IWSG--Welcome to 2017.

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http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html



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 (click on the badge above for the list) and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

End of the year  Round-up!

I vowed to finish drafting Gorg's book before the end of the year, and I'm pleased to announce that I knocked out the final chapter on New Year's Eve, finishing with nearly 2 hours to spare, though of course I know very well that there will be a lot of work to be done on the MS. That will come after it sits for several months, though.

Other accomplishments for 2016:
1 book edited and published (The Problem With Peggy).
1 story submitted to the IWSG contest.
approx. 40 flash fiction pieces posted on this blog
Add in the draft of Gorg the Troll, and it's not my best year, but not too bad, either. I certainly failed in my resolve to start submitting stories regularly for publication, but at least I did submit one. It's a resolution I'll renew, and try to use those "Flashback Friday" weeks off from writing for the blog to give me time to work on more developed shorts worthy of submission.

Oh--and I read 167 out of the 155 books I aimed for in the Goodreads Challenge. About 1/2 were children's books (middle grade novels, not picture books!). I'm still not sure if this number is a good thing or a sign that I'm dodging a lot of stuff with my nose in a book (or my headphones in a book--a lot of those were audio books).

Where do I go in 2017?
The big project will be to get the 3rd Pismawallops PTA mystery out of the dark hole where I stuffed it a year ago when it wouldn't quite work out, and make it into a real draft, which I can then work on editing. With luck, I'll have it in shape in time to start a new project in November, since I enjoy the NaNo challenge. I'm also going to give a shot, this summer, at doing more writing while on vacation. I need to see how practical it's going to be to keep writing while we ramp up to more travel in retirement.

Now for this month's question.

January question: What writing rule do you wish you'd never heard?
The one about how if you don't write every day you must not really be a writer. Bull. If you write at all, you're a writer. If you want to make a living, working every day is essential. But if you have a life, count every word wrested from the other distractions of your life as a triumph. If you write at all, you're a writer. The more often the better, but I spent far too many years doing less writing than beating myself up over not writing. It's not helpful, and it's not productive.

How about you? What were your triumphs in 2016? What do you look forward to in 2017?

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