Created and hosted by the Ninja himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writers Support Group posts the 1st Wednesday of every month. Click the image to learn more or sign up.
Optional Monthly Question: Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?
I used to have a job that made me cry every day, but it came with lots of vacation time and summer’s off. I used to get so much writing done on my paid vacations that I stayed in that horrible job for 10 years. I now work a job I love, but it comes with no time off. It’s really a pain for me to plan to take time off and then enjoy my time off because it’s always so brief. I have no time to write (I know that doesn’t make me special or unique in any way, but it’s harder for me to write now than it’s ever been). Still, I don’t cry 5-days a week on the way to an abusive job, so that’s nice. Not sure I’ll ever get to a point where I write like I used to. I’ll always be a writer, just not sure I’ll ever get to publish anything again.
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WEP October and December Challenges
It was an honor to come in as Runner-up in the October “Grave Mistake” challenge. Be sure to check out the emotional guest post from challenge 1st-place winner Rebecca Douglass.
Briefly, the December challenge “Unmasked” was canceled due to time constraints and stressors of the season, but the WEP admins have come up with a very casual and laid-back approach for this challenge to continue for anyone interested. Click the image to see what’s in store for 2021 and see any stories that may be shared for the December prompt. You can read my entry here if you’d like.
IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS
Our book club is changing things up!
We will have quarterly book selections now, giving us more time to read. We will also have one fiction book selection and one writing craft book selection. Members can read both or choose between them. Finally, we won’t be offering 5 optional discussion questions anymore. Instead, we will be utilizing the polls that our members enjoy, so there will be one poll question for the fiction book and one for the non-fiction book on Discussion Day.
Our December/January/February reads are…
Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor, a book written in second-person. Since many readers haven’t read a book in second-person, and many writers haven’t written in second-person, we figured this is a great chance to explore something new.
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Preparing to Write Settings that Feel Like Characters by J Lenni Dorner. This will be our writing craft book, with a focus on settings.
Discussion Day for both books will be February 24, 2021! JOIN US!
Now, on to the personal updates.
I’ve been reading a bit and writing a bit, but not as much as I’d like of each. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it would usually be because it’s 2020. I’ve simply decided that this is a trial year- everything will pretty much be a do-over in 2021. In 2021 I’ll work on actually reaching some writing goals, I’ll give my Goodreads challenge a legit effort and post reviews on time, and I’ll stop phoning in my blog efforts. For now, I’m just focusing on getting to 2021 without a complete breakdown, so that means I read less, write less, and blog less. At least I’m still moving forward- even if I’m moving very slow and don’t really have a destination.
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Is there an ideal time of year for you to write?
If you don’t write, have you considered it?
It may take some time, but I promise, I will 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:
Pat Garcia,
Sylvia Ney,
Liesbet @ Roaming About,
Cathrina Constantine, and
Natalie Aguirre!
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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 #37).
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords #blacklivesmatter
