IWSG for September 2015 - co-hosting, the surprise, and nerves!

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month is my first time co-hosting. I'm a little nervous, but I have awesome co-hosts: Julie Flanders, Murees Dupé, Dolorah at Book Lover, and Heather Gardner!

Plus, IWSG has a surprise for us. It's completely awesome. Read on down through this post to find out what it is!

This month I'm nervous about several things. Not just about co-hosting! I finished a project and I've submitted it to my publisher. Will they like it? It's different than the trilogy I already have with them. What will I do if they don't want it? That means querying other venues. Yikes!

I've also started a new project. One that's ambitious even for me. A serial with nine parts. I tell myself that I will outline for this story, but my muse just wants to write. She has consistently snubbed any outline I've tried to write in the past no matter how general I make them. So I end up pantsing. Which works most of the time for me, but with a nine part serial? That needs planning. Big time planning makes me anxious.

Are you nervous about anything this month?

Now the reveal.... 

The IWSG Short Story Contest 2015

After the success of last year’s IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond, we decided to create another book. This time it’s a short story competition with the top ten stories getting published in the anthology.

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free.

Word count: 5000-6000

Theme: Alternate History/Parallel Universe. That’s right, we’ve decided to go the speculative route. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines, except erotica or graphic violence.

Story deadline: November 1st, 2015.

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted, previously unpublished story to TheIWSG at gmail dot com before the deadline passes. Make sure to include your contact details.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:

·         Laura Maisano - Senior editor at Anaiah Press for their YA/NA Christian fiction

·         Russell Connor – Author and owner of Dark Filament Publishing Startup

·         Candace Havens  - Author and Editorial Director for the Covet, Edge and Select lines at Entangled Publishing

·         Dawn Frederick – Literary agent and the founder of Red Sofa Literary

·         Alice Speilburg – Founder of the Speilburg Literary Agency

·         Michelle Johnson – Founder of Inklings Literary Agency and Writers' Center and Bookstore owner

·         Kendare Blake - Author

·         Lydia Moëd - Associate agent at The Rights Factory

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title. The winners will also receive an exclusive badge to display on their blog.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!

Revising, planning and deciding

This week I'll be doing some more revisions on my latest WIP. Hopefully I'll get the majority of it done before November. I might send out my first query for it on the weekend. The cover letter and synopsis have been worked over about ten times now. Are they perfect? No. I don't think I'll ever get a cover letter and synopsis perfect, but they're good. Much better than what I started with.

I did some planning for my NaNo novel. I usually don't plan ahead and I'm finding it difficult to do so. I gathered a list of names and monsters from the net. This will keep me from searching for something online when I should be writing. I have all the main characters named, described and generally settled into the plot. That really means I know who the good guys and bad guys are. I know the general overall plot. I know how it will start and how it will end. The middle, well, I have no idea. I tried to plan out each event, but after the first five, my muse smacked me with a stop sign. I'm not allowed to know until I get there. That's how it usually goes with my writing. I know it might drive some people bonkers, but I like the surprise. I like just writing and seeing where it takes me. Do my stories make sense that way? Yes, they do. Somehow I'm able to keep everything together. Sometimes I'm jealous of the plotters, because it seems it would be much easier in the long run. Yet I'm happy to be a pantser. (I really wish there was a different word for that!)

I still haven't decided on a Halloween costume yet. I went out this weekend, but there wasn't anything that caught my eye that I could afford. I thought about just going in a silly outfit as a character from someecards with a little poster board around my neck with the sarcastic saying. Ah, those ecards make me laugh!

 

 My other idea was making a big poster with a hole cut out for my head and design it as a MySpace page for a zombie. When I don't get enough sleep, I look like the dead!

Finally, please come by on Halloween when I'll have a special treat for you.