky because no one's book is for everyone and the hate can be strongly worded and hard to take sometimes. 

One could argue that feedback is too late at this point--the cow's already out of the barn! But, there is value in reading for trends and seeing what you can learn that will make your next book better. So, I do read my reviews, but I choose my timing carefully and run all that feedback through a hard core mental sifter to separate the useful tidbits from the rest. 

However you're seeking feedback, I recommend talking first--setting mutual expectations to what "feedback" will entail in this case. Learning can be uncomfortable, but if it's painful, you might need a different teacher. You'll need a mixture of humility and chutzpah to make it as a writer and finding the right feedback can keep you balanced. 

Check out the rest of the hop to see what my colleagues have to say about the role of feedback in their work. 

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