It's time for the June Insecure Writer's Support Group!
Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG exists for writers to get together the first Wednesday of each month and discuss our insecurities while lending each other support and advice. Anyone can join. Simply click on Alex's name and sign up on the IWSG tab.
This month's co-hosts are Melissa Maygrove, Liza at Middle Passages, Olga Godim, and ME!
This month's optional question is: In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?
Hm, I don't see anything that I feel IWSG should offer, but some things that I've seen people value in writing groups and at conferences are mentorships (a published member offers to mentor a newer writer), critiques, beta readers (different from critiques), editing, logline practice, and that sort of thing, so it depends on why and how far the IWSG is looking to expand.
I think that out of all my suggestions, this group would do really well with mentorships. It feels like a lovely way to continue the IWSG, and speaks to the mission.
A few months ago I had a great chat with Rich Bennett at the podcast Conversations With Rich Bennett. You can check out the episode at the podcast website and various podcast apps. I may be on a future episode about autism, so I'll keep you updated! He's a great guy and is doing a lot of really interesting episodes, as well as various panels.
I've been reading Atomic Habits, by James Clear, recently. I was wary, and thought I might be having to figure out workarounds, but his processes are straight forward and pretty simple. Plus, there are items in there that I've long done already. I highly recommend it.
I'm still working through The Artist's Way, but I admit that there are a lot of things about it that don't work for me, as well as others that just feel like trying to fit in a bunch more work on top of what I've already got. I've been taking off my big deadline week each month, which has pushed it out a bit, but I'm still moving forward. The weekly artist dates are something I've had to put aside most weeks, because they were too much of an inconvenience, even though I completely understand the purpose of them. But the more time I spend on exercises, dates, tasks, and writing three pages per day, the less time I have to actually write something real, and I don't have that time to spare right now. Interestingly, it was Atomic Habits and a section on giving anything five minutes and doing what you can, rather than pushing to go beyond that, which is no way to create a habit, that made me realize that instead of spending half an hour or more forcing myself to journal for three pages, I will spend at least five minutes and write what I can. If I have more to say, I'll keep going, but I'm not forcing it anymore. And you know what? That one silly little thing has been a breakthrough in keeping me going. Journaling is not a thing I enjoy or am good at. I'd rather spend five minutes journaling and half an hour writing fiction!
On that note, I decided to go back to tracking short story submissions. It will be less consistent than before, but I'll update when there's something to update.
So...in May:
13 submissions
1 personal rejection where they told me about their next call and asked me to submit then
14 total stories currently on submission
On June 22, I'll be a showcase author at the PPLD's Mountain of Authors event from 12-4:30 PM. The keynote speaker is Adrian Miller. It's free to attend and there will be a ton of books for sale by various authors, including me!
Have you ever been a writing mentor or been mentored? What are your insecurities? Have you ever read Atomic Habits? Are there any similar books you'd recommend?
May you find your Muse.
