Tag: writer’s block

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IWSG

#IWSG June 2022- When the going gets tough.

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.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Any amount I make goes towards my dream to host a book fair in Hampton Roads, VA. Please see my About page for more details. Thank you for your support.

Optional Monthly Question: When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end? If you have not started the writing yet, why do you think that is and what do you think could help you find your groove and start?

In truth, sometimes I don’t. There have been times when I’ve been able to push through a rough patch and make a story happen, but I never feel satisfied when I do that. I often would rather walk away from a story than force it. Fortunately for me, I usually end up going back to it, but that’s part of the beauty of working on multiple WIPs at once. There are those rare times when no writing is happening. Again, I’ve forced it a few times, but now I don’t. If it feels forced, that means I’m not enjoying it and it isn’t helping me in any way. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to complete a longer writing project because of this but I’ve learned that I don’t have any deadlines other than the ones I’ve put on myself.

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IWSG BOOK CLUB ON GOODREADS

Member Spotlights

#iwsgbookclub

The books we’ve chosen to spotlight in the month of June are Wielder’s Prize (Wielder’s Prize #1) by Elle Cardy (Amazon.com & Bookshop.org) and The Futhark Chronicles Book One: Keepers of Sulbreth by Susan Gourley (Amazon.com). Please check these out and consider giving one or both of these a read this month. If you’re not up for reading them, no worries, you can still help spread some love for these publications and or participate in the book club activities.

 

Feel free to share this image on social media to help spread the word.

My co-mods and I have done a lot of research into the books written by IWSG members to help facilitate the current direction the book club is taking. In the process, I’ve learned about how readers find and don’t find books by our members. So, I’ve put together some, hopefully, helpful tips I like to call…

Ways to Make Your Book(s) “Findable”

…and increase their chances to be featured and discovered.

10) Another great way to make your books findable and or grow your readership, is to post articles on your blog about your books. Not just samples from the text, but articles of interest- things people might want to know or like to know that are somehow related to the content and or themes within your books. These are the types of articles that get shared organically on social media. For those who are a bit more daring than the average writer, also consider creating video content in the same fashion. When I first published, my now unpublished paranormal series- pending a rewrite, I posted a short video series explaining my geekish inspirations. Many people discovered my videos and later showed interest in the books. You can create posts about your inspirations, important themes, and even advocate for causes that line up with the content of your book, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction.

Reminder: Here’s our spotlight schedule.
IWSG blog list 1-50 = Feb, Jun, Oct
IWSG blog list 51-100 = Mar, Jul, Nov
IWSG blog list 101+ = Jan, May, Sep (IWSG Anthologies)
IWSG Registry (Facebook) = Apr, Aug, Dec

Remember, if you are not currently on the IWSG blog hop list and don’t plan to join, the registry is the only way for your books to have a chance to be spotlighted by the book club. If you are on the blog hop list, please don’t join the registry. We want to be fair and give everyone an opportunity to be featured, which means some of us will have to wait our turns, including me (the book club admin) and the co-mods.

Please click this hyperlink to fill out the form to be added to the IWSG Book Club Spotlight Registry, and please help us spread the word.

Now, on to the personal updates.

I really like my job and love the company I work for, but some days are harder, plain and simple. Yesterday was one of those days, so I took some time to process, thus this late post. Outside of that, I’ve been hanging in there. I’ve been dealing with some pain in my shoulder that I still haven’t had any major resolve to, but I keep moving forward. Hope to find some relief soon.

I’ve been writing and illustrating a lot and have a lot to share with my YouTube and Patreon community in the coming weeks. I’ve done two live events and now need a break. I know I should probably be trying to build on this momentum, but I know my limitations. I have some ideas for events in the Fall.

I’m halfway through the process of redistributing all my ebooks wide. Once I’m all done I’ll share all my new links here. For now, as the process rolls out, I’ve been updating the links on my individual/category book pages.

Here’s the latest on my YouTube series, The Read Local Show (Hampton Roads, VA, USA) and The Read All Over Show (global). I’ve been having so much fun with this.

If you’re interested in being featured: check out the Read Local/All Over Sign-up form here.

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What do you do when the writing gets tough?
Gonna check out one of the IWSG Book Club Spotlight reads?
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:
SE White,
Cathrina Constantine,
Natalie Aguire,
Joylene Nowell Butler, 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 #31).

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

Categories
IWSG Virtual Book Tours

#IWSG August 2020: Keep Writing with Fey + More

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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: Quote: “Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don’t write short stories, novels or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be.”

Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn’t planned on writing in? Or do you choose a form/genre in advance?

I’m skipping the IWSG question this month to focus on personal updates and a very exciting book release and blog hop. (Yes, I know this is a hop within a hop.) I’ve been a big fan of Chrys Fey for some time now, originally falling in love with her Disaster Crimes Series. I really enjoyed her first book of Sparks and have looked forward to this publication for quite a while. I feel it’s the kind of book that speaks to so many, no matter their creative outlet. So, let’s get to it.

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Keep Writing with Fey Blog Hop: Share your story about writer’s block, depression, and/or burnout and how you overcame it or what you are currently doing to heal.

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I began to show the first real signs of burn out back in 2015. At that time, I was blogging literally every day of the week and working to complete my third novel, after publishing a collection of short stories. I somehow managed to release my third novel in 2016 with a pretty decent online launch event and then… well- nothing. I began to slowly pull away from my self-imposed blogging regiment to focus on developing my skill as a writer. That’s when I had the realization that my writing had dramatically improved to the point where I no longer felt comfortable with my previous works being “out there” for the world to see and judge.

At that time, I simply stopped promoting my work and focused on skill-building and occasional blogging, continuing to reduce my number of daily, then weekly, and eventually monthly posts. There was a period of almost a year where I didn’t write and just barely “phoned in” my blogs. By 2018, I’d unpublished my first two novels and chose to focus on publishing children’s books and honing my skills, all the while hating myself for not being better and being more successful as a writer. I realized that I needed to do a complete rewrite of my original novel series, even if I never republished it, simply because the story means so much to me. Yet, as of today, I only have highly detailed outlines and sporadic completed chapters for three books in a series that may never see the light of day again.

Two years ago, I quit one day-job and started another, which was a tremendous help to me in getting through a very long bout of depression. At that point, I’d been in a job that I literally cried on the way to every day for 10 years. And after 5 years, writing stopped being the great escape it had once been. In the past, being able to write had helped me to cope with how much I feared and loathed going to my job, but it soon began to add to the pressure I felt. I didn’t feel safe at work and not being able to create at home left me feeling painfully inadequate. Freeing myself from that horrible day-job was only one part of my healing process. Prayer, family, and reading for pleasure took care of the rest. Even the IWSG and WEP helped play a part in getting me through the worst. Now, I have a job I enjoy and feel much safer in, but unfortunately, it requires a greater time commitment than my previous job and I now struggle to find the time to work on long-term writing projects.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to complete another novel, but at least I am able to write again- short fiction, poetry (if you can believe that), children’s books, and the occasional blog. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m way better off than I was. I still struggle to fight the depression that tells me I’m a failure for not writing or completing a novel, but I have resolved to do what I can do and find success in the little things.

If you’re dealing with depression or burn out, I encourage you to read this book and or reach out to a support system or community, where you feel safe, to help you get through it.

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Catch the sparks you need to conquer writer’s block, depression, and burnout!

When Chrys Fey shared her story about depression and burnout, it struck a chord with other writers. That put into perspective for her how desperate writers are to hear they aren’t alone. Many creative types experience these challenges, battling to recover. Let Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer’s Block, Depression, and Burnout guide you through:

∙ Writer’s block
∙ Depression
∙ Writer’s burnout
∙ What a writer doesn’t need to succeed
∙ Finding creativity boosts

With these sparks, you can begin your journey of rediscovering your creativity and get back to what you love – writing.

BOOK LINKS:

Amazon * Nook  * iTunes 

Kobo  * Goodreads 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips on how to reverse writer’s burnout. https://www.chrysfey.com/

Click the linky list to follow the Keep Writing with Fey blog hop or scroll down to continue with the IWSG monthly hop.


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Now, on to the personal updates.
I feel like I said a lot in my blog hop contribution so I’ll skip the personal updates this month. If you’d like to see reviews for what I read in the month of July, please visit the Lit Carnivale blog. The video below is my monthly wrap-up.

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Think you might check out Chrys’s book?

I’d love for you to share your response to the IWSG monthly question if you’re up for it.

It may take some time, but I promise, 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:
Susan Baury Rouchard,
Nancy Gideon,
Jennifer Lane,
Jennifer Hawes,
Chemist Ken, and
Chrys Fey!

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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 #38).

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