Insecure Writers Want to Know: What’s your favorite writing craft book? And why?

Writing craft books! I love them. Every time I read them or glance through them; I learn something new. Every time. I highlight. I write notes in the margins. I place colored tabs on pages. I didn’t realize how many different genre, and different technique writing books I had on my shelves until you posed this question.

The interesting thing about writing books is that the general story telling is the same. For children. For mysteries. For memoir. Story is story, no matter the conventions needed to place it in a genre. There’s a beginning, middle, and end to the story. There’s tension. There are well-rounded characters that readers need to care about. There should be internal and external forces compelling characters to make choices. And there are consequences for the decisions made. 

Yes. There are specific genre conventions. The story needs to do what the genre readers expect of it. But they are still stories. Even memoir is a story. 

So many writers have tweaked the genre to create something just a bit different, just a bit unique. I remember finding romance stories with vampires or aliens. Mysteries in outer space or with magical creatures.    

I don’t think I have a specific writing book I refer to always. I read them. I continue to learn something new. There are so many resources for writers now. I’ve added blog and newsletter readings and podcasts to my writing/story education.

Do you listen to Joanna Penn? 

MarkDawson? 

K.M.Weiland? 

Or Jennie Nash? 

These are my weekly listening programs. I learn lots. One thing about writers, we are always learning. But then again, aren’t all humans constantly learning?

Please feel free to offer any insight on this.

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks for visiting! And be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for August: PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox! Please visit them if you can.

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

 

Insecure Writers Want to Know: What would make you quit writing?

Friends, I’m still developing my website at www.victoriamarielees.com. I’m hoping to have the site live by August 2021. My Camping with Five Kids blog will be located at victoriamarielees.com as will my Adventures in Writing blog. One site to find Victoria Marie Lees and all her adventures and writing endeavors. Thank you all for your continued support! 

And now onto my July 2021 blog post. 

I’m co-hosting this month for Insecure Writers Support Group! I’d like to thank my fellow co-hosts for July: Pat Garcia, and Louise – Fundy Blue! Please visit them if you can. 

Our question asks what would make us quit writing. This brought to mind whether my “quit writing” would be temporary while I get my act together—again—or permanent. 

I think storytelling’s in my blood. Why would I quit? I mean, I’m not making much money. I fight with the family to find time to create stories. I drive myself crazy trying to create an online presence of who Victoria Marie Lees is, a platform in which to celebrate my writing. I don’t sleep. 

Wait… Hmm… Maybe these are reasons to quit writing. After all, no one is waiting for the next YA short story by Victoria Marie Lees. No one is waiting for the next blog post by Victoria Marie Lees. No one is waiting for the college memoir by Victoria Marie Lees.

Ahem! Excuse me as my insecurities show.

If money and fame are the only reasons to write, then yes. I should quit writing. But let’s consider other reasons to write and create with words.

With fiction, a writer can live vicariously through her characters. Create adventures and danger and love and possibilities, all from the comfort of our writing space.

Social media posts and blogs offer friendship and advice to others. Connections. They say: “you are not alone.” And: “we are here to help each other.” This is why I so need you all at Insecure Writers Support Group!

Memoir can open up understanding within the writer and the reader. Offer help to others as the words offer support for the writer.   

With poetry, as in all creative writing, places, ideas, and beliefs are scrutinized and explained; given validation and imagery.  

In prose, images are created, visualized in words, and explained.

Yes, this is why Victoria Marie continues to write and create. Not for the glory, although that would be nice. Victoria is trying to understand herself and her world better. She’s trying to assist others to find solace through story, memoir, or poetry. Maybe even blog posts.

So I guess the answer to this month’s question would be: No. I don’t think I’d ever quit writing. Even if I can’t support myself with my writing, I may find the meaning of self.

Please feel free to offer any insight on this.

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks for visiting! And be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

 

Insecure Writers Want to Know: How long do you shelve your first draft before you begin revising? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?

Always good questions to contemplate each month with IWSG. The only book-length manuscript I’ve ever created is my college memoir. I’ve taken a few months before revising and creating yet another draft. The book is finally being beta read now. Yay! 

When I create short stories, however, I usually wait a week or two before revising. I request a few writer friends to offer critiques to help in revision. Then after revising the story and making it the best I can, I swallow—hard—and send the story out. Praying all the while that I have something marketable in the eyes of the gatekeepers. 

As a writer, I need to be careful not to get stuck in the vicious cycle of constantly revising my manuscripts. Has this ever happened to you? 

I was concerned that my problem with constant revision was happening with my college memoir. I was hooked on all my funny anecdotes. I loved them. I still do! They make me laugh in all the right places. But memoir needs to be more than a collection of funny anecdotes. People look to memoir to learn something about the writer/protagonist as well as themselves. Universal themes the editors call it. 

I didn’t wish to “use up” my generous beta readers’ time by sending them a lengthy manuscript that needed a lot of work. That’s why before I sent the whole manuscript out to beta readers, I had an editor help me finetune it. Have you ever used a developmental editor or book coach to help you write a strong draft of your story?

I’m also in the process of getting my website together. Victoriamarielees.com through hover. I hope to have it ready by July 2021.  

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks for visiting! And be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for June: J Lenni Dorner, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria! Please visit them if you can. 

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE. 

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Have any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a surprising way?

Wouldn’t that be nice to have readers reach out to me personally about my stories. You are a very lucky author indeed to have readers actually respond to your writing, besides just leaving reviews. This is what I hope for once I publish books or story collections.   

At this time, I’ve published essays in a few anthologies and published young adult adventure stories in magazines. I’m assuming some of the stories connected to readers because Cricket Magazine has put out a few e-book and audio book collections with several of my stories in them. I do not receive any royalties on those collections, however, as Cricket pays first rights and may use the material again with no further payment.

But.

I get my publishing rights back. I’ve checked on that already. I may use my stories again to sell them myself after a certain period of time. Now…I just need time and experts to show me how to put together an e-book or two or maybe package a few stories, both previously published and not, for a collection of YA stories to sell online.

Which pushes me to get my website together. Victoriamarielees.com through hover. I still need to do this. I will tell you all when it is live. 

My college memoir is about 55,000 words now.

Do you know of any small presses who publish memoirs? They don’t require agents, correct? I may be trying small presses to publish my college memoir.

Does anyone have experience with P.O.D., print on demand, publishers? Could you share some insight with me?

Please feel free to offer any insight on this.

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks for visiting! And be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again. 

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for May: Erika Beebe, Pat Garcia, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine! Please visit them if you can. 

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.   

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Are You a Risk-taker When Writing? Try Something Different in Style/POV? Add Controversial Topics to Your Work?

Who me? A risk taker? I’m a big chicken, remember? But you know, if we really dive deep into this question. Aren’t all writers risk takers?  

We risk sending out our tender new stories—our babies—to strangers in order to be published. To see if gatekeepers feel our stories are good enough to be out in the world. We send them to agents or editors, small presses and publishers.

Or -

We risk publishing them ourselves to see if others feel our stories are good. We take on the personal responsibilities of editing and revising them, laying the stories out, spending our hard-earned capital for book covers and publishing methods. 

So maybe the answer is yes, I’m a risk taker of sorts, when it comes to my stories. To getting published. To getting out there in the world with my voice, my themes, my morals. No matter which publishing method I try.  

As for trying something radically different in style or POV or adding controversial topics to my work, no. I haven’t tried any of this in my creative writing. Not yet! How about you? 

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

A small update about my college memoir:

·       It’s about 60,000 words.

·       My current title choice is The Courage to Believe – One Mother’s Journey Through College.

·       This is a story about a mother who learns to believe in herself and her dream of college after someone tries to rip the same dream away from her daughter.

·       How many beta readers do you usually have?

Please feel free to offer any insight on this.

Thanks again for visiting! Be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again. 

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.  I’d like to thank our co-hosts for April: PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, SE White, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton. Please visit them if you can. 

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Do you read widely or only within the genre(s) you create stories? What motivates your reading choice?

Hello and welcome to Adventures in Writing! I’m so glad you are visiting. I have the honor of being one of the IWSG co-hosts for March. My fellow co-hosts are Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen, Jacqui Murray, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, and JQ Rose!  

Please feel free to look around my blog! You can find writing tips and topics in the tab sections along the top of the blog. Check out the About Me section to see what I’ve been up to. Kindly follow me on social media if you haven’t already. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you. Thanks so much.  

Now as far as this month’s question goes, I think every writer has a favorite genre to write in. My favorites are adventure stories and memoir. I need lots of action. To make a memoir story interesting, it needs action too, be it external or internal action.

But my reading preferences are wider. I feel writers should read widely in order to grow and see how the story structure matters to each genre. I read cozy mysteries or suspense and romance, and of course, adventure and memoir. But I can enjoy any story where I get lost in the plot and care about the characters. I can’t do horror, though. I’m a big chicken who has too many nightmares already.

On a different note, I just purchased a domain name through hover.com! victoriamarielees.com

Do you have a domain name? Through whom did you purchase it? Has it benefited your searchability online or with your social media? Do you use it as a landing page or as your blog address?

I do not have a website online, only two blogs: http://victoriamarielees.blogspot.com about my writing adventures; and http://campingwithfivekids.blogspot.com about my family’s camping adventures. I’m hoping to bring the two blogs together at one place on the web at victoriamarielees.com.

I’m trying to understand if the domain name is just the spot on the web where visitors can find all the links to my work through tabs on the victoriamarielees.com page and how to connect with me or contact me

OR

does victoriamarielees.com BECOME my blog address(es) and I forego the blogspot.com web addresses.

There is no one correct answer, I’m sure. Please offer any insight you may have about this.

I’d love to hear about your experiences buying a domain name and then setting up your own website or blog with the new name. Sharing experiences helps us all to learn. That’s what makes IWSG a great group to belong to. 

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks again for visiting! Be sure to stop by Adventures in Writing again.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Blogging is more than sharing stories. It can be the start of special friendships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?

            Blogging through Adventures in Writing has brought me all of you, true relationships and even true friends. For that, I am forever grateful. I can’t thank you enough for sharing all your experience and knowledge in the writing field with me. Your generosity has helped me move forward on many writing projects. Seriously, thank you!  

            That being said, I realize how small—incredibly small really!—my social platform is. 

Writers need to build their online platforms. This is what I’m hoping to achieve through my connections with you, fellow writers, at Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I try to help my friends in the blogosphere by joining or following their blogs and connecting with them on facebook, Goodreads, and twitter.  

May I please request that if you have not “followed” my blog, please do so now. And if you could, please connect with me on my facebook author page, my Goodreads page, and my twitter page @VictoriaMLees. Thank you so much. If I haven’t connected with you on social media, please feel free to give me the links in the comments section of my Adventures in Writing blog. 

But what about an e-mail list? Do you have one? 

How did you start your e-mail list?

Can you only solicit an e-mail list through a website? Can I do it from my Adventures in Writing blog? 

Do you need to solicit e-mail addresses separately for list purposes and offer a free…what? Possibly a writing tips sheet or a short story piece in order to get the e-mail addresses?

Could the document you’re giving away be a PDF document or does it need to be an e-book? 

Do I need to tell readers that I’m soliciting e-mail addresses for a list?

Do I need to offer a newsletter to the e-mail list at regular intervals?

What do you write about in any newsletter you might offer to your e-mail list? 

How difficult are the e-mail marketing services to use? Which one do you use? 

I’d love to hear any comments you may have on the topic of an e-mail list and how you do it. I would truly appreciate it. 

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. As I’ve said, I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Remember, please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: As a Writer, what throws you out of a story you are reading?

What a great question. Every writer needs to pay attention to any story she reads to see if anything is not working or throws the reader out of the story to be sure that the writer doesn’t make the same mistakes in her own manuscripts. This is why it takes me longer to read a book. I’m basically studying how the author created the story and kept the pace moving forward. 

As to what makes me question my belief in a story, one thing can be errors in a sense of place. Time. Seasons. Weather. If I know the setting where the story takes place, simple errors in where real businesses lay or the direction of streets can be troublesome for me. Like if the sun sets over the Atlantic in New Jersey in a story, I know that can’t be true—except for the tip of Cape May where the Atlantic meets the Delaware River at Sunset Beach. The writer needs to prove his or her story logic to me for me to be immersed in the story. 

One thing that can actually throw me out of a story is if the characters are wooden or not acting logically to themselves. We need to give characters reasons for their actions. We need to dive deeply into the psychology of our characters to see what makes them tick and help the reader to care what happens to them, to connect with them. A story can be filled with action, one harrowing escape or war after another, but if I’m not invested in the protagonist, there is a disconnect between the story and me.  

This especially holds true in memoir. If the reader does not care what happens to the protagonist, the memoirist, then no one cares about her story. No matter what the action is. We need to have the reader rooting for the protagonist in either memoir or fiction. 

If I say my memoir is about a woman who finally learns to believe in herself through attending college. Good for her but who cares? 

But if I say the memoir is about a mother whose lack of belief in herself affects her ability to assist her children, the memoir becomes specific. It becomes personal. It becomes real. 

Hopefully, the memoir becomes a story readers will want to read to see how she does it. Seriously, here’s hoping! 

I’d love to hear any comments you may have on these two statements of what my college memoir is about. It would be greatly appreciated. 

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you. 

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

 

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Are there times of the year when you feel more productive with your writing? Why?

            It’s probably the time issue, but I feel more productive in my writing in the winter months AFTER the holidays. Having a large family, I’m usually up to my eyebrows with family obligations, preparing meals for an extended gathering—although I’m not sure this will happen this Christmas. It didn’t happen for Thanksgiving, due to an increase in coronavirus cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We had a quiet Thanksgiving, but we still used the good china, silverware, and wine glasses.  

            For me, productive writing happens without constant interruptions from family or friends. Beautiful weather can be a problem for me, too. I love the outdoors. When beautiful weather hits—and snow counts as beautiful weather in my book—I need to get outside. My new writing room has large windows onto a wooded lot. Yep! It’s a problem. I’ve faced my desk toward the wall to help a little. I use the opportunity to “go outside and play” as a reward for a good writing day, or for a chance to think things through if I’m having problems moving forward in my writing. 

I’d like to switch gears here at Adventures in Writing and tell you about a wonderful writer you may know. Liesbet Collaert has had the most extraordinary life. She’s sailed the world on Irie, a beautiful sailboat, and continues her adventures on land, camping all over North America in her camper van Zesty. 

 

Her new travel memoir, Plunge: One Woman's Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary, launched recently in eBook and paperback and is already the #1 new release in sailing on Amazon. The global link to order Plunge is HERE. I’ve purchased a copy a few days ago and am enjoying her adventures so. 

Here’s the enticing book blurb for Liesbet’s book: 

Tropical waters turn tumultuous in this travel memoir as a free-spirited woman jumps headfirst into a sailing adventure with a new man and his two dogs.

Join Liesbet as she faces a decision that sends her into a whirlwind of love, loss, and living in the moment. When she swaps life as she knows it for an uncertain future on a sailboat, she succumbs to seasickness and a growing desire to be alone.

Guided by impulsiveness and the joys of an alternative lifestyle, she must navigate personal storms, trouble with US immigration, adverse weather conditions, and doubts about her newfound love.

Does Liesbet find happiness? Will the dogs outlast the man? Or is this just another reality check on a dream to live at sea?  

 

You can keep up with Liesbet’s present adventures at her blog Roaming About, where she shares excellent photos and the good, bad, and difficult about living life in a camper travelling from campsite to campsite. I’ve learned lots, and I’ve camped across the United States and up into Canada with five children in a pop-up camper. You can read of my adventures at Camping with Five Kids. 

            You can connect with Liesbet on twitter and facebook and follow her Amazon author page. 

Writers helping writers! That’s what Insecure Writers Support Group does. I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

 

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Why Do I Write What I Write?

Albert Camus is right that many essays and stories are used to “keep civilization from destroying itself.” Documenting past atrocities is important to keep civilization from repeating the same mistakes. I think science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres can depict the downfall of civilization, too, by showing what would happen if mankind became too aggressive or too obsessive or too cruel. 

By the same token, Flannery O’Conner and many writers “write to discover what [they] know.” Of course the writers then need to revise what they have written to be sure they make a point.

I feel F. Scott Fitzgerald sums up the question of why we write what we write best:

“You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.”

I would like to add to his quote:

That “something” you have to say, needs to matter to the world—both the real world and the world of your story.

Why do I write what I write? I like to create stories to give people courage; courage to stand up for themselves, courage to attempt something difficult, and courage to finally believe in themselves. The theme of courage can be demonstrated in any genre, fiction or nonfiction.

To show courage through story, fiction or memoir, a writer needs to offer readers a fully fleshed out character. Someone the reader can connect to and care about. In my YA fiction, the protagonist is always the underdog, the one who needs to believe in himself enough to stand up to a bully or accept a new situation she can’t change. My protagonists need to accept the challenges that come with every new situation. They need to come to grips with their past to be able to live their present.

In my college memoir, Victoria needs to accept the challenges she can’t change; waiting to begin college until after having a family, and find the courage needed to face a classroom filled with students half her age and deal with her own struggles to learn. She needs to stand up for herself, both in the classroom and at the college, day after day, year after year, until she receives her degree.

With a courage theme, I’m still trying to come up with a title for my college memoir. Would you kindly offer your input on these two suggestions? They state what the story’s about, but I think they’re too long. Any suggestions to tighten them up? 

Power to Believe in Yourself: One Mother’s Journey Through College

Or

The Power to Believe: From Community College to the Ivy League – [The Story Behind] A Mother’s Journey 

Thank you for any assistance you may offer on the title of my college memoir. I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: What does the term Working Writer mean to you?

            I’m not sure if I’m blending two different terms here. Am I a working writer? Absolutely! I am forever writing and creating new short stories for market and blog posts and writing presentations and editing fellow writers and revising my college memoir and trying to keep up with social media. I so admire all of you who can keep up with the image of what I think a working writer does. Bravo! 

            But if we interpret working writer to mean a successful writer, I am probably not the true working writer. I’m certainly not making enough money through my story sales and presentations and editing to pay the bills. That’s where the day job comes in, or in my case, my part time position as a substitute teacher—which is non-existent at the moment because of Covid-19 and the need for online schooling.  

When I think of the term working writer, I think of writers in their home offices, pitching ideas to agents and editors. I picture someone actually waiting to read what I create next. Many of you have a faithful audience who can’t wait for your next installment of stories or articles or blog posts. To me, that’s the mark of a true working writer. 

I’m more of the hopeful writer. I write constantly. I brainstorm scenes, inner dialogue, character motivation, and insight. And then I pray, hoping some publisher will be interested in my creation, will care about what I have to say to the world. I strive to create a following, people and readers who care about what Victoria Marie has to say through story or memoir or poetry. My values are family-centric. My YA stories deal with teens trying to help others understand them and their hopes and dreams. 

That being said, I realize I need to go out and find my audience, my followers; people who are eager to see what Victoria Marie creates with words. I look to you all, my faithful blog readers, as a source to help me explore the thick forest of publication and social media. I absorb your posts and newsletters, gleaning how you became published and successful writers; how you found the time to keep up with social media and still write your stories. 

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: If you could choose one author to be your beta partner, who would it be? Why?

            First, I’d like to thank you, my fellow Insecure Writers, for your patience while we moved. In that short space of time, we moved our oldest daughter in with her sister and her family. My husband and I packed up our home of 36 years, sold it, and moved three hours away. And finally, we moved my 96-year-old mother-in-law into a nursing home. Sheesh! I’ll be going through boxes forever looking for what I need at the moment. You can read a short post with photos about our moving adventure at http://campingwithfivekids.blogspot.com.  

            Now let me think…the perfect beta partner for me, if I could choose anyone, would have to be the writing teacher and author Beth Kephart.  Kephart has the ability to look at themes and characters from many angles. She sees the story beneath the plot. This is a gift for any writer.        

            Kephart is a memoirist as well as a YA writer and poet, and it never ceases to amaze me how she can uncover such deep emotional truths in life through story, in both fiction and memoir. 

            I write both YA fiction and memoir and would love to hear her feedback on whether I have reached the inner core of the story I’m trying to visualize for the reader. However, being that highly insecure writer that I am, I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to hear it. Of course this is why writers need to be brave in order to improve their writing. We must learn from each other. Share ideas and methods. Choose the ones that will work for us to make our stories the best they can be. And then we need to be brave enough to let the stories go and send them out into the world for others to judge whether we have accomplished our goal of creating a great story. 

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey. 

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.   

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Writers have secrets. Share one or two of your own. Something readers would never know from your work.

Oooo, secrets! Let me think. Something readers would never know from my work. I don’t know if this counts as a secret, but I’m afraid of edges. As in falling off of. Mountain edges. Jumping off cliff edges. Canyons. Water fall edges. Even diving boards count here. Or maybe it’s that I’m afraid one of my five children would fall off said edges because they’re being…well…children. You know. Fooling around when we are close to edges; pushing and shoving each other. 

Gosh! I worried about this each time we set up camp at national or state parks. We’ve camped in deserts, on mountaintops, by canyons, and water falls. Our children insisted the campgrounds have pools, and with those pools came diving boards. And with diving boards came the children’s favorite phrase: “Watch this, Mom!”

I think I closed my eyes each time. But don’t tell the kids. They still think I saw everything.

We were camping at Arches National Park, when I finally succumbed to this fear of edges with my children. I stopped our family hiking expedition completely. I wouldn’t allow the children to go any farther along the narrow orange sandstone arch we needed to cross on this trail. I turned us around. They were not happy.

I also have a terrible fear of wild animal encounters too—especially snakes because you don’t notice them right off. Not until they make a noise or strike! I’ve literally had too many encounters with wildlife in my adventures camping with five children. Out of the seven people in my family, I’m always the one who finds the snakes—and they are always ready to strike. I follow our last child on the trail. And my family is not quiet when we hike, which is why the snake is usually ready to strike by the time I reach him. Of course, I still would rather find them than my children.

So no matter how many YA adventure stories I write where my teenaged protagonists confront wild animals or tumble down cliff sides or mountains, I am terrified until I finish my first draft of the story. I need to be sure I can logically get the teen out of danger before I can revise—or sleep. My protagonists are my children, too!

Please note:

I will not be posting on Adventures in Writing in July or August 2020. I am moving and have much to do, especially since I’m still trying to move forward on writing projects. Don't know if I'll be able to keep writing during this time, though. Thank you for your understanding.

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Do You Have Any Rituals to Help You Get into the Writing Zone?

Rituals to help me get into the writing zone? I don’t know if these are rituals, per se. But chocolate and a fresh hot pot of tea go a long way to help me write. Now if they could only give me the structure of the story and the words, I’d be good. To find those, I usually need to go for a walk in the woods. By myself! That’s the hard part. Especially now with everybody home.   

            And even when I’m in the zone, hammering away at a YA short story, hoping with all my heart this story might bring in another published clip, Cricket Magazine cuts me down with a form rejection email. Each time I think it will get easier to take, but for me, rejection still stings.

            So another walk ensues to talk to the Lord about why I try so hard and seem to get nowhere. It’s better than yelling at my family. It’s not their fault no one’s waiting for my stories. But I always come crawling back to my computer to begin again. That’s the courage we writers need to find again and again. And it’s not easy to find!

          

A hot pot of tea and chocolates!

  But if we’re lucky, we get a yes for publication. I have a Cricket story coming out in the June 2020 issue, if they can get the magazine out with this pandemic. Sometimes we may receive positive feedback from editors or critique partners about our stories. This truly helps to build our confidences as writers. At least it does for me.

            My college memoir editor told me I’ve found my voice in the story. When we speak of voice in story, we are talking about the character’s voice, which shares much with its author—even in fiction. I’ll talk more about voice and narrator in my Author Toolbox post later this month. But for now, I wanted to mention what my editor shared with me. She explained that my memoir character’s voice is how I would normally speak, especially the wry wit part.

As a highly insecure writer, I needed my editor to confirm--and she did--that my memoir story held:

tension,

obstacles,

questioning of what I was doing,

wondering if I'll succeed.

But it needed to be interesting, and what makes it interesting, the editor says, is hearing me tell it in my own way—in my voice, with all the funny parts with family and classes that made the editor smile and root for me.

You see, I thought for a book-length project [this is my first], I needed to fully paint a scene, to delve deeply into the why of the story, to stress over the needed tension, and worry that I’ve solved my problems too early. But my editor let me know it is all there. Not perfect, but it is there. As I continue to revise, I hope to be ready for beta readers by fall 2020. I’ll keep you posted! Let me know if you are interested in beta reading for me. This is a short memoir. I’ll be lucky if it is 60,000 words. Please contact me with your email address.

As for now, I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: How are things in your world during this troubling time?

In my little corner of the world in my home, we are well. Thank you, God! I’ve had four writing presentations at area libraries and assisted living homes cancelled so far. My next presentation is scheduled on April 10^th. Here’s hoping life will be up and running by then.

However as New Jersey shuts down around us, my children are home. Once again, they turn to me for something to do. I have always entertained my children in the past. But they’re grown now. The ones who have left, bring their little ones home to visit. I adore them all. I can’t resist my grandbabies. And my children know it. My husband is home, too. I am extremely lucky.   

But.

I’m searching for solitude to write. To create. The state has closed my library. I hide in my room, with the door locked. But everyone in my family still remembers how to giggle the doorknob and call my name. It’s amazing!

My oldest, who has learning issues, is trying to sign up for unemployment. Yes! Like thousands of other people in the United States. And guess what? She can’t do it alone, so we are trying to assist. And we are having trouble getting through. No surprise. But another part of her disability is no patience—and whining.

With all the difficulties in the world, it’s important to stay positive. So I’m starting with my thoughts. We are healthy. We are together, for the most part. We share meals. We check in on our friends and the elderly by phone. Flowers and trees are popping and spring is here in the northern hemisphere.

And if the Lord blesses me with a scrap of dialogue or a sentence of illumination for my memoir about attending college as a mother of five, or if I have another short story idea, I write them on pieces of paper and stick them in a binder with two labels: Memoir and Short Stories. Then I shove the binder under my bed and lock my room.

            I truly hope you and your loved ones are safe and well. How do you find time and space to write in these difficult times?

I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing game.

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers Want to Know: Have you ever included personal traditions/customs in your stories?

            What an interesting question. I guess the problem with answering this question is; I don’t consider any of my personal family’s traditions or customs unique.  

            I start many a story or blog post with a family experience or two. From my personal experiences of Camping with FiveKids, to the national parks and forests we’ve visited, many of my YA short stories come from our adventures. But traditions and customs? I don’t think they are any different from anyone else’s.

            Let’s consider:

            Each summer, we camp with seven people in a tiny tent trailer that needs to be set up at each campsite. What’s different about that? We travel coast to coast and up into Canada for a month with those seven people—all sharing the duties of food preparation and clean-up for meals, accomplishing the laundry, hiking together for hours in the heat and the rain. Is that a tradition? Or is it just plain insanity?  

            In my memoir about attending college as a mother of five, I share how I made accomplishing a college degree and child rearing work. In this memoir, I share my belief that family comes first, that I am a mother first and a college student second. As a parent, I demonstrate to my children how to accomplish difficult goals, how to persevere through trial, and how to seek out assistance when necessary. But most of all, I believe I show my children how to stand up for themselves when they feel they are right. Is that sharing a custom or tradition out of the norm? Or is it a crazy person just trying to survive in a world, that in the beginning of the memoir, she felt she did not belong?  

You be the judge, cherished followers of Adventures in Writing. I’ll be interested to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s great having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing game.

Thanks so much for visiting! Please follow Adventures in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.