I.W.S.G. Say Cheese

Get the info on IWSG here.

Time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group. This month I'm one of the co-hosts. Yay! I'm excited to visit new bloggers. Also, be sure to stop by Alex's blog today because there's a big announcement about IWSG!

I'm sure you know moms out there who hate having their picture taken. They've probably got thousands of photos on the computer of their kids, friends, and family, yet maybe two of them have her in the picture. Maybe you're one of those moms. Because I'm one of those moms.

I'm not wearing make-up, I'm overweight, my outfit sucks, I look weird, I'm so old...whatever the excuse, it's dumb, isn't it? I mean, I love looking back at pictures of my mother no matter what age she was. How devastating it would be to not have those treasures. And the only person that is obsessing over how I look is, well, me. So get over it already.

I'm trying harder. I really am. And I think I'm doing better. But I still had a healthy level of anxiety having my author photo taken. I mean, I'm the only one in the picture. How weird is that? Many thanks to my friend Lindsay who put up with my murmuring long enough to get a few decent shots. I let my husband and a few friends decide and this is the one to get the majority vote, so it's the one I'm going with.

My publisher wants me to use it on my blog, FB, twitter, etc. and so I'm finally going to make the switch. It does look like me, at least. And now when I see writer friends in person they won't be confused about my long hair anymore, haha. Sigh. Why is this so hard?

Thank You

I just wanted to drop in and thank everyone for their encouraging comments on my IWSG meltdown post last week. I am doing so much better, and I knew I could count on my fellow bloggers to lift me up.

I'm no longer wallowing in self pity. In fact, not only did I get my writing mojo back, but a couple of days ago I wrote a scene that has become my most favorite scene I have ever written in any of my books. No kidding. I've reread it over and over again so many times it's embarrassing.

Isn't it amazing how fast we can go from the lowest low to the highest high just like that? Thanks for sticking with me in the ups and downs. *hugs*

What are you all up to this week?

 

This Is Not Me

I'm currently writing a book from a male point of view. It's not my first time, but I still worry. I mean, what business do I have writing from the viewpoint of a gender not my own?

Then again, I'm not an ancient Hawaiian chief. Or a 14-year-old fisherman. My parents weren't murdered when I was a child. I'm not a redhead. I don't have a southern accent. Yet I've written stories from the views of all of the above.

But I guess that's the beauty of being a writer, isn't it? You can be anyone you want to be, go anywhere you want to go. Still, it's intimidating sometimes. I don't want to mess it up.

Have you ever written about an ethnicity, gender, age, species other than your own? How do you prepare for it? Do you ever worry about offending others?

Playing Coy

We're going to ignore the fact that my first book had a ten page prologue with terribly passive writing--boy have I come a long way. ;) The biggest problem with my story was that I was being too coy with the reader. I deliberately held information back in an attempt to be suspenseful when really it was just plain annoying.

Tell the reader what they need to know. It will help them trust you and not feel cheated out of valuable information. I think it's common for beginning writers to think being secretive builds suspense, but readers don't want to be tricked.

I say tell the reader everything, cut open those characters for the world to see, and be honest about what's going on. It's okay to reveal things at the proper times, just don't hold everything back until this grandiose moment in the end when everything is revealed and you pat yourself on the shoulder congratulating your own cleverness. Instead let the reader look back on the story and realize yes, this is exactly what should have happened because it was in front of me the whole time. Surprising but inevitable. Not coy.

I love twists and still find myself falling into the coy trap sometimes as a writer. Have you ever done this in your writing? Read books that do this?

I.W.S.G. Growing a Writer

Meet the rest of the IWSG

3 1/2 years ago, just for fun, I decided to write a book. I took it to my first writers conference where it received a critique for the first time. Not only did I learn it was crap, but there was A LOT of stuff I didn't know about writing like grammar rules, formatting, show vs. tell, passive language, tenses, point of view, etc. I was WAY behind the game and felt completely overwhelmed. Even when others explained things to me and I corrected it on my first page, ten other things surfaced that needed fixing. I think I cried. No, really. I thought I would NEVER be able to remember everything I needed to. It was too hard.

But I didn't give up because writing made me happy. Giddy, really. So I joined a critique group, attended more conferences, devoured books on writing craft, read blogs on writing tips, and most of all kept writing. And when someone critiqued my writing, I didn't curse them and overdose on chocolate. Okay, so maybe I did, BUT THEN I listened to their advice and worked and worked to fix my writing. I learned from my mistakes and kept trying. And my writing got better. Slowly but surely.

It improved enough to land me an agent. And later, a publisher. I still remember the day I sat in my publisher's office and they told me how much they loved my writing and that it was one of the cleanest submissions they've ever received. Um...what? I teared up that day because I realized how far I'd come from the girl who didn't even know what a dialogue tag was to now having a book deal.

I still have a lot to learn about writing, but I know I will learn it. That's the beauty of never giving up. So don't be too stubborn or proud to listen to advice and critique. Accept it and learn from it. Make every word, paragraph, chapter, novel better than the last. And you'll get there eventually. You're growing a writer...and that's a beautiful thing.

A Pretty Red Bow

First off, a big happy birthday to my husband and my oldest son! Yes, they share a birthday, and I am now officially the mother of TWO teenagers. Eep. This one's for you, big guy...

I'm about to do something I've never ever done before...write a sequel. It's kind of scary and oh so exciting at the same time. In preparation, I've had to really flesh out my series synopsis, including engaging in some serious conversations with my publisher about my story. It's been fun to brainstorm together and quite satisfying to see my world come alive.

I've written pages and pages of backstory--things that lead up to book #1 that the reader will never know, but now I have clear goals and motivation for every character and the choices they make. The best part is seeing how nicely every hint and action and detail will come together at the end of the series tied up in a pretty red bow. I can't wait!

How do you plan your stories? Are you a plotter or pantser or combination of both? Do you focus on one book at a time, or do you plan out the whole series if it's going to be more than one?