IWSG & Pet Peeves

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!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

 IWSG Day Question: What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

Fun Question!

Reading Pet Peeve 

• when I come across authors who use "that" instead of "who". When people who earn their living with words make this mistake, it's like nails on the chalkboard!!!

Writing Pet Peeve 

• Titles! These are so hard. I tend to come up with super cheesy ones first and then they're so hard to get out of my head!

Editing Pet Peeve

• redundancies!!! My first drafts are littered with them! I'm pretty good at catching them when editing, but I need to learn to eliminate them when writing in the first place!

How about you? Any pet peeves you'd like to share? Do you sprinkle redundancies everywhere as well?

Genre Help Please!

For the last couple of years, our lives have been dominated by dementia. Two of our loved ones were diagnosed over a year ago, although the condition was consuming us all long before the diagnosis.

As part of a way to deal with it all, I've been compiling the stories into a book (because that's what we do, right?).

I don't plan on using real names. I'm not out to embarrass anyone (some of the stories are snort-laughing funny, others are heartbreaking).

It's not a memoir. It's not a self-help book. It's not strictly nonfiction as I've changed names and have avoided some details to avoid identifying anyone.

It reads like a story. It is a story. A story of our family, our struggles, our victories, our pain, and our love.

This isn't a medical book. I have no medical knowledge, just experience. While it could be considered a guide for people caring for those with dementia or Alzheimer's, it's not exactly that. It's a journey. Our journey. One that might help a lot of people in similar positions.

The tone of the book will be light-hearted despite the pain and sorrow, because that's the best way we know how to survive.

My question of you, is:

What the heck am I writing? How do I classify it? Any ideas?

IWSG and Lessons Learned

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!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

July 5 Question: What is one valuable lesson you've learned since you started writing?

So many!

One of the most valuable is to be much more careful about sharing my work.
I was a member of a small online critique group with a few absolutely wonderful women. Kind, generous, talented, thoughtful, insightful. Everyone brought something different to the table and I think we helped each other enormously.

A friend of one of the women asked to join the group and we agreed. She wasn't a good fit for me.

Her critiques were cruelty disguised as humour. She didn't have a single good thing to say. I'm not someone who needs false or effusive praise. I enjoy a crit buddy pointing out where I can improve and when something isn't working. I like the truth.

But, I couldn't handle her crit style. Her vicious comments hit me at a vulnerable time and it took me many, many months before I could face the keyboard with any joy. I slipped out of the critique group and backed away from sharing my words with anyone.

I've come to realize that the problem may have been hers, not mine. She didn't like the genre, didn't think humour belonged in romance, didn't like banter between the characters, didn't like the lack of description (she had a point there!), and wanted more introspection. Her complaints were more about a conflict in styles than a comment on my writing, but they were nasty. Thoughtful and encouraging advice I received from two agents at the same time helped me see that her critique was not only unnecessarily cruel, but not justified. Nonetheless, her words set me back a long, long way.

Now, I'm much more careful about crit buddies. And while I mourn the loss of the other members of the crit group, removing this woman from my circle was worth it.

How about you? Any crit buddy horror stories out there?

IWSG and Quitting

(I am the worst!!! I had this post ready to go, but didn't press Publish... *sigh*)

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!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

The IWSG question this month is:

Did you ever say “I quit”? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?

I haven't said "I quit," but life has insisted I say, "I pause," at different times.

My life is a little beyond hectic. (I know we all say that!) A fellow teacher recently used me as an example of, "You might have some challenges in your life, but it doesn't mean you have to take it out on people around you. Look at Mrs. Fraser. If you knew the things she was juggling in her life, you'd expect her to be mean, miserable and constantly cranky, but you'd never guess that, would you?"

Still not sure how I feel about the whole description, but my life is incredibly busy. Finding time to write is challenging enough. Finding the appropriate energy to apply to writing, revising, & editing is even harder. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation have reared their ugly heads on occasion and I've had no choice but to slow down on everything but the necessities.

And that all sounds incredibly self-pitying. It's not meant that way. Truly. I love my life - every crazy bit of it.

It's just an example to show that while I may appear to the slowest writer on the planet, it's actually not completely true. I'm growing and learning and still writing. And, no, I don't think I'll ever say, "I quit." Writing is too much fun!

How about you? How crazy-busy is your life? Any other slow-but-growing writers out there?

IWSG & Bloo Moose

OOPS! I missed last month's IWSG post! The flu had me in its grip and I totally missed it - sorry!

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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!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

May 3 Question: What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story?

That's a great question! I think CSIS, the FBI and Interpol probably have all of us on a special list. We do look up some weird and wacky things!

For my current story, I've looked up:

• wolf reintegration
• winter survival tips
• pay scales for freelance journalists
• Afghanistan (terrain, climate, and culture)
• skinning an animal
• deaths and injuries caused by wolves, moose, hypothermia, gun shots, machetes, and snow machines

My least favourite research was for the name of the town I'd created. I'd named it Blue Moose and there are a lot of quirks to the town that go along with the name.

Turns out Blue Moose is a name for a coffee shop, a promotional company, a paint company, a pub, ... well, you get the idea. 

I don't want to infringe on any copyrights, so I've changed the spelling to Bloo Moose. Now to get the stories done so I've got my own copyright going on!

Some of my other stories have had much weirder searches, but that's for another day!

How about you? What's one of your weird look-ups?

Joanne Dannon & Tropes with a Twist

Please welcome Joanne Dannon back to the blog today!
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Tropes with a twist

I read somewhere there are only a handful of romance tropes, think – 

• Friends to lovers
• Secret baby
• Forced marriage
• Billionaire and an ordinary gal

To make your writing shine and stand out, you need something to make your story interesting and I

call it a twist. It’s what you make it interesting to keep the reader glued to your book.

In Notting Hill, it was heroine who was the “superstar” not the hero. It had the twist that made it interesting. Same with Roman Holiday where he was a reporter and she was the Princess. I do have to add that Roman Holiday is a love story not a romance since they don’t end up together.

But with these two movies, they added an interesting twist to hook you in. On top of that, you have awesome actors, clever dialogue and terrific secondary characters.

Looking at your writing, what can you do to add a twist in? Twists keep your writing fresh and interesting. Keeping in mind, all romances end with a “happily ever after”, so why should readers read your books?

Irrespective of your writing style, you should look at what twists you’ve included to keep your story exciting. 

In some of the old 1950s movies, the heroine would unpin her hair, take off her glasses and voila, she was stunning and the hero would suddenly notice her. Real life isn’t like that and in today’s romances we don’t expect women to physically change themselves to make themselves more attractive to men.

Using the duckling to swan trope, what can you do to add the twist? In my latest romance, Hannah is an everyday gal and is not the glamorous/hot type that Zac usually dates. In his POV we know that he sees her as pretty, reliable and a good friend. So how did I make Zac go from seeing Hannah as his sister’s friend to someone he can’t stop thinking about? That’s the twist. 

I spent a lot of time working on this so after a few chapters, Zac starts seeing her in a different way. He’s fighting it because he doesn’t want to take advantage of his sister’s BFF. 

It makes you want to read more. We know that Hannah likes him but will she be with him, knowing it will only ever be short term? Predictable is boring. You want to make your reading exciting so your readers will want to read more of your books.

Happy writing ☺ 

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Joanne Dannon, an Australian author, writes to give her readers the experience she loves to savor--indulging in a sigh-worthy-happily-ever- after, being swept away from the everyday by diving into a delicious romance novel.

Joanne is a happily married mother of two heroes-in-training who loves spending time with friends and family. She can be found on Facebook and her website www.joannedannon.com chatting about reading, writing, cooking, vintage-inspired dresses and all things romantic.

Joanne Dannon on the web:  

Facebook      Website      Instagram      Goodreads

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Forever Mine is the 4^th book in the Alex Jackson series and can be read as a standalone book.

It's never a good idea to fall for your best friend's brother... or so they say. 

Hannah Greene is fed up. A romantic at heart, she's had a major crush on her best friend's brother for years but he's never noticed her. To shape a life for herself away from Zac, she must move on.

Zac Warne, smooth-talking sales guy who takes responsibility to a whole new level, loves the thrill of the chase but is not interested in settling down, ever. It's not that he doesn't believe in love, it's just not for him.

But circumstances have Hannah and Zac spending one weekend together and a night of fun leads to more than just emotional consequences for them.

Compelled to right wrongs and beholden to fix problems, Zac has to convince Hannah his about-turn about wanting a relationship with her is not just one of convenience. Can Hannah now trust this smooth-talking playboy who has a reputation for breaking hearts, including her own?

Buy on:

Amazon

Amazon Paperback

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Thanks Joanne!

I love some tropes and I'm not too fond of others, but I especially love when there's a twist on a favourite trope.

What about you? What's one of your favourite tropes?

Worn Thin

Heart full
Shoulders laden
Hope bruised

Worn down
Worn through
Worn thin

Pain
Heartache

Loss

Defences weakened
Eroded from the inside and out

Our world

So much hate
So much pain

Drained

Worn down
Worn through
Worn thin

But still

Shoulders back
Chin up
Heart open

Hope alive
Hope ready
Hope able

Worn down
Worn through
Worn thin

But

Not worn out
Not yet

Not ever