First IWSG of 2018!

Hello and Happy New Year! Today is the day for the monthly meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group, founded by our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. To view list members and this month's co-hosts, visit the IWSG page here.

I would like to be able to say I feel motivated and ready for a productive 2018 writing-wise but unfortunately that would be a lie. I spent December like I spent most of the past year - not doing anything constructive related to writing or blogging, I didn't even get the story I planned to write for the December WEP hop finished. 😞

But when I thought back on 2017 overall I realized that it was a good year in ways that had nothing to do with writing, and I was reminded of something I read on Nicki Elson's blog back in December. She wrote that she "enjoyed separating from my writer-self and seeing that I'm still a whole person without it." 

I can't say that I enjoyed not doing much writing, as I found it frustrating, but I did enjoy recognizing that, like Nicki, I'm a whole person without it too. I enjoyed finding new interests, like running, and getting back to old ones, like reading. My job changed in all good ways and I am feeling more productive and happy at work than I have in quite a while. And most importantly I spent lots of great times with loved ones, topping that off with the best Christmas I've had in years.

So while I'm insecure about my writing slump I am trying to balance that with gratitude for the fact that I have lots of other things in life to feel good about. I hope my writing mojo will return but I am trying not to stress about it. I have learned that the more I try to force it the more I wind up with nothing but a blank page.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a great end to 2017. Here's to a fantastic 2018 for all of us!

Celebrating the Holidays

I'm taking part in one last Celebrate the Small Things hop before wrapping things up for 2016. This week I'm celebrating the upcoming holidays and wishing you all a very happy and healthy holiday season. Thanks for being part of my life for another year, and for allowing me to be part of yours.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year. 

See you in 2017!

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

IWSG and Happy 2016!

Hello, all, and welcome to the first 2016 meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

The IWSG is hosted by our Ninja founder Alex J. Cavanaugh. Alex's co-hosts to help kick off the new year are L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larson, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, and Michelle Wallace.

If you'd like to join the group, just visit the list here and add your name. Newcomers are always welcome!

I'm not feeling particularly insecure this month (a miracle!) but more just excited and a little overwhelmed. I have lots of new ideas for stories and articles I would like to write and submit to markets in the coming year, but I can't seem to settle down and focus. For the past few years I've focused exclusively on my novels and while that has been wonderful, I want to go back to some other writing goals I let slip by the wayside. I'd love to write some short stories and non-fiction articles and, with luck, have them accepted for publication somewhere. I hope by the time we have our last meeting of the year I'll be able to say I did that!

For the rest of this month though I'm working hard on polishing my novel, which I finally finished on New Year's Eve, just barely making the end of 2015 deadline I set for myself. I have lots of revisions and overall polishing to do now, but I'm excited to work on those because I feel really good about the story now.

Last year I felt kind of burned out with writing of all kinds so it feels great to be excited again. Even though having lots of ideas hopping around in my head is a little overwhelming, it's a much better feeling than being stuck and burned out. So I'm hoping to keep that excitement going as we march along through 2016.

I'm looking forward to checking in with all the other IWSG members and the rest of my blogging pals and catching up with all of you. I want to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year and here's to a great 2016 for all of us.

Heart in a Box by Catherine Stine & the Holiday Season

Today I'm helping to spread the word about the latest from Catherine Stine, the YA contemporary romance Heart in a Box.

Here is the scoop on the book:

Heart in a Box

YA contemporary romance

Inkspell Teen

Catherine Stine

Each heartbeat leads Joss closer a shocking truth that will change everything.

Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from her private school to a public high to “find her pieces” she lost when the Indian artist father she never knew died. There, Joss struggles with a slutty friend, who flirts with her new love; Indian Culture Club girls who press her on her past, as well as her stoner mother’s lies back at home. Armed only with her handmade heart boxes that hold private messages, Joss’s search for identity leads her to a scary industrial section of Queens, and a shocking family secret that changes everything.

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B017VM7250

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1059206934

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-in-a-box-catherine-stine/1122967577?ean=2940151079440

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-heartinabox-1925744-149.html

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/heart-in-a-box-2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27830593-heart-in-a-box

Congratulations and best of luck to Catherine!! 

This is my last post for the year so I want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year! I am in the Christmas spirit this year and anxious for the holidays. It seems impossible that another year is coming to a close but I'm excited to see what 2016 will bring. 

This quote is probably most appropriate for Thanksgiving but I wanted to share it here. Thanks to all of you for being such "charming gardeners." Happy holidays!

Celebrate the Small Things: Happy New Year Edition

It's time for another weekly celebration with Vikki at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. Thanks as always to Vikki for hosting this hop!

First off, I'm celebrating that I had a truly wonderful Christmas this week filled with lots of laughter and fun with some of the people I love most in this world. What else can you ask for, right? I hope that all of you who celebrate Christmas also had a fantastic holiday.

Vikki suggested that for this last hop of 2013 we look back and celebrate the whole year, and I thought that was a great idea.

To me, 2013 will always be about the two books I had published! If someone had told me a few years back that by the end of December, 2013 I would have two books out in the world I would have asked them what kind of drugs they were taking. It just goes to show you never really know what can happen when you take a chance and try a new path.

Which leads me to the start of that path, this blog. December 31 will be my third anniversary of blogging and I can honestly say that taking that step that day in 2010 has been one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. When looking back at 2013 it's a thrill to realize that I've made tons of new friends out here in blog land (while still cherishing the old ones) in spite of the fact that I've been at this now for three years.

So I'm celebrating this amazing community that I am so proud and grateful to be part of and that has enriched my life in ways I never could have imagined back in 2010 when I hit "publish" for the first time.

Thanks to all of you and I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year. Here's to a wonderful 2014 for all of us.

Source

Happy New Year to All, Happy Blogoversary to Me

Tomorrow is my first blogoversary, as I wrote my first post on December 31, 2010. When I look at the post now, there's not much to it, but I remember agonizing over writing it. Not so much about the content, but about whether or not I should actually do it. I remember my finger lingering over the "publish post" button for what seemed like forever, and I must have hit the "preview" option 100 times.

Looking back on the year now, it's hard to imagine I was ever that nervous about starting a blog. But sharing my thoughts or experiences does not come easily to me, as I have spent most of my life as a closed book. But this blog was all about making changes, and a big part of that was changing what I had always done and always been. So while my first post doesn't look like much now, it was a big first step for me. For that reason, it will always make me smile.

When I started this blog, one of the things that inspired me was this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

That's what I tried to do in starting this blog, and I'm thrilled to have taken not only that first step, but also several others as I've gone through 2011. I'm working on setting some concrete goals for 2012, but I know my overall goal is to continue to make my way up that staircase. I still can't see all of it, but I have a good idea of what I want it to be, and what steps I need to take to reach the top of it. 

I've said it before, but I can't say thank you enough to everyone who has followed my blog, left a comment, or just visited and read a post or two. I'm so grateful, and I hope I have been as supportive and encouraging to other bloggers and writers as so many have been to me. It's been such a joy to get to know so many amazing people over the past year, from all corners of the world, and I look forward to continuing to follow your adventures in the year ahead.

I wish everyone a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year! May we all continue to make our way up the staircase in 2012 and beyond.