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IWSG

#IWSG Nov. 2023- Do you write book reviews?

IWSG

Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click here to learn more or sign up.

Optional Monthly Question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?

What a timely question as I head into a new era of book reviewing for myself and my dwindling YouTube channel. I can remember a time when I was hesitant to write book reviews simply because I didn’t know how, but that ship sailed a long time ago. I consider myself a constructive reviewer but I don’t critique the author when I leave a review because they didn’t ask me to.

For me, personally, book reviewing, even as a writer, shouldn’t be about pointing out everything that’s wrong with a book. And, again, if no one asked for your “expert opinion” why are you giving it? I read so many reviews where the reviewer seems to enjoy bashing books more than they actually like reading books. On the flip side, I have read reviews where I wonder if the person actually read the book or are simply leaving a review because someone asked them (or worse paid them) to do so.

When I write a review, I do it so the next reader knows what to expect. If I like it, I recommend it, and if I don’t like it, I state why. It’s very rare that I caution readers against a book simply because I recognize that the thing I didn’t like, someone else might be looking for.

I’ve read a lot of books and interviewed a lot of authors, and it blows my mind some of the thought processes out there regarding book reviews, but to each his own. I’ve had writers tell me that they refuse to review other writers’ books and yet, expect to acquire a ton of reviews for their work. If you are widely popular, I guess you can get away with that. I was shocked to hear that some writers use book reviews to retaliate against competition (but I’ve never witnessed this myself). Most of the writers I’ve encountered seem to know how not to cross the line when leaving reviews and are avid readers themselves, but I guess it takes all kinds in this industry.

For me, I’ll continue to be an avid reader who also happens to be a writer and will continue to review books for other readers. I’ll be focusing on only reading books I’m genuinely excited to read in 2024 (that means fewer digital ARCs unless I seek them out).

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Now, on to the personal updates.

I’ve been struggling to stay connected to this community and the idea of blogging altogether. Earlier this year, some people in this community said some pretty outlandish, hurtful, and inconsiderate things to me. In the defense of one of these people, they didn’t think what they were saying was bad, while the others were being intentionally hurtful. Still, it’s hard to connect to a community you feel disconnected from, even when certain people within the community have always made you feel welcome.

In any case, I’m still here. I’m not exactly where I want to be in the blogosphere or in the IWSG, but I’m here. I’m hoping 2024 will be a better experience for me. Perhaps I’ll find a way to reconnect. I’d like to return to the feeling of being part of a community. I guess we’ll see what the future holds. I’ll be making a point to visit all the blogs I didn’t visit last month who stopped by here. I just didn’t have it in me then.

Outside of this, the only other communities I’m growing are my Patreon and (as mentioned earlier, a dwindling YouTube) community. I love that I can now do public posts (free) and offer people to join my community that way. This is what I’m doing instead of a newsletter moving forward.

**Updated** I’m still making my rounds to visit people and respond to comments, but I wanted to clarify one thing. My overall experience with the IWSG has been a good one. It is the main reason I’m still blogging. I have; however, this year, had some bad experiences with individual members as well as bloggers outside this community. I don’t associate IWSG as being negative in any way, but it has been difficult knowing that there are some bloggers in this community who have been outright mean to me. Others, as I stated, were unintentionally hurtful and there’s nothing that can be done about that. I think we have agreed to disagree. Still, I can’t pretend to feel as connected to this community as I once was. In any case, I appreciate the supportive responses I’ve received so far and hope to visit more blogs tomorrow during work breaks.**

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What are your thoughts on book reviewing?
It may take some time, but I promise, I will eventually stop by your blog.
My response time has gotten slower but I’m still making my rounds.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
C. Lee McKenzie,
JQ Rose,
Jennifer Lane, and
Jacqui Murray!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #27).

Did you know you can join my community for FREE over at Patreon to receive a monthly update on the creative projects I’m working on? I tell you the truth, it’s better than a newsletter!

Thank you for making it this far down the virtual page. Kudos to you! I’d love to know what you thought of this post in the comments below. Stay safe and be blessed.

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IWSG

#IWSG Nov. 2023- A Novel Month?

IWSG

Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click here to learn more or sign up.

Optional Monthly Question: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

I’ve never participated in NANO simply because it’s a constant struggle for me to find time to write. I’m the type of writer who finds myself with an afternoon of nothing to do and will crank out 2-10k words, but not write again for a month. If I had a regular 9-5 day job, I think I could schedule regular times to write, in the morning, evening, or on weekends, but my schedule changes so often that, sometimes, when I have time, I sleep it away or focus on adulting tasks such as laundry and cleaning. Maybe, one day, when I retire, I’ll give NANO a try.

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Now, on to the personal updates.

I didn’t post last month because I’d lost a relative just a few days prior and two weeks later I lost another relative. I’m slowly getting back into writing creatively, but most of this year has been dedicated to coping with life’s stressors: racial drama, work stress, illness, death, and more. Hoping to end the year on a high note.

My web host keeps decreasing the quality of service they provide and they keep trying to get me to pay for more stuff. So if,  all of a sudden, this blog disappears, it’ll be on them and not me. I want to keep this blog, but not enough to pay more for it than I currently do.

Every year I post an unboxing video of my new glasses and, somehow, managed to do one again this year. If you’d like to check it out, click on the video below.

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Do you have any plans for National Novel Writing Month?

Hope your year is going well. If not, I’m sending out prayers and good vibes for you.

It may take some time, but I promise, I will eventually stop by your blog.

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After hanging out with Alex, be sure to stop by and visit this month’s co-hosts:
PJ Colando,
Jean Davis,
Lisa Buie Collard, and
Diedre Knight!

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Click here to visit other IWSG blogs and sites to receive and share more inspiration and support. (This month, I’m #27).

Did you know you can join my community for FREE over at Patreon to receive a monthly update on the creative projects I’m working on? I tell you the truth, it’s better than a newsletter!

Thank you for making it this far down the virtual page. Kudos to you! I’d love to know what you thought of this post in the comments below. Stay safe and be blessed.

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Mark of Bletsian

I’m #writingabook: Mark of Bletsian No.2

Greetings Dear Reader,

Life is hard. Things happen and all your plans go out the window. This year has been rough for me and my family and I’ve had to shift my focus so much away from my writing. Long story short, I’m still processing grief and change but I’m also moving forward with life.

I’m happy to report I’ve made the slightest bit of progress with this project, so this won’t be a long post. I previously mentioned in another post that I lost a lot of the research I used for the original series and some that I’d done for this rewrite. I’m happy to announce that, I think, I’ve finally recreated all that research. While these aren’t words towards a novel word count, it’s the stuff I need to be able to move forward.

At this point, I’m tightening up my outlines and filling in the gaps of changes from the old series to the new, plus I’m developing subplots and characters that weren’t really in the original series, though the ideas were there. I hoped I would be further along than I am, but at least I’m no longer at a standstill. Maybe I’ll be ready to start adding to a novel word count by December.

Before I go, I want to talk about the one thing I’ve already mentioned that will be different in this rewrite. The mark of blessing. The main character has many names but the one his mother gave him is Bletsian, which is Greek for blessing. In the original series, I never explored the meaning or origins of the word blessing any further than to say that’s where the MC’s name came from. In the new series; however, I will highlight characters throughout time who have been given a special mark to indicate they have a significant blessing over their lives; which of course, my MC will be one of those people.

That’s all I have for now. I hope life doesn’t shift again for me anytime soon. I’d like to be settled for a while and simply write.

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BTW- I now have Public/Free content over at Patreon every month, so please check it out. This is what I do instead of a traditional newsletter.

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Thank you for making it this far down the virtual page. Kudos to you! I’d love to know what you thought of this post in the comments below. Stay safe and be blessed.