Writing Productivity or Lack Thereof #IWSG

The IWSG Question of the month is all about writing productivity. Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?

Lately I've been having a hard enough time focusing on writing on a regular day let alone one that's full of non-writing distractions. So yes, Christmas and the time leading up to Christmas is super busy, so writing has taken a bit of a back seat. My NaNo plans only just scraped through. 

But, you know what? It's ok. Life happens. Life is full of distractions. It's abundant with family and friends. It's also full of unexpected side alleys. Some lead to great things, some not so much. Life is life. And the more we live that life, the more our creativity sings. 

Focus on the good stuff. Celebrate the joy.

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful Christmas. 

What are your Christmas plans? Have you been writing up a storm or percolating ideas?

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.
 

Note: The image above is one I created via AI generation. There are some tell-tale signs a computer did this. Can you spot the main one? Hint, look at Santa's hands.

It's that Time Again #IWSG

The question of the month is, November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

I’ve been taking part in NaNoWriMo on and off for years. If you're not familiar with it, the challenge is to write 50k words in 30 days. Wielder’s Fire, my third book in the Wielder’s Storm trilogy is a NaNo book. The fantasy and scifi I’m hoping to release next year are also NaNo books. They were all added to, of course, and heavily edited after the challenge.

NaNo helps me focus and encourages me to write a fast first draft. I love writing fast first drafts. This year I won’t be able to participate in the traditional way as I’d hoped. There will be too many interruptions and distractions in November. I will still try my best to get as many words as possible on a new fantasy I’m writing. 

If you’d like to follow along and be my NaNo buddy, then you can find me as Lynfaw 

How about you? Have you tried NaNoWriMo? Why do you love it (or not)? 

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.
 

 

 

 

Note: This is a prescheduled post. I'm not actually here at the moment. Remember those distractions I told you about? I'm on one of them now, down south visiting family for a week. I'll pop around the blogshpere when I get back. In the meantime, stay safe.

When Life gets in the Way of Writing #IWSG

Life is a mite intense at the moment. Plans have been thrown out the window. Worries have multiplied. I'm not even home. I'm six hours away! There ain't no writing time for this struggling writer. When life gets in the way of writing, there are ways of coping, ways of moving forward, ways of taking it in and storing it all up to turn into inspiration later.

So if you know those ways, please share ;)

But seriously, I'm fine. Everybody is fine. God willing, I'll be back soon and I'll do the rounds then. In the meanwhile take care and be kind to yourselves.

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.

The Worst Kind of Genre Writing #IWSG

The IWSG question of the month is an interesting one: What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why?

The thing about good genre writing is that it requires a certain amount of passion for the genre. Passion brings a desire to learn more about the subject, to throw yourself in and understand all its nuances. If you're not that interested, you probably won't read much in the area, which makes it hard to write within the themes and tropes.

I'd love to be able to write within romance subcategories because they're so popular and easy to define when marketing a book. The tropes are clear cut. The stories don't have to be long. I could whip out a bunch of them...if I had a passion for romance writing. 

The same goes with crime, historicals, thrillers. While my reading does include all those, I lack the desire and drive to write them.

My passion lies in fantasy and science fiction. I can't get enough. I love everything about them.

But the absolute worse genre for me to tackle? The ones I don't read or want to read. Erotica, westerns, military, world wars. No thanks. Not for me.

How about you? What would be your worst genre to write?

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE. 

 

 

 

Note: Blogger struck again and put some comments that needed moderating into the spam folder. I rarely check spam. Big mistake! Turns out some of you left comments on my blog and even though you've been commenting for years, they still went directly into spam. I only just discovered them last week. And here I was, thinking the blogsphere was getting more and more quiet... Doh! I'll make sure I check all the folders now. 

Writing Unique vs Writing to Market #IWSG

The IWSG Question of the month: When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?  

The short answer: A little of both. To a point.

The long answer: I’ve spoken to several writers who think writing to market means cheapening your craft. I’m not sure where they got that idea. If you want to publish with any kind of success, you’ll have to have some idea of where your story will fit in the market. 

It’s not enough to say it’s a Young Adult book, for example. What kind of YA? What are the subcategories? What are the reader expectations in those categories? It doesn’t mean you have to write cookie-cutter stories to fit into those categories. You can, but you don’t have to. 

With every story you write, you make it uniquely yours. You pour in your personal perspective, your ideas, your heart. 

Of course, you can always go the completely original route that blasts through genre walls, but you’ll have a harder time selling the story. Harder, but not impossible. You never know, you could trail blaze your way into a new genre. 

I’ve chosen the easier route. I write what I love and I just so happen to love some specific genres. They aren’t the wildly popular genres like many of the romance subcategories, but they have a loyal fan base. 

What about you? Do you write what you love to read or something completely different? 

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.