Bits and Bobs and Some Other Meanderings

In my last post about the prejudices within a writer, I seemed to have struck a chord. Consequently, I received many thoughtful comments. One stood out for me and I wanted to share. It was from Carol Riggs: "Readers enjoy all types of books--not everything has to mean something profound. Isn't having readers enjoy a book a profound experience in itself, w/o having to change the world and be on the NYT bestseller list? I think so!" I think so too! Thanks, Carol and everyone who took the time to leave a comment. I appreciate all of them.

I won a $10 Amazon gift voucher from C Lee McKenzie as part of her Double Negative Tour. A big thank you to Lee! If you haven't picked up your copy of her latest YA book, do so today!

I recently read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. So far this is my absolute favourite book I've read this year. Wow, the voice is amazing, the story wonderful. I loved everything about it. Clearly, I need to read more MGs if this is the kind of gem I'll find. No surprises, the book won a Newbery award.

A $25 juicer from Kmart is my new friend (for however long it will last). Yes, I'm cheap. I'd wanted a juicer for a while but they all cost ridiculous prices when I wasn't sure I'd love it. Well, it turns out, I love it. Above is a pic of my more daring blend: kale, cucumber, apple and ginger. Yum. So far, my favourite blend is the good ole orange, apple and ginger combo. Tonight I might try carrot, fennel and ginger. Have you gone juice crazy? What weird combos have you tried (made or bought)?

I also recently mentioned my computer crashed big time. Well, I'm happy to say my tech-savvy husband got it up and running like new again. My game project is back on track. Woot.

Because I'm super busy with writing along with game development, I'll be back to post again on the first Wednesday of September for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. My favourite group! In the meanwhile, happy reading and writing!

Prejudices within the Writer #IWSG

The community of writers is a special one. It’s full of insane, generous people who have chosen writing as a pastime—or perhaps writing chose them. However, we’re not immune to prejudices—mostly against ourselves.

There’s a common belief that there are classes of writing. The good, the bad and the ugly. The literary, the genre and the first draft. Like all prejudices, they only damage. Not all writing needs to change the world. Not all of it needs to dig deep to uncover truths meant to change a person’s life. And not all of it needs to be perfect at every stage.

I’m a genre writer, my favourite being anything speculative. In some circles, science fiction and fantasy lack a certain kudos that literary works hold. Romance writers seem to be on the back foot as well and let’s not talk about the poor horror writers. Not only that, it’s easy to get fooled into thinking you’ll never be good enough, never get noticed by a publisher, and certainly never hit the bestsellers lists. That only happens to the lucky people.

Well, excuse my language, but pish posh to prejudices! Don’t let yourself lose focus. When I returned to the roots of why I started writing in the first place, I was suddenly okay with being a genre writer.

Writing is a form of expression that’s crucial to my sanity. It doesn’t matter what type of stories I create. It doesn’t matter that my work won’t turn into classics for generations to come. All I need to do is cast aside the damaging prejudices that are both contagious and toxic, and write what I love.

How about you?

This post was written for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. To join or check it out, click HERE.

Also we, at the IWSG, have a special announcement for the IWSG anniversary coming up. Stay tuned!! (Psst, it's super exciting).

And for those of you who have joined the IWSG Facebook Group, we've turned Fridays into promo day when you can share your links to your books, blogs or whatever you'd like to promote, or simply share any great news you might have.

Note: my main computer died (thus no pics in this post). The harddrive went boom. I'm not a happy camper. Luckily I can write anywhere (yay for crappy old laptops). Unluckily, however, it means my game project is on hold. Sigh.