It’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group Post! Doesn’t seem like it should be the first Wednesday in May but here we are … Every writer struggles with insecurity. Each one of us has looked at their work and wanted to toss the computer out the nearest window. One way to combat that feeling…
How is a writer supposed to find inspiration in today’s world? With the pandemic raging and the political upheaval and climate change … how can you keep your muse healthy? One thing that inspires me is reading. I’ll admit it’s getting harder to find good science fiction or fantasy that inspires me rather than bringing…
It’s once again time for our Insecure Writer’s Support Group post! As I just received another form rejection, it’s a good time to rethink insecurity. I did get a nice personalized rejection last month for one story, though, and the editor said to send him something else next time they had an anthology call out.…
Many writers struggle with “writer’s block.” They say they just don’t feel inspired to write, that the muse just isn’t there any longer. I call bullshit on that idea. Writing –professional writing, that is, where you expect a paycheck — isn’t something you only do when you feel the hand of God reaching down from…
People are always interested in how writers work. How do I do my research and how do I organize my writing? Let’s take a look at my process. First of all, I do most of my research on the internet. Sometimes, if I have a particularly interesting setting, or one I’m using often, I’ll pay…
Can you believe it’s February already? Time for another issue of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’m feeling a bit more insecure than usual. I found out by accident that I wasn’t selected for our “Dark Matter” anthology (didn’t even get a form rejection, either), and Zombies Need Brains rejected both of the stories I…
Just got two form rejections from Zombies Need Brains. Form rejections suck. They didn’t like the “Modern Deity’s Guide to Surviving Humanity” humor piece or the velyr “When Worlds Collide” story. Of course they did get 1400 submissions when they only had 20 slots available so I guess it’s not horrible. I may try reworking…
A writing pal of mine suggested I submit the historical fiction novels to the UK publisher who handles his books. I’ve sent in a query letter and we’ll see what they say in a week or two. I’d have let my agent handle it, but she said I could do it, which either means she’s…
It’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. We’ve seen the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one. May 2021 be far kinder than 2020 ever was. May any creativity we lost during the old year be returned threefold in the new. May the asteroids miss Earth, and the…
In two days I will be 60. That just can’t be right, can it? I can’t say I’ve been a writer all those years, though I have been a storyteller since I could speak coherently. My early writing is unpublished and rightly so! However, I feel I’ve progressed as a writer until the point where…