IWSG January 2024 Loose Ends - New Beginnings

 

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 members and guests 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 as we record our journeys. Check out the January newsletter here.

The awesome co-hosts for the January 1 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Olga Godim, Natalie Aguirre, and me, diedre Knight!

 Today’s entirely optional question: Do you follow back your readers on BookBub, or do you only follow back other authors?

 

Good question. And one I’d gladly answer had I ever heard of BookBub before today’s optional query. I’ll add doing some research into BookBub to my list of New Year goals. I do know that I haven’t followed back a reader for years, and that was with a promise to let them know when I wrote the sequel to a book that about a dozen good-natured folks read and reviewed (mostly favorably!). I’ve yet to write the sequel, yet, being the operative word. This year does not look promising, but who knows?

I try to keep resolutions, plans, pledges, promises, vows – goals by any other name, to a manageable minimum so as to keep headaches to a dull roar and regrets out of the equation. That’s why I tie up loose ends first. However, the current condition of my desk suggests there’s been a struggle. I wonder who won.

The best thing about sharing your goals is giving others fuel, ammo with which to shame or coax you into completing a successful tying up of loose ends –OR- the warmth of a smile, a nod of confidence, a hug of courage that keeps your muse on the path of creativity – rather than traipsing off into Dorothy’s poppies. Support is everything. Support is something I think should be on everyone’s list to seek or provide.

Last year was, all in all, a good year in terms of writing. I have faith that this year will be even better. I even managed to read 41 books, most of which my daughter had made into miniatures that fit into a glass Christmas bulb…sometimes Christmas makes my eyes water.

 

I’m off to see how your year is getting started!

Happy writing, Happy New Year, everyone!

IWSG January 2021 Eyes On the Road Ahead

 

Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!

For the first time this year, 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 Alex Cavanaugh and fostered by like-minded associates, IWSG is a place to share the fabulous views and exciting news that occurs along our fascinating writing journeys. Pull up a chair and join us!

Our awesome co-hosts for this month’s posting of the IWSG are  Ronel Janse van Vuuren , J Lenni Dorner, Gwen Gardner Sandra Cox, and Louise - Fundy Blue!

I don’t know about you, but I’m taking the fact that this New Year began on a Friday as a good omen! Happy New Year, everyone!  

Today is National Epiphany Day! Have you had yours today?

I didn’t quite reach my goal of 52 short stories by year’s end for anyone keeping track. But, 44 out of 52 isn’t too bad, considering how uninspiring last year was.  I read 25 books and thoroughly enjoyed all but one.  Because I don’t relish the thought of getting – or giving - bad reviews, that’s all I’ll say about that for now ;-) And, thanks to my lovely daughter, I got the long-awaited blue-star tree topper!  

Fish cough. Did you just do a double-take? I sure did the first time I saw those two words strung together. I couldn’t fathom such an idea as factual. It couldn’t be true. But it is! In addition, fish yawn on occasion and are frequently known to burp as well. The perfectly scientific fact is that, let’s face it, our seas and waterways aren’t always as pristine as we’d like to think they are (and it’s not necessarily human-caused pollution.) Luckily, and likely by design, whenever bits of particulate matter becomes lodged in their gill rakes, fish are equipped to ‘cough’ them out.  Six days into the New Year, and I’m inspired!  

Fun Fact: Since founding the Imagination Library in 1995, Dolly Parton has donated 100 million books to children.

That’s all for this time, friends.  Until again, be well. Keep your eyes on the road ahead, and be inspired.

Happy writing!

Let's Not Try...

Happy New Year!

Have you put away the holiday decorations yet? Around here, there’s always at least one thing that gets forgotten in the clean-up that ends up spending the entire year by its lonesome self on a shelf inside the coat closet. This year, there were two items overlooked by Mr. Fastidious (he was in charge this year, and much more thorough than I am). First, I noticed my neighbor’s door wreath as I looked through the circle of my own. Then, I pondered how long both wreaths might remain on display as I savored a piece of chocolate I’d chosen from a wicker Santa bowl, still on my dining room table. Not bad, I’d say, considering the number of remnants we’re likely to find around the yard after an Easter Egg Hunt.

Honestly, I’m not a whip-cracker.  See, I’ve been relegated to the proverbial ‘observation deck’ since mid-December when I discovered coffee doesn’t exactly enable me to leap tall buildings, as evidenced that fateful morning I tripped over a measly step stool and broke my shoulder. They should have named me Grace. Nevertheless, this new and thankfully temporary vantage point has afforded an extraordinary perspective on holiday celebrations.

Did you tear up the town or block out the sound of New Year celebrations? I don’t think I’ve stayed up until midnight since Y2K. We were, however, awakened not long after the Old Pueblo’s first annual “Taco Drop” this year by one of our dogs barking at her own reflection in a window through which fireworks would have no doubt bedazzled her a couple of hours earlier.

Most years, I look forward to local and national recaps of the preceding year as they invariably jog some potent memory wherein the best creative juices flow.  Curiously, there seems an apparent reluctance or ambivalence in recall, for very few sources deem last year at all notable,  focusing instead on a decade of years already reviewed after each one ended. I, for one, was paying attention.

For instance, something made an historic landing on the far side of the moon (Hint: it wasn’t Pink Floyd).  A single infamous summer made headlines for the 50^th time. A few refreshing new trends have emerged in the discarding of live/cut Christmas trees. One is the placement of them, devoid of tinsel, lights, and ornaments, of course, in lakes and waterways, providing shelter for young marine life. The other, an original form of repurposing by a veteran and true American Sunbeam, (and of special interest to me of late - ha!) is the creation of handcrafted canes and walking sticks.

I didn’t get around to making plans for the New Year before I was sidelined (so to speak), but I have a list of writing projects waiting patiently in the wings for my most anxious return. How about you? Did you make any resolutions you’d be willing to shake on?

Throughout history, handshakes generally acknowledged mutual agreement to a promise or a deal or perhaps greeting a new friend. Shakespeare apparently had yet another reason in mind when he wrote (Iliad) in reference to the settlement of a conflict “Let’s not try to kill each other” Clever placement of words, wouldn’t you say?

Happy Writing!

You Don't Say

Welcome Readers and fellow Writers, to the January 2019 online meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh and comprised of writing members just like you (and me), featuring writing tips, resources, articles, contests, and IWSG swag! See what we’re all talking about here and join us as we share our writing journeys.

*We meet on the first Wednesday of every month – join us and enjoy!

Visit our gracious Co-hosts, and let them know you’re here: Patricia Lynne, Lisa Buie-Collard, Kim Lajevardi, and Fundy Blue!

Season’s Greetings, Everyone!

I had quite the ‘other worldly’ Christmas this year. 

This season, we traveled in hopes of a glimpse of “the white stuff” for Christmas. What began as dainty angel socks dropping softly to the ground gradually turned into a scene that this life-long desert dweller could only describe as (insert emoji) WOW! At one point, someone said “Where’s Lucy?” and we all swallowed hard.

Evidently, friends and family really enjoy the use of emoticons as they often share with me their latest reasons to laugh uproariously – or sigh in disgust. This puts a rather exciting new spin on “Show, don’t tell,” don’t you think?  It’s the way everyone communicates these days, and entirely acceptable - unless you want a publisher to take your work seriously. While there are a handful of editors who use them sparingly, most explain the usage as tools to alleviate “the sting” (ouch!). When pestered for an opinion on the subject, one of my editors replied with a question I doubt I’ll soon forget: “Are you a writer or an illustrator?”

But aren’t those expressive little symbols irresistible? The trouble is that it takes me longer to find just the right one than it does to formulate in writing the thoughts or feelings I want to convey. Do you ever feel that way?

How is your writing journey looking for 2019? Will you begin or finish that project that so absorbs your every thought?

Oh, by the way, Lucy’s dilemma was only temporary. All we had to do was rattle a box of Cheez-its 😉

Happy Writing!

Yes-Today!

The last sunset of the year exemplified the discordant vibrations emanating from below; where a man with a phone and a pen once again sneaks in baggage while Claim Check is closed, an American fugitive receives refuge in a country rife with corruption, while entire communities shun police protection in preference of lawless freedom. 

Would you recommend confiscating the pen, shutting the door and using more Tasers?

Ages ago, we seemed to get a lot more accomplished.  It‘s been one hundred and fifty three years since President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, yet to this day there are equality protests by folks a hundred years too young to have voted. Evidently, equal rights aren’t enough for one group, which seeks persecution of all who do not conform to their way; such as bakers forced out of business and officials going to jail for performing the duties they were elected to do.

Whatever happened to live and let live?

And what better time than the first day of the year could there be for introductions; as in 1919 when Edsel Ford assumed control of his father’s Motor Company and increased the daily wage to $6.00? There were also somber announcements; in 1942 all production of consumer vehicles was ordered stopped in order to devote all productivity to war vehicles, and The Beatles were turned down in favor of the Tremeloes after an audition with Decca Records. Ellis Island opened on January 1^st (1892), as did Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934.  Three years later we began a program called Old Age Pension, whereby a tax on wages accrued benefits for retirement. These days, it seems this hard-earned entitlement is widely misconstrued.  

But we had a lot of fun as well; with the advent of television, Mickey Mouse was an immediate boon to an industry poised to explode on a clamoring public. Pay-per-view movies were introduced on the first day of 1951 and for some reason not released for mass viewing for another 45 years! 

One thing is certain: as long as we still can, writers will never run out of subject matter. These are things I’ve been thinking about as a brand new year begins. Strange, huh? 

So, what are you thinking about? Did you end the year on a good note? Do you have high hopes for this one? 

Happy 2016 Everyone! Or let’s at least give it a good try and just say Yes-today!

Western trivia: In the critically acclaimed mini-series Lonesome Dove, during a thunderstorm early on in the cattle drive, the cattle are all struck by lightning as it was conducted to each one by the tips of their horns. This is an actual, natural phenomenon called ‘St. Elmo’s fire’.