Insecure Writers Support Group 5 June 2024

 

Image by Werner Moser from Pixabay

June 5 question - In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?

Why are you asking me to do this "thinking" stuff so early in the day? It's still three minutes before the crack of noon! 😉

Anyway, I've narrowed it down to a list of ten items.

1. Book marketing and promotional services

2. Author branding and platform building

3. Manuscript editing and proofreading

4. Publishing consultation and guidance

5. Industry networking opportunities

6. Book cover design and formatting services

7. Distribution and sales support

8. Author website and social media management

9. Reader engagement strategies

10. Book launch event planning

11. Copyright and legal assistance for authors

12. Self-publishing support and resources

13. Author workshops and training programs

14. Translation and foreign rights representation

15. Author mentorship programs

You could compile a bank of volunteers and also a directory listing professionals who specialize in the above services. For instance, I am a line and copy editor who is a member of ACES. Volunteering my services would help me connect with potential repeat clients, so it would be a win-win situation.

https://aceseditors.org/about

In the meantime, anyone who is interested can check out my services and prices through the following link. 

https://ornerybookemporium.blogspot.com/p/ornery-literary-services.html

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

Insecure Writers Support Group 1 May 2024

 

Image by Chen from Pixabay

May 1 question - How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?

I'll just answer this with brevity in a way that explains everything.

I have ADHD. 

Distraction is my middle name.

However, I can also be hyperfocused. 

So, to sum things up, the answer is yes and no. 

It's the story of my life.

Oh look, a squirrel!

Anyway, sorry I'm late with this. I had a bad reaction to the latest COVID shot, was running a high fever, and was so weak I needed help to put laundry into the machine and to make some Jello for my woozy stomach. 

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

How bad did I feel, you ask?

It was like I went on a week-long bender drinking every bum wine on the shelf.

http://bumwine.com/

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

A to Z Challenge 2024: Day 26: Zeroing In

 

Image by hopid permana from Pixabay

This character's name is Zero Two Darling. She's what came up when I did a search for zeroing in on Pixabay. She's a human klaxo sapien hybrid, and you can read more about her here. 

https://darling-in-the-franxx.fandom.com/wiki/Zero_Two

We’re zipping to the end of this challenge and also to the end of the month. I need to zero in on not being a slavedriver with myself because it zaps the zest from activities I have a zeal for.

I’m also sticking a fork in the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge for April 2024. There will be another Camp NaNoWriMo in June, and I’ll do that one too because I’m a masochist.

It’s 10:30 and I need to get my Zs.

I hope I sleep better tonight than last night.

It seems sleep and I are seldom on the same page.

~Ornery Owl Has Zpoken~

Image by thank_you from Pixabay

A to Z Challenge 2024: Day 25: Youth

 

Image by 3005398 from Pixabay

The days of my youth are long behind me, but the things that happened then still affect my life. I suppose this must be true for everybody. While reading William Shatner’s autobiography, I noticed that he and I have something in common: difficulty establishing and maintaining friendships.

Like me, Bill (I think he’d be all right with me calling him Bill) had a difficult childhood, always having to defend himself from bullies. Unlike me, he has been very successful in other areas of his life. He never seems to have slid into self-loathing as I did. Is this the difference?

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Jim Cooper on Pixabay

"You've never done anything to aggravate Captain Kirk have you, Space Jockey?"

https://odysee.com/@deepprogresivehouse:4/AIR.--Moon-Safari.-Full-Album:e?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Cool and beautiful electronic music from French band AIR.

A to Z Challenge 2024: Day 24: Xenomorphs Forever

 

Image by Wolfgang Eckert on Pixabay

I stopped writing in 2007 due to fallout from my disastrous first attempt at becoming a published author. When I started writing again in 2012, I only intended to write Aliens fan fiction for myself because people suck and Xenomorphs are wicked cool.

Fan fiction is real writing. Even the cringeworthy self-insert fics I wrote as a young teenager and would have to kill you if you discovered them.

Writing fan fiction saved my life more than once, no joke.

Much of what I write these days could be classified as Cthulhu Mythos fan fiction.

I’m absolutely okay with that.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Márta Valentínyi from Pixabay

A to Z Challenge 2024: Day 23: Weird

 

Image by Claire Francis from Pixabay

What are you looking at?

Say, do you mind if eye browse your computer?

I’m my own special brand of weird.

Back in school, I wasn’t smart enough to belong with the academic nerd brigade, but I was too nerdy to belong with the self-proclaimed rebels without a cause.

I’ve been trying in vain for decades to find a niche in which to fit, only to learn time and time again that I don’t fit in with any of them.

I’m an acquired taste that most people don’t acquire.

Even when people don’t treat me poorly, I’m aware that they’re just being polite.

I’m a curiosity.

Sometimes studied, often ridiculed.

I don’t belong anywhere.

https://odysee.com/@FrankDrive:5/%EF%BD%83%EF%BD%8C%EF%BD%81%EF%BD%92%EF%BD%89%EF%BD%8F%EF%BD%8E-%28synthpop:2?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Tunes for you.

A to Z Challenge 2024: Day 22: Vanity

 

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

I struggle with the belief that artistic pursuits are self-serving vanity. I sometimes find myself thinking I am exaggerating my disabilities to get out of working a “real job.” However, I always struggled with trying to keep myself from having a mental breakdown when I worked a “real job.”

I was never able to work the sorts of hours that my family approved of. I would become severely depressed after a couple weeks working day shifts. I usually opted for jobs with evening and night hours. The types of jobs I worked were always physically demanding, such as health care.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

"Doctor, the patients are revolting!"

https://odysee.com/@GamingAmbience:6/destiny-2-the-dreaming-city-garden-of:4?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16