Cat Coats For Rapid Rescues

Happy December, everyone! And, on this, the first Wednesday of the month (every month except January 2020 when we convene on the 8^th) – Happy Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day! It’s an online gathering of authors, writers, bloggers and poets – anyone who dares put pen to paper or fingers to keys - where you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to share our writing journeys!

Feel free to meander and mingle. Our gracious co-hosts this month are:

Tonja Drecker, Beverly Stowe McClure, Nicki Elson, Tyrean Martinson!

For member news and fresh and witty movie reviews, the thoughtful blogs of our esteemed founder, Alex Cavanaugh, are well worth a visit. In addition, the IWSG Monthly Newsletters keep us all up to date on contest winners and upcoming events.

Congratulations are in order for the winners (announced today) of this year’s Anthology contest! High Fives to those of us with endless possibilities yet to pursue. An excellent place to start is IWSG’s own complimentary list of publishing options.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit” ~ Richard Bach

Not that we had any reason whatsoever to need it this Thanksgiving, but the subject of ketchup did come up in teasing conversation …Anyway, ketchup has always been one of those words that give me (slight) grammatical pause; is it Ketchup, or Catsup? I’ve always gone with the wording on Heinz labels, and hoped my readers wouldn’t mind ;-) I am happy to report that seasoned editor Robert Lee Brewer, at Writer’s Digest suggests that either is A-Okay!

Have you had a good writing year?

I’m well into reading my fifteenth book of the year. I’ve two rejections for three submissions (so far) this year. Can’t win them all, right? My second private novel is in the early stages of production, and I’ve all but completed an entire remake of my seven-year-old website, including new interactive features, and inspirational plans for future development.  Funny, the year sure seemed busier than it looks in print. Ah, the joys of self-employment ; -)

Optional Question of the Month:  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?

My future writer-self would be much more relaxed and would want to reflect fondly on every moment spent bravely disclosing notions of once contending stories, ever clamoring for release. She would own and completely adore at least one deceptively small full-service publishing company, fronted by a charming Café & Bookstore (complete with storefront writing nooks) hosted by a clowder of tortoiseshell cats who would also attend our monthly story-exchanges; promptly at sunset.    

The writer I am today has serious concerns about completing goals before the passage of time diminishes the ability to do so. When creativity flows in a river of expressive prose, it’s a writer’s paradise. But, you can’t predict the rapids that rip your raft to shreds when everyday life intervenes. With that in mind, I plan to propose the allocation of fourteen days per month strictly for writing - hypothetically speaking, of course.  I think my boss will understand ;-)

Did You Know?

As ideal as full-time writing might sound many, if not most writers do have jobs to cover bills and hunger pangs. Famed poet T.S. Eliot was a bank clerk and a publisher, author Harper Lee was an airline ticket agent, and JD Salinger was, among other things, a director of cruise ship activities.

Happy Writing!

Merry Christmas!

Captive Occupations

While our New England neighbors are without a doubt joyously engaged in the annual practice of “Leaf-peeping” (I love this phrase!) and experiencing a spike in tourism as well, here in the Sonoran desert as Monarchs migrate south, we gape in apprehensive awe at Raptors in flight, often flying so low and so close you can almost feel their wings brush your skin. With the exception of Scavenger birds such as Vultures who consider anything that dies on the highway fair game, and cause for a party (tiny electric cars beware), the Harris’s Hawks are the only regional birds of prey observed to hunt in family groups, and only in the Sonoran desert. Now is the best time of year to visit the best place to see these magnificent Raptor flights at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – if you happen to be in our neck of the Saguaros.  Happy Gaping!

Welcome to November, everyone! And, on this, the first Wednesday of the month (every month) – Happy Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day! It’s an online gathering of authors, writers, bloggers and poets – anyone who dares put pen to paper or fingers to keys - where you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to share our writing journeys!

Feel free to meander and mingle. Our gracious co-hosts this month are:

Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie!

For member news and fresh and witty movie reviews, our esteemed founder, Alex Cavanaugh has it all!  

As For Me:

Of late, there seems to be a lot of fuss about writing characters not of your own identity. Without extensive research or personal experience, I can understand the concern for unintended misrepresentations. However, if general interpretations are not derived from open minds, as they were for at least one famous author I could (but won’t) name, it would appear that heroic plants make less controversial characters. Here are some personal testimonies on “Writing the Other” we could post on a sticky note as we go boldly forth in National Novel Writing Month.

How’s this for an occupation:  No-Content Publishing. Can you believe it? I had to know more. And now that I do, I’m truly amazed at the brilliance of the idea itself, let alone the marketing strategy.

IWSG Optional Question of the Month:  What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever googled in researching a story?

Because we see more and more instances these days, I looked up Shoe Tossing. I had an idea that the reasons for the practice might well be somewhat nefarious since evidence seemed to suggest it happened to Johnny Ringo (whose occupation, by the way, is listed as “Outlaw”) as his boots were found strung together and hanging on the saddle of his horse, a half-mile away from where Johnny’s lifeless body was found on the bank of Turkey Creek. While Doc Holladay may not have been his actual Huckleberry, it was Johnny himself who tied – and tossed - his own boots to keep them free of scorpions while he napped in the shade of an Oak tree. I can’t express how vindicated I felt to learn that what I’ve been preaching about scorpions since before I reached the height of a grasshopper is absolutely real!

Having watched two movies in the same month that referenced such an event (NEXT, and RAISING DION), I looked up fish rain. I imagine my (earlier) interest in electric shock drowning (by lightning) might have raised a few eyebrows. Do you suppose I’d get a roundhouse gasp for combining both events in the same story?

Fun Facts:

Children born in autumn are generally more studious in school, and tend to live well into their nineties! 

Happy Writing!

The Tiger and The Wind

Welcome, all! You’re just in time for the monthly (1^st Wednesday) on-line gathering of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to share our writing journeys!

Feel free to meander and mingle. Our gracious co-hosts this month are:

Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a writing rut, or in need of the perfect timesaving writing tool, this month’s IWSG Newsletter offers invaluable insight and excellent tips for both!

For member news and clever and witty movie reviews, our founder, Alex Cavanaugh, has it all!  

Happy October! It’s National Name Your Car Day! 

Have you ever named a vehicle? I once had a Mini Van that I named Tony, as in the tiger you could put in your tank along those endless summer road-trips. Tony’s previous owners had evidently been on a road adventure when they limped him into our parking lot one exceedingly hot summer day. The knocking rod sounded ominous at best. When we handed the harried owners an estimate, they handed us the title and walked away. It wasn’t hard to understand their frustration, but they left behind a mystery I’ve pondered ever since.

Under the passenger seat was a dusty unaddressed postcard from Boston. The only words on the back were “The wind” That’s it. No greeting, no punctuation. An unfinished thought on a card never sent. But why?

And whatever happened to Postcards?

An idea likely arising from the illustrated (picture) envelopes of the 1850s, the Postcard didn’t exactly dive into the U.S. Mail stream until Congress passed an act in 1861 allowing privately printed cards, which eliminated the need for an envelope, to be sent by mail at the cost of a penny each. It was John P. Charlton, a Philadelphia printer who copyrighted the very first American postcard in December of that year. Not quite ten years later, Charlton’s business associate began reissuing Charlton’s cards under his own name; Hyman Lipman. Meanwhile, in 1872 the government began producing its own “postcards” for a penny and raised the cost for non-governmental cards to two cents each.

Nevertheless, thirty years and numerous acts and measures later came the “Golden Age of Postcards”; the vast popularity of which led quite naturally to the “Real Photo” era facilitated by the Kodak “Postcard Camera.”

And just when interest began to wane in sending as well as printing the card-shaped carriers of abbreviated messages from afar, a new printing process was devised using a higher rag content, and the Linen Card was born. The linen cards achieved such worldwide popularity they remained in circulation long after the advent of the colorful and enthusiastically accepted Photochrome card.

Union Oil Company began selling the cards; depicting realistic images, in their western service stations in 1939 and while sales remain steady, it is attributed more to nostalgia than for the purpose of brief communications.

Have you ever sent or received a postcard? I wish I had, though brevity is not my strong point ; - )  In many ways I couldn’t do without today’s technology, in other ways I lament the loss of the personal connection, the genuine warmth that comes across in a hand-written note – even if my letters often do exceed the limits of a short story ; - )

On the subject of Short Stories, a Portmanteau (or, Collection) called The Haunted House was first published in 1859 for the weekly periodical “All the Year Round” It was conducted by Charles Dickens; who wrote three of the eight stories compiled in the collection. Could this have been the first-ever Anthology?

Happy Writing!

Writing in the midst

Welcome, all! You’re just in time for the monthly (1^st Wednesday) on-line gathering of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to  share our writing journeys!

Feel free to meander and mingle. Our gracious co-hosts this month are:

Gwen Gardner, Doreen McGettigan, Tyrean Martinson, Chemist Ken, and Cathrina Constantine!

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a writing rut, or in need of the perfect timesaving writing tool, this month’s IWSG Newsletter  offers invaluable insight and excellent tips for both!

For member news and often funny movie reviews, our founder, Alex Cavanaugh has it all!   

September is “Be Kind to Writers and Editors Month!

And here is our optional question:

If you could pick one place in the world to sit and write your next story, where would it be and why?

What a stimulating question! Words are already beginning to form and gather like clouds spoiling for a storm in the tranquil sky of a story I’ve yet to write. But where would I write it? There’d have to be windows that open to fragrant views, the sounds of chirping birds spurring every sentence. A bee or two for subtle pause; a harbinger, a hint. And on a gentle breeze the scent of confidence. Or sandalwood. Both would be great ;- )

I wrote my first YA novel, inspired by a crumbling Lighthouse in Mexico. It looked similar to this (also crumbling) lighthouse on England’s Isle of Wight:

In terms of a quiet refuge in which to advance that subconscious first draft into a work in progress, is there anything as compelling as a cozy, nearby treehouse? I’d want mine to look like this:

Ever since I learned that Harlan Ellison wrote at a desk in storefront windows, bravely posting his stories on the glass for passersby to peruse, I’ve wanted to try it as well. Talk about subjects in action!  I rather like the idea of instant – and honest – gratification. Even if sometimes there is rejection. I’d pick a storefront like this (If they’d have me – ha!)

The most important thing, to me, at least, is being comfortable where ever I write; surrounded by familiar sounds and scents, books I love, and tons of inspiring views. For me, there’s just no place like home. Once in a while, I even have an audience ;- )

Where is your ‘happy place’?  What is your favorite writing tool? What are you reading?

Happy Writing!

Missed Callings

Welcome, all! You’re just in time for the monthly (1^st Wednesday) on-line gathering of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to  share our writing journeys! 

Feel free to meander and mingle. Our gracious co-hosts this month are:

Renee Scattergood, Sadira Stone, Jacqui Murray, Tamara Narayan, and LG Keltner!

For member news and often funny movie reviews, our founder, Alex Cavanaugh has it all!  

  

In fact, if not for his thoughtful review, I might not have watched SHAZAM during our first annual 4^th of July Movie Night in the Woods! There were giggles and snickers all around, and judging by the satisfied grins, the special recipe S’Mores were the perfect addition.

Then, it was back to the old summer grind; work for most, joyous play for others, and then there was me, coming to the realization that some callings are better off missed. For instance, thinking at age 4 that I would one day be a school teacher. Granted, the odds are stacked against success during summer break when cellphones and video games are much more appealing. On the bright side, I am a formidable Hall Monitor ;-)

On an even brighter side, I’ve amassed over 8500 words (various projects) and read two books. I’ve missed only one submission deadline, and am looking confidently forward to a few that loom in the near future! 

August 7 question: Has your writing ever taken you by surprise? For example, a positive belated response to a submission you’d forgotten about or an ending you never saw coming? Oh, yes! I love sweet surprises. Tortilla Bandits comes to mind. Unintended endings are as much fun as unplanned beginnings ;-)

But, enough about me. Has your summer been relaxing? Inspiring? How so?

Happy Writing!

 P.S. My computer crashed a week ago. I can't yet upload things like pics and IWSG badges!? sigh.