IWSG: The best Beta-partner? & Writer's Update

 

 It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means IWSG posting! 

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!

The awesome co-hosts for the September 2 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, J Lenni Dorner, Deniz Bevan, Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, and Louise - Fundy Blue! 

Every month there is an OPTIONAL question:

September 2 question - If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?

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I've had some fun thinking about who I'd like to have as my beta partner. I mean, I already have some of the best, members of this group with a keen eye to plot and prose. But what could I learn from Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie? 

Maybe not as much as I think. I love their books, but there's no denying their writing styles are dated. So maybe I can think about someone contemporary... I'll pick on a few mystery writers I really admire, and whose style I think would compliment my own. Here's the short list off the top of my head: 

Jacqueline Winspeare. Her Maisie Dobbs mysteries are beautifully crafted, both plot-wise and linguistically. And I bet she could help me get a grip on my characters' feelings. 

Rhys Bowen: Her "Royal Spyness" series proves she knows a lot about goofiness and sometimes wild plots, developing characters that are just a touch over the top, and how to balance humor with murder.

Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell. She knows a thing or two about quirky small towns, as well as about humor in murder mysteries. Plus she set her first series in Bellingham, WA, just a stone's throw from Pismawallops Island. 

Finally, just for the sake of some of the best prose I've ever read, I'll take Ivan Doig (see an example of my ravings about his writing here or here). 

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Now for my writer's update. I spent a lot of the last month on the road, or in the wilderness, so much of my writing was mundane journalling, with some less mundane entries, and a little work on the main character of the new mystery series I'm contemplating. 

But all is not about hiking: I did manage to complete and send in my entry for the new IWSG anthology, and am still plowing, little by little, through the edits on Death By Donut.  I have a lot more travel on my agenda now through October, but I do have some hopes of completing the book and bringing it out early in the new year, though I don't think I can make the pre-Xmas target I was trying for before the world turned upside down.

My mind wants to skip around, too. I still have other stories and some anthologies in mind to work on. Maybe as my ability to focus returns (not that it's ever great), and when I settle in this fall to stay home for a couple of months (mostly), I'll be able to at least edit the shorts and put together those anthologies! 

Every word written, every page edited, is a triumph.

This month's photo treat: a couple of really nice moose. Meese? Mooses?

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All images and text ©Rebecca M. Douglass, unless otherwise indicated.
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