What makes a writer want to quit and when should they quit?
For those of us who don’t quit, why do we continue even when there’s so little income?
A forced partnership that neither Charlene or Logan wants means facing their trust issues head-on. Can they survive these new beginnings?
In Keri’s first blog she talked about what she wished she’d known before publishing her first book. Here, she talks about what she’s doing right.
Many of her mistakes were mine, too. I find that via the questions many new writers are asking in various online writers’ groups I belong to, that they’re making the same mistakes, as well.
Babies don’t come with instruction, neither is there one handbook for new writers. However, there are lots of books, media groups, and local/regional groups where new writers can find help. And thankfully, there’s always Google!
Today, I have a guest blogger.
Keri Kruspe, fellow writer and friend, writes this blog and shares with you her experiences as a first-time author and what she wished she had known beforehand. I wish I had known, too.
Behind the Scenes with Diana Stout, MFA, PhD
This month’s question: What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?
My response isn’t about specific traits but rather the one thing that drives the character(s), and which often says a lot about their traits.
For more information about The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
May 1 question: What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
My experience would have to be when I first started publishing. One of my earliest publications was to a small magazine and it was about finding the positive in anything and everything, including the not so positive experiences we go through from time to time.
The day I got my copy, I got a phone call from a reader who lived in Oklahoma. I lived in Michigan. He was quite direct wanting to know what my day was like right then and what was so positive about it.
I must admit, that day wasn’t the best day for me. I paused.
Right away, he quipped, “Ha, I knew you couldn’t do it.”
“Give a minute,” I said. A few seconds later, I found my positive and told him.
He paused and said, “I guess you showed me that we can find the positive if we’re willing to look around and think about it.”
The fact that my little article could reach someone halfway across the country like that was a powerful message to me that I needed to take care about what I wrote.
More than ever that holds true in today’s social media and e-mails. We have the power to help or to hurt. I’ll choose to help every time.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Weekend Writing Warriors / #WeWriWa / #8sunday
Welcome to the Weekend Writing Warrior blog hop where writers share an 8-10 sentence snippet of their writing, published or unpublished.
My snippet this week comes from the first novella in a series of seven, Shattered Dreams. Drafts for #2 and #3 have been written. The last four plotted out. My plan is to start publishing them by the end of the year. What’s fun is that the characters come in and out of each other’s stories, as they should as one or both of the couples went to school together and all remain in the same community. Oh, and there is a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle that is pulled out of the lake in #1 with a mystery surrounding it.
As a waitress, Shelley is in the diner’s freezer, having propped the door open with a brick. She stumbles, exclaiming out loud, and in the next instant, Mason is there beside her asking if she’s alright. She’s startled, bumping into him, which tips over a bucket of pickles that moves the brick, which seals them in darkness.
SNIPPET:
Shelley heard him moving around. “Where are you?”
“Smile so I can see you.”
Shelley chuckled, unable to help herself. So like Mason to joke when there was a problem.
She heard him moving. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s pretend we’re blind, and we’ll talk with our hands.”
“We are blind. It’s dark, remember? Besides, I can’t see your hands.”
“That’s the point. We can use the braille method.”
Weekend Writing Warriors / #WeWriWa / #8sunday Welcome to the Weekend Writing Warrior blog hop where writers share an 8-10 sentence snippet of their writing, published or unpublished.
My snippet this week comes from a current work in progress, Arrested Pleasures, that is the 3rd novella in a series of 7. The first, Shattered Dreams, has been published. Drafts of #2 and #3 have been written. The rest are being plotted out. My goal is that Burning Desire #2 and Arrested Pleasures #3 will be published by the end of the year.
Dan Walker and Anne Martin had one disastrous date in high school and he’s been chasing her ever since, unable to get a yes to another date. It wasn’t often that anyone could get the better of Game Warden Anne, yet he could do it with one word: Dare, a game they had started after that one date. Confronting her head on was the only way he could get her to talk to him. Even back then, other guys were thrown off with her long look that they called cold. He called it curiosity, and he liked it when she was staring at him. Almost like studying a bug under a microscope. He was good with that, her being focused on him.
SNIPPET:
She decided to up the stakes.
“Truth,” she said, calling his bluff. It was chancy and sometimes worked.
He unfolded his arms, put his feet closer together so he stood straighter, and looked down at her. “Dare.”
Damn, he just called her bluff.
“Dare, but only with the Truth first.”
“I get to choose the Dare?”
She started to nod, then hesitated. That was too quick. Damn, he was outsmarting her again. How did he do that? If she said no, he’d call her a coward and heckle her for days. If she said yes… crap, she could be heading for a bucketful of trouble. She took a deep breath and expelled it. “Deal.”
He grinned.
Oh, gawd, she was in trouble now.
Years ago, when the Internet was relatively new, I formed a group of screenwriters, called Scribelink. It was popular with lots of good quality sharing of information. I made a lot of screenwriter friends because of that group. Many who are still friends today.
Because I miss that camaraderie, I’ve formed a Facebook group for all genres, of all levels, called “Writing Secrets, Myths & Truth with Diana Stout.” While there are many writers groups out there today, I find that many are narrowed by genre or writing element, like self-publishing. I want an all-inclusive group, as we can all learn from each other and from different genres. I learned a lot of writing novels using screenwriting techniques.
Writing Secrets… is a closed group, meaning you have to make the request to join and answer a few easy questions, but no one can see the posts unless they are a member.
Come ask your questions, share your expertise, and join this fun group of people, who share your love of writing.
Because I’m repeatedly asked to recommend books for writers, here is the start of my list. Some of these are older books, but they stand the test of time. I can’t get rid of them because I refer back to them from time-to-time. I use them to teach from. Plus, it would take forever to remove all the Post-Its that mark important pages!
More to be added . . . 
https://sharpenedpencilsproductions.com/index.php/recommended-books/