IWSG & My Winding Road to Publication

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He, his clones, minions, friends, and fellow authors make it an amazing event every month.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

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April 5 question - Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals? 

I do! A couple of decades ago, I decided to write a book for fun. I'd always been a voracious reader, but I'd (strangely) never written fiction before. Probably the dearth of creative writing in school had a hand in this.

When my kids were napping, I wrote a Star Trek TNG fan fiction novel. It focused on a planet with terrible "human" rights violations and Geordie was the MC although the entire cast had parts and POV chapters.

I'm sure it was angsty and terrible, but I had so much fun writing it. Because my kids were little, it probably took me a year or two or three. I don't have a copy of it anymore but I wish I did.

I wrote entirely for fun. My foray into research on writing told me writers needed agents. I thought only famous people like actors and sports stars had agents, so I put the thought of being a writer out of my mind...

Until a few years later when I wrote another novel for fun. This one about a journalist who wrote about Jane & John Does in the morgue. I don't have a copy of this one either. *sigh*

Several years later, I stumbled across Agent Query Connect and in the forums, I learned that regular people do write books and thought Hmm, that's probably for extroverts and brave people.

Then I started to learn the craft. That took a decade or so before I figured out my voice and what stories I really wanted to write. I played around with writing YA, MG, steampunk, SF, mystery... At one point I spoke to two agents about my YA steampunk book, but decided I didn't want to make the required changes necessary to play the traditional publishing game.

When dementia slammed into our family, I started writing snippets of our journey. These coalesced into a book and I finally decided that maybe I could put my books out there.

Then I took a risk and entered an anthology contest and my short crime story was chosen, giving me a confidence boost.

Now, I'm having a blast writing books I like and publishing them when I'm ready (2 more releasing in the next little while). I love being a wide Indie Author and plan to continue for a long while yet.

How about you? Have your tastes as a writer (or a reader) changed over the years? Ever write fan fiction?

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Reaching For More

One interfering mom,

one fake relationship, 

one stalker who doesn't like it at all

Built Of Second Chances

He’d thought she was dead.

 

He’d changed his life to hunt down those who’d killed her.

 

But everything he’d thought was a lie.