Insecure Writer's Support Group September 2013

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!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.

Report on the last month--
I've actually been writing!! Fade Into Me is still going slow, but I am moving forward. Last week I reached the climatic moment. Now I just have to work my way through it to the other side. The hard part is that I've been reworking this story up to this point. Meaning the first 2/3 of the book is pretty good having been through several revisions. The current writing is first draft sludge that is so hard to stomach. The perfectionist in me can't stand to see such bad writing and I have to constantly remind myself to just get something down. I can't revise what isn't written.

Stellar Cloud is almost done. There is one story left to expand and then I'll have to get serious about cover art and editors. I think there is a great chance of sticking to my plan to have it out by October.

My Insecurities--
My brain just doesn't seem to be functioning at as high a capacity as it used to. I can't concentrate for long and worry about stupid things mucks up the whole system. Everyday I have to remind myself to focus on one task at a time. It's helping but I'm so used to doing 100 things at once that it's taking some time to adjust. Hopefully, this retraining of my mind will result in better writing and more productivity.

September Goals--

Pull off another great year of QueryCon at Unicorn Bell. That's right! It starts next week and will go through the rest of the month. Come over, check it out. Play along and maybe even catch a publishing contract!

Last year we had two people get contracts from this event--Tara Tyler and N.W. Harris.

Here's how it works:

Week 1--
Posts about what/why/how to write queries, interviews with our guest judges and what they are looking for, posts on how to research agents and publishers, write the synopsis, etc. There will also be two days where we host a Q&A hangout on Google+

Week 2--
Come one, come all! Submit your query to be critiqued. You can make changes and resubmit as many times as you like until the week ends.

Week 3--
The first 20 people with FINISHED and POLISHED manuscripts can enter to be judged by our three guests (Angela Kelly, editor Musa Publishing, Victoria Lowes, The Bent Agency, and Andrew Buckley, editor Curiosity Quills). If they like what they see, they'll ask for pages and who knows where that will lead you?

Oh! I almost forgot. In order to better focus on what I need to be doing for QueryCon, I won't be posting much on here this month. There is at least one guest post scheduled, and I hope to get my three book reviews posted, but most of my blogging time will be over at UB.