Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!
We’re glad you’re here! It's the First
Wednesday of the month; when we celebrate IWSG Day
in the form of a blog hop featuring all of the members of the Insecure Writer's
Support Group. Founded by
author Alex Cavanaugh (Thank you, Captain!) and fostered by
like-minded associates, IWSG is a comfortable place to share views and literary
news from our perspective writing desks as we record our journeys. Check out
the November newsletter here
Our awesome
co-hosts this month are: Douglas Thomas
Greening, Nick Wilford, Diane
Burton , and Yours truly, me – diedre Knight! Feel free to hop around and say hello to everyone!
The optional question for this month is: November is
National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?
The optional
question brings to mind a quote:
“I write only when
inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock
sharp.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham
I admire
anyone for whom inspiration strikes on a regular basis. More so those who can
readily seize the moment – at the moment
– that it hits. Wistful sigh. Between
work, kids, and caring for elderly family members, I’ve never felt like I had
the time required for a commitment as monumental as achieving a specific word
count in a month seems. Now that things have slowed down considerably, I like
to think there’s still time to try it one day. How about you? Are you
feverishly typing to meet your daily word count? If so, is this your first
time?
What I find
most intriguing about the challenge is not so much the emphasis on daily word
count but how much every word counts. For the next 30 days, “Less is more” will
be the last thing on your mind, and you can even forget about commas – for now,
as you’re encouraged to write your heart out every day without a care or much
of a clue as to where you might end up. Instead, you chase an idea like you
would a kite with a tail made of words and an endless supply of string. I can’t
think of anything more stimulating!
“End each day
mid-sentence,”
Before you
know it, it’ll be time to think about commas again, and perhaps a host of other
grammar issues. Think of it as cleaning the bugs off the windshield after a
long drive, but don’t even think of trying this alone! We writers just aren’t
good at seeing our own faults, and editors love their jobs ;-)
Notable
events in November:
The first UK
newspaper crossword puzzle appeared in the Sunday Express in 1924 – Closely
followed by the first Book of Crossword Puzzles, which was printed by Simon and
Schuster (also in 1924), and came with a pencil. As you might guess, it was an
instant success. How are you at working crossword puzzles? Care to try one here?
What began
as a humble railway bookstall opened in 1792 by Henry Walton Smith and his
wife, Anna, would more than stand the test of time. Spanning over 200 years in
continuous operation, the success of WH Smith bookstalls can easily be
attributed to the enduring entrepreneurial flair employed by multiple
generations of the same enterprising family. In 1905 when William Henry Smith
faced steep rent increases at most of his railway stations, he opened 150 new
shops on busy “high” streets, ensuring that when the rails were no longer
popular, his stores would still be in business. In 1966 yet another Smith
created a Standard Book Numbering system for their “circulating library,” which
soon became the international standard or ISBN. The last family member left the
board in 1996.
Have an
inspiring month!
