Wednesday, April 5, 2023

IWSG - Flops & Friends

Happy IWSG Day!


The Insecure Writer's Support Group exists to support the writing community in the airing insecurities. Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, anyone can join. Simply click on his name and put your blog on the linky list.

The co-hosts this month are Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre. Be sure to drop by their blogs and thank them for their help!

The optional question this month is: 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?

Technically, my first published book was my nonfiction title The Business of Short Stories. The first ones I wrote are in limbo somewhere. My career path has been a bit different from that of most authors, as it's focused on short stories up to now. 

All that is changing, as I feel like I've grown stagnant in my writing career. I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over again (this from a person whose longest work position before getting bored and moving along has been maybe 2 1/2 years). That doesn't mean I want to abandon horror or short stories, but it's time for me to grow and stretch and try new things. What that means right now is writing the next two books in my urban fantasy series so I can self-publish those, completing edits on a horror comedy novel I'll be shopping to agents this year, writing a memoir of my dad's journey with ALS, and writing the first in what will be a proposed amateur sleuth mystery series so I can start shopping that, as well. In addition, I'd like to revisit a YA Post-Apocalyptic novel I wrote way back when to see if I can bring it up to my current standards and either start shopping it again or finish what was a planned trilogy to self-publish.

So I have some fairly diverse plans for the next year, yeah?

I do have the rights back on enough short stories that I'll be releasing another collection in the next year. I just haven't decided how I want to time that yet. Plus I have to figure out which unpublished short stories to put in it, because I always like to put several brand new ones in for those who loyally purchase every publication I'm in. 

While I'm doing all this, I'm telling myself I will be pulling back on both submitting short stories and attending writing events as a speaker/featured author. Given, there are a few favorite events I'll likely keep appearing at, but I will not be seeking out new appearance opportunities. Which also means slowing down on the podcast appearances I was doing for a while. I think? (I have a work ethic I struggle to overcome, lol, which means I say I won't take on anything more, and then I do it anyway, but I REALLY need to give myself a break.)

Since I'm pulling back on submitting short stories, I'm going to probably cease keeping track on my IWSG posts to kind of discourage any deep focus on that. We'll see if that works or if I remember next month that I'm not doing that, LOL!

Both Sandra Cox and I are guests on L. Diane Wolfe's blog today, so stop by and say hi!

I want to thank anyone who helped with my book release in March! Diane is the last person on this hastily thrown together blog tour. Something significant and traumatic happened when I should have been prepping my book release, and it tied my hands for a couple weeks right after I got the book cover. I wrote out a whole post last month about it and ultimately decided it wasn't something I could share at this time. When I posted in desperation for help on Facebook the week of the release, a lot of people stepped up and helped by sharing the book release post. I feel bad, because, depending upon how that's shared (visibility setting) I can't see everyone who shared unless I happen to scroll past the post on their page. So some people don't end up getting thanked.

My current insecurity? I consider this launch a bit of a flop. The sales just weren't there. Since I released this title to force myself back into the game and it was meant to be fun for me, I've decided to move on and quit dwelling on the numbers. I didn't expect it to be BIG, but I did expect more than what ultimately happened. Interestingly, with the posts people did, several included other titles, and I saw a bump in sales on my older titles, so that was awesome and took away some of the sting of the low sales on Happy Ghoulidays II. But the support I got from the blogging community, the local writing community, and my friends and family when I asked for help is the most important and valuable thing that came from this book release. I appreciate all of you.

Onward and upward! The book is out. I learned some things. There were many factors I had zero control over due to personal life issues. But the factors I CAN control, I learned about. Each experience is an opportunity to learn, right? That's what I'm doing.

I'm actively editing the horror comedy novel now and will be asking for beta readers in the near future, and that's exciting! I have a plan for research material I'll need for my dad's memoir. And I've crappily outlined (I hate outlining and simply don't do it) the mystery novel. 

Cheers to next steps!

This ended up much longer than I intended. It was kind of a mental dump. I'll either add the open submissions onto this post later tonight or do a whole new post with those, but I wanted to get this posted.

What are your insecurities? Where are you on your journey? How has your journey changed since you started? Have you ever had a book release you considered a flop?

May you find your Muse.


24 comments:

Annalisa Crawford said...

The novel side of your writing looks full! Good luck with it. I'd been publishing short stories for 18 years before my first book was picked up by a publisher. (Oh, that makes me sound ancient, but really I started very young!)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Shannon - good luck with your continuation along your writing journey - perseverance is needed - that's for sure. Cheers Hilary

Ronel Janse van Vuuren said...

I follow you on Instagram and think you have enough sassy snark for urban fantasy :-) Good luck with that!

Ronel visiting for IWSG day If The Author’s Life Were a Fairy Tale

Jemima Pett said...

I love your comment on job tenure - I got into my 30s before I stayed in one place for more than a couple of years. I remember a friend saying 'do you think you'll stay there?" incredulously, when I admitted I rather liked the place.

Mind you, I've been (self-published) writing twelve years now, so that probably means it's taken over my longevity record.... certainly in one company (mine)!

Good luck with the collection. I think I should concentrate on shorts for a while, too. :)

Jemima

L. Diane Wolfe said...

My genre writing (and story length) is all over the map, so why not.

Hopefully the feature at my place helps.

Natalie Aguirre said...

It's always good to stretch yourself and branch out in your writing. I need to learn how to not take on too much like you do. Hopefully, we'll learn how to balance things better in our lives.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

No one's putting Shannon in a box! Go ahead and stretch.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a huge fan of the short story. I love to read them as well as write them.

Loni Townsend said...

Gotta go where the passion takes you! I hope you find joy and success in changing things up.

Patricia JL said...

It sounds like we both had wrenches thrown at us that made a book release tricky in March. Hopefully, the next ones aren't interrupted by life.

emaginette said...

Don't dwell and move forward is a great attitude. Keep at it and all will work out in the end. :-)

Anna from elements of emaginette

Jemi Fraser said...

I stink at book launches and really don't do much for them. When I start up a new series, I might put more effort into it...but probably not :)
Good luck with all your plans and I hope things are going well for you and yours

Diane Burton said...

An exciting journey. Good that you recognize you're getting stale and need to change. That's never easy. Best wishes.

Marie Andreas said...

You have a full plate--but it looks great! I've loved speaking on writing at small local events, some day maybe more, but I could see where it would take a lot of time and energy.

Good luck! (and it's not a flop--it just hasn't taken off yet ;))

Leigh Caron said...

Stretching and trying new genres is great. I've done the tin the past with writing short essays. Will they ever get pub'd? Don't know but I'm having a blast writing them.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

I know how disappointed you must feel, but don't worry. Your efforts will pay off. Sometimes it just takes longer than expected. Good luck on your new adventure.

Olga Godim said...

Writing in different forms and genres is good. It stretches your creativity. Good luck with your writing plans.

Carol Kilgore said...

I wrote short stories when I first started writing fiction. But I really didn't enjoy writing them. They were difficult, but I learned so much about writing and publishing that have helped me writing novels. Everything works out.

Sandra Cox said...

I just ordered my copy. Love those covers:)

Victoria Marie Lees said...

You know, The Business of Short Stories, IS a long work. I LOVE that book and reference it often. Thank you so much for writing it.

You are an amazing writer, Shannon. But I am a big chicken, so I can't read horror. And now you plan to writer "horror comedy." Umm...is that such a thing? All the luck with your endeavors.

H. R. Sinclair said...

Congratulations. I'm sorry stuff happened, but I hope it's getting better. It hounds like you've made a lot of distinct plans for your writing. Very nice!

Nick Wilford said...

You've got a lot of diverse plans for this year. Good luck meeting some goals. It's definitely okay to cut back and not be so busy with commitments. There's only so much energy.

Juneta key said...

Congrats, on your new release. Grab my copy. Good luck and much success with your future plans.

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

I'm sort of catching up on a few IWSG posts I missed due to being on the road back at the beginning of the month. You've really set yourself some big goals with the novels! I do well to complete one a year, and in the last few years have struggled to do one every 2 years, so I'm impressed!

Funny that you are backing off the short stories just when I've decided to up my game there, and try to do some more, in part as a way of getting my name out there and maybe boosting my novels.