That Semicolon is Killing Me #IWSG

A sign at the local coffee shop had me giggling and wincing at the same time. It read:

Dear Customers;

EFTPOS is temporarily unavailable.

Sorry for the convenience

The owners of the shop may have heard my guffaw because, not a minute later, the sign was taken down and a new one put up. Convenience was changed to inconvenience. But the semicolon remained. It made me squirm as if I had a tick in my eye.

Do you have trouble ignoring the bad grammar or punctuation around you? Do you correct presenters on TV shows, rewrite sentences while reading published books, chuckle at dodgy sentence structure on goods? Have you influenced your non-writing family member enough that he or she also corrects the bad grammar?

If you’ve said yes to any of these questions, then I have bad news for you: You are cursed. Yes, cursed. There’s no going back to being blissfully unaware of typos, comma splices, or dangling modifiers. You are doomed to annoy your friends (or bite your tongue a lot), fated to spend hours nit-picking over your work, ruined for the rest of your literary life.

The good news is, you’ve also been blessed. Why? Because you are a writer, and being a writer is the best thing in the world. Go on, you can admit it. It’s safe here.

What are some of the funniest mistakes you’ve made or seen? How do you survive the errors everywhere?

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This post was written for the IWSG Group. We post on the first Wednesday of the month. Sign up is HERE.

I’m posting early because I wanted to remind everyone about the impending deadline for The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond. It’s chugging toward us at a rapid pace. Not the book, but the deadline for submissions, which is October 2nd. We’re looking for articles on writing, publishing and marketing. For the guidelines, click HERE.

While we prefer email submissions, TheIWSG[at]gmail[dot]com, if you are submitting via your blog, then make sure to use the book sign up sheet so we don't miss your awesome work.

The Motivation to Write

Being on a diet, I’m a little obsessed with food and have been craving something extravagant, my favourite indulgence being seafood platters. I turned to hubby and said, “When I get my book published, I’m going to take us out to some fancy restaurant with the money I earn.” He said, “So you’ll be ordering a scallop then?”

Ah, yes, he understands most of us don’t write for the money. We can, of course, dream and work toward achievable goals. If money were my sole goal, then I probably would’ve stopped writing a long time ago.  

What motivates you most to write?

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Out now: How I Found the Write Path, compiled by Carrie Butler and PK Hrezo. This is a compilation of letters to our past selves, sharing the secrets of the writing trade. With over sixty authors around the world contributing to the book, it’s well worth the read. I have the honour of my letter being included as well. So go grab yourself a free copy today.

Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, Txtr, Scribd



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The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond
Once again I’d like to thank everyone who has already sent in their submission for the book. If you haven’t already sent in anything, then your deadline is October 2nd. You can find the details here.

Important note: In the interests of copyright laws, we request you don’t use any direct quotes from other published writers unless you know without doubt it's in the public domain eg Shakespeare.

So far we’ve received a lot of submissions on writing, which is fantastic, but we’d also love to see more entries on publishing and marketing so we get a good balance for the book.

Is Self-Publishing for You? And Secrets of Honor

Today I'm over at the IWSG Website with an article about whether or not self-publishing is for you. Please pop on over. I'd love to see you there.

Today is the official Secrets of Honor release day. Yay, Carol!

By the end of a long evening working as a special set of eyes for the presidential security detail, all Kat Marengo wants is to kick off her shoes and stash two not-really-stolen rings in a secure spot. Plus, maybe sleep with Dave Krizak. No, make that definitely sleep with Dave Krizak. The next morning, she wishes her new top priorities were so simple.

As an operative for a covert agency buried in the depths of the Department of Homeland Security, Kat is asked to participate in a matter of life or death—locate a kidnapped girl believed to be held in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since the person doing the asking is the wife of the president and the girl is the daughter of the first lady’s dearest friend, it’s hard to say no.

Kat and Dave quickly learn the real stakes are higher than they or the first lady believed and will require more than any of them bargained for.

The kicker? They have twenty-four hours to find the girl—or the matter of life or death will become more than a possibility.

Available on Kindle and Paperback

Thanks to Mark Noce and Sittie for the Versatile Blogger Award. As part of accepting the award, I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself: I love God, garlic, friendship, my gorgeous husband, story writing, reading, and sunlight. 

Congrats to Mark for his two book deal as well!! How awesome is that?!

A note about the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond: We've already received some fabulous submissions. Keep 'em coming! Your deadline is October 2nd. I'd like to encourage every member of the group to consider contributing to the book, even if you aren't currently published yet. What better way to get started?

Don't forget to pop on over to the IWSG Website.

An Exciting IWSG Announcement

It's the IWSG Anniversary! Yay us!

Today marks three years since the very first IWSG post. Next month marks one year since the IWSG site and Facebook group opened. And we’d like you to help us celebrate!

The IWSG Team is putting together an eBook that will benefit all writers: The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond. And we invite all IWSG members, Facebook members, and followers to contribute.

The details:
The three topics will be writing, publishing, and marketing.

Each contribution needs to be between 200 and 1000 words. Focus on one of those three aspects and give us your best tip or procedure. The essay can include bullet points, top ten lists, and recommendations. (Websites, software, books, etc.)

You can either post it for your October 1 IWSG post or email it directly. TheIWSG[at]gmail.com or alexjcavanaugh[at]earthlink.net (Since the length can go over the standard IWSG post length.) Include a one sentence byline and a link to your site. Also state that you give us permission to use it in the book and which topic it falls under. (We will only edit for misspellings and grammar mistakes.)

All submissions need to be sent or posted by October 2, 2014. We will compile them into an eBook and aim for an early December release. The book will be free and available for all eReaders.

Thank you for making the IWSG such a huge success!!

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A big thank you to Elizabeth Varadan for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

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Another big thank you to M Pax. On Crystal Collier's blog, I won two of Mary's ebooks, The Rifters and The Initiate. Apparently I'm the very first to receive a copy of the Initiate. It's so new, it's still smoking. I'm super excited to read both.