Cavanaugh - The Insecure Writers Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond

The Insecure WritersSupport Group

Guide to Publishing andBeyond

Copyright 2014 by The Insecure WritersSupport Group

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

ISBN: 9781939844088

All rights reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in aretrieval system in any form either mechanically, electronically,photocopy, recording, or other except for short quotations inprinted reviews, without the permission of the publisher.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This Ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This Ebook may not be re-sold or given away toothers. If you would like to share this book with others, pleasepurchase an additional copy. Thank you for respecting the hard workof the author.

The views and ideas presented here do notrepresent the views of The Insecure Writers Support Groupadministrators.

All contributors to this anthology gave TheInsecure Writers Support Group permission to use their work andassume all responsibility for their articles.

Table of Contents

Part One: Writing

Part Two: Publishing

Part Three: Marketing

The Insecure Writers Support Group wasfounded in 2011 with one goal in mindconnect writers to oneanother for support and encouragement. It began as a blog group,posting on the first Wednesday of every month. The response wasincredible as participants found inspiration, answers, and friendsin the process.

The groups membership swelled into thehundreds, and in 2013, the IWSG Facebook group was established. Atthe same time, we launched the IWSG website, a database ofdatabases covering a multitude of writing and author topics. Inaddition to thousands of resources, we feature articles fromauthors and industry experts every week.

This book is a celebration of the IWSGgroups three year and the websites one year anniversary. Thearticles and essays within all came from our members. They coverthe three basic areaswriting, publishing, and marketing. It is ourhope that this book will benefit you as a writer, no matter whereyou reside in the journey.

My heartfelt thanks to the administrators ofthe IWSG websitewithout you this book wouldnt be possible:

Lynda Younghttp://lyndaryoung.blogspot.com/

Michelle Wallacehttp://www.writer-in-transit.co.za/

Susan Gourley/Kelleyhttp://susangourley.blogspot.com/

L. Diane Wolfehttp://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/

Joylene Nowell Butlerhttp://cluculzwriter.blogspot.com/

Joy Campbell http://www.joylcampbell.com/

And thank you to all of the writers andauthors who contributed their words of wisdom.

This book represents the spirit of theInsecure Writers Support Groupto encourage and support writerseverywhere!

For more information about the group, pleasevisit the Insecure Writers Support Group website -http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/ - and Facebook group -https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13/

Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG Founder,http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Part One:Writing

Margaret Atwood told some version of thisstory:

A brain surgeon meets a writer at a cocktailparty.

So you write? says the brain surgeon.Isnt that interesting. Ive always wanted to write. When I retireand have the time, Im going to be a writer.

What a coincidence, says the writer,because when I retire, Im going to be a brain surgeon.

As if it were that easy.

Ive been writing seriously for eight longyears. In that time, a few of my writer-friends Ive really rootedfor no longer use the title writer.

Some people are afraid to call themselveswriters until theyre published. That makes no sense to me. Youwriteyoure a writer. Where else do we make this arbitrary rule?We readwe call ourselves readers. We dont say, But I cant countmyself as a reader until Ive read all of Shakespeares works, orIm not a reader until Ive read 1,000 books or 1 million pages.Even babies who are read to or toddlers who pretend to read arereaders, so why cant we be writers?

But the problem with myformer-writer friends isnt about what they call themselves. Itsabout what they do or rather dontdo.

Life is busy. I get it. Its stressful. Thereare a myriad of hardships people experience. And Im not going tominimize the physical, psychological, and spiritual havoc this cancause on their wellbeing, let alone creativity.

Except in temporary extreme circumstances, wedont stop cooking, driving the kids to activities, doing laundry,reading, and working at our day jobs. Some even maintain blogs orstay active on social media sites.

Then why is writing often sacrificed aboveall else?

It took me four years to figure out that if Ididnt make the consistent commitment to write, it might not happenat all. I used to have deluges and droughts, and I thought that wasokay. Then I switched from working part time to full time. Myclasses were stressful, and I had lesson plans to create, papers tograde, parents to meet, and so on.

I didnt write for six months.

By February break, I realized my soul hadbecome malnourished. For the rest of the school year I tried tomake an effort to write, but I accomplished very little. It wasntenough.

I decided I needed to write nearly every day,no matter what the job and the circumstance. This coincided with adecision to attend graduate school for Special Education. How wouldI balance everything: husband, children, working full time,attending a class, and running a house?

We all have a different list of obligations,and the list is always in flux. Somehow it grows longer. Andlonger.

You will NEVER have time.

When we place writing on the bottom of thatlist or dont put writing on it at all, then maybe the termwriter doesnt apply to us. If we dont even log in the samenumber of minutes it takes to brush our teeth to write fiction,then what are we doing?

Its about reprioritizing.

There are no hard and fast rules. Do whatworks for you. Write for 30 minutes a day. Write 500 words per day.Write 1,000 words per day. Write 5 minutes per day. Write at thesame time each morning. Write after the kids go to bed. Write whenthe kids are at their activities or the little ones take a nap.Write during your lunch break. Write a novel during NaNoWriMo, andthen spend the rest of the year revising it and working on otherwriting projects. When youre in between projects or uninspired,write poetry or micro-fiction.

But do something .

This is what worked for me: My goal is towrite every day for at least 30 minutes. Critiquing, reading forresearch, and writing a blog post do not count towards my writinggoals. Otherwise, I could go every single day and not write a wordof fiction or a line of poetry.

Not only do I rarely miss a day, but alsoIve never been more prolific. By exercising my writing muscle, itgets stronger.

Dont look to friends and family to validateyour writing. Even if theyre supportive, its not theirresponsibility to motivate you. Some might even start makingnegative comments when your journey is taking longer than expected.Dont let them cultivate your seeds of doubt. And if theyre notsupportive, all the more reason for you to show that your writingtime is non-negotiable.

If you dont make the effort to write, itwont happen.

I recently heard an agent say that writersshould compare themselves to the characters in their stories. Theconsequences for the main character not obtaining her goal have tobe great or the story wont be compelling. If what a writer thinksshell lose by not writing isnt great enough, her compulsion towrite will wane.

How important is writing to YOU?

If its not your passion, then dont letwriting get in the way of other pursuits.

Its hard being a writer. There are bouts ofdoubt: