Hope Joy Write

The  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  seems to have existed since the dawn of the blogosphere.  Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and entourage, the group exists “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!” Participants post IWSG-specific blog entries on the first Wednesday of every month.  May’s prompt is:  How do you deal with distractions when you are writing?   Do they derail you? I have quite a history with distractions.   As a young child, I probably could have been diagnosed with ADHD.   But in 80’s terms, I was just a kid - albeit an exhausting, overly energetic, run-until-she-collapses-and-Mom-and-Dad-can-too kid.   When I was six, I broke my arm on the first day of summer vacation.   While my parents did what they could to get me outside, the plaster cast working to realign my bones prove

The  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  seems to have existed since the dawn of the blogosphere.  Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and entourage, the group exists “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!” Participants post IWSG-specific blog entries on the first Wednesday of every month.  April’s prompt is:  How long have you been blogging?   (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?)   What do you like about it and how has it changed? Almost a year has passed since I officially launched Hope Joy Write.   But my first blog, The Writer’s Funhouse, ran from 2010-2012.   I loved blogging back then.   There really was a sense of community and camaraderie.   Every week, someone new was hosting a blog contest or blog hop.   There were little awards that people would give out to each other, like the Awesomesau

The  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  seems to have existed since the dawn of the blogosphere.  Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and entourage, the group exists “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!” Participants post IWSG-specific blog entries on the first Wednesday of every month.  February’s prompt is:  Have you “played” with AI to wrote those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route?   How do you feel about AI’s impact on creative writing? I think it’s great when we can find ways to work smarter.   However, I feel that we’ve gotten too dependent on technology.   While I don’t necessarily resist technological advances, I do approach them with a sense of wariness.   Slippery slopes abound, and I’m not so sure we’re “awake” enough to see the fallout before it’s too late.   I suppo

The  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  seems to have existed since the dawn of the blogosphere.  Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and entourage, the group exists “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!” Participants post IWSG-specific blog entries on the first Wednesday of every month.  February’s prompt is:  What turns you off when visiting an author’s website/blog?   Lack of information?   A drone of negativity?   Little mention of author’s books?   Constant mention of books? When I visit an author’s website/blog, I’m on the prowl for content – something interesting, enlightening, or entertaining.   Anything that obstructs my ability to get to that content frustrates me.   An overabundance of ads is at the top of the list.   Whether they’re pop-ups for a newsletter or course, pictures or vid

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.  How is everyone doing with their new year’s resolutions?  I hear that most resolutions die off after three weeks or so.  That deadline is right around the corner, so I thought I’d check in. I don’t remember the last time I made a resolution.   I got tired of failing.   Every December 30, I would sit down with my journal and outline the incredible, amazing, fantastic, awe-inspiring things I would achieve in the coming year.   I’d boldly declare it “the Year of Emma” and guarantee my success by just putting it out into the universe.   As one would expect, before I knew it, it was December 30 again, and I was making pretty much the exact same outline as I had 365 days before. Why do we have such a hard time sticking to our resolutions – especially when those resolutions are intended to better ourselves?   Don’t we want to improve our health?   Don’t we want to achieve our goals?   In the case of us writers, don’t we want to finally ge

The  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  seems to have existed since the dawn of the blogosphere.  Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and entourage, the group exists “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!” Participants post IWSG-specific blog entries on the first Wednesday of every month.  January’s prompt is:  Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors? I hadn’t heard of BookBub until this prompt came along.   I did some light research to get a better understanding of the platform.   Any reader would find the concept intriguing – lower prices on e-books?!   Hello! – and I’m most pleased with how it makes lesser-known volumes visible.   In the last couple years, I’ve gotten rather cynical when it comes to commercially published and celebrated books (which i

Happy new year!  The holiday season has come and gone, and now it’s time to get down to business.  My December hiatus went as the recovering pessimist in me expected: I came down with a cold that took three weeks to shake, work stress reached an all-time high (and that’s saying something), and I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to celebrate the season.  However, on Christmas Day, sitting with my family around the tree, opening gifts, and praising the Reason for the season, none of the mishaps leading up to it mattered.  That’s the spirit I hope to carry into (and throughout) 2024. That being said, I’ve set some ambitious goals for my 2024.  December became a month of reflection.  Who am I?  What do I want?  Where do I want to go from here?   Or, more importantly, who am I not ?   What don’t I want?  Where don’t I go from here?  I spent a lot of time reading, learning, and thinking (“ …these are a few of my favorite things… ”), considering my options and formulating plans.  As I’