Friday, January 7, 2022

IWSG Post: January 2022

Coming Soon!!

Congratulations to the winners. There are some very terrific stories in this book!

The Art of Making Doughnuts - Linda Budzinski
Paper Faces - Sylvia Ney
The Real Thing - Sammi Spizziri
My Heart Approves - Melissa Maygrove
Oliver’s Girl - Michael Di Gesu
Clyde and Coalesce - Kim Elliot 
My First Love(s) - Templeton Moss
How to Save a Princess - Katie Klein
The Castle of Ohno - SE White
Marmalade Sunset - Denise Covey

Now for my insecure update...
Truth is, I don't have time this month for insecurities. I haven't had a minute to worry about anything. That's actually one of my favorite cures for all of my mental ails and conditions...stop thinking and start doing. But enough of the insecure chit-chat. It's almost midnight and I still have lunches to pack.

Optional Question: What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it? Procrastination. I've been meaning to add it to my resolution's list since 2019. 

That's all for this month. Stay tuned for some awesome news and updates! Thanks to our wonderful co-hosts for this month: Erika Beebe, Olga Godim, Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken!



The next #IWSGPit will be in January 26, 2022,
8:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On January 26, 2022, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.



Book Promo!
Need a funny, probably poignant, heartfelt and entertaining read? Pick up Robyn's new book. It's a humorous and dark, socially relevant memoir. It's also a sequel to Woman on the Verge of Paradise (Acorn Publishing's 2016 Memoir of Excellence).
Buy Link 

 In this refreshingly intimate search for the line between "sanity" and "insanity", a sassy seductress encounters human grit, benevolence, and one man who isn't weir

Ken Lynch (blogland's Al Penwasser) veteran and fellow author and blogger says, "Engel's writing style is much like Stephen King's. I found myself drawn inexorably into the story. It's an intimate experience (with clothes on). Never before has a book so completely changed my viewpoint on mental illness and suicide (with the exception of Moby Dick). InSanity has really sunk its teeth in me."-Ken Lynch, Author of a series of books based loosely on his childhood and not-so-loosely on his service in the Navy

From Insanity:  "I don't think I'm insane. I don't want to be. Am I merely in denial of my insanity? Denial is its own form of insanity. So, I'm insane for believing that I'm sane and not insane. Right? If you're confirming my insanity and you're insane too, can we be normal together? Because if you're sane but I'm insane, I don't want your company. And if you're insane but I'm sane, feel free to drop by whenever I'm bored. You entertain me. Don't stick around too long, though. You exhaust me." -page 61

39 comments:

  1. Congratulations to the anthology authors and to Robyn!
    Busy doesn't give us time to think and dwell, does it?

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    1. Nope, not a bit. Dwelling is like the worry rocking chair. It gets you nowhere.

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  2. Congrats to the anthology winners! Yes, staying busy can help us not be insecure or focus too much on our problems. It also feels good to move forward in life.

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    1. It does feel good to move forward. Life moves forward, so we may as well go with it.

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  3. Procrastination. Yup, I'm with you! I love the title for the new anthology.

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    1. And I've read the stories. It's an amazing compilation of goodness!

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  4. Woohoo to the winners! It is sometimes good to stay busy enough to forget the woes of the world. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. That will take a lot of activity to cover all of our issues.

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  5. Yay to the winners! Procrastination is a sneaky one...and yet, I embrace it a lot.

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    1. And yet, I enjoy being busy but too often put off the nuts and bolts stuff like writing.

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  6. Congratulations to all the anthology winners. At one stage I was a big procrastinator, but changing that now.

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    1. I choose the oddest things to put off too, like social media, newsletters...hmmm, seems to be the marketing portion that makes me twiddle my thumbs.

      Good job overcoming it. Any tips?

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  7. Keeping busy does certainly keep the insecurities away! I too, am a procrastinator, which tends to leave me scrambling to finish at the last moment.

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    1. I am a notorious last-minute scrambler. It would be nice to have everything done ahead of time, but I never do it.

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  8. Bravo to all the winners included in IWSG's new anthology!

    You are amazing, Elizabeth. Good for you to do your writing or post first and then make the lunches. I would do everything for everyone in my family first...and then turn to my writing. Sheesh! I wish I had reversed it. And when I'm too busy to think straight, I go outside--no matter the weather--and take a walk. All best to you in 2022!

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    1. Don't be too impressed. Were it not for the shout out for Robyn's book, I'd have put off the post until tomorrow.

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  9. Me too! It’s how I make it through some difficult days :) you’re the best! Happy IWSG Day :)

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    1. Like Natalie pointed out in the above comment, getting things done has the added benefit of giving the spirit a boost of accomplishment.

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  10. I don't have time to worry about much either.

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  11. Congratulations to the winners! That's a great cover.

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    1. Congrats are well deserved. These writers wrote some amazing stories.

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  12. I agree - getting busy makes it so much easier to be productive overall. I generally have a daily list, and I find if I can put the thing I least want to do first, it lightens the rest of the day for me and I'm less likely to procrastinate. I'm sure there's some psychological reason for that.

    Congrats to all of the anthology winners! Well done!

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    1. That is a really good tip. A friend told me to choose 5 things I have to get done. That's the mini list. Then make a larger, it-there's-enough time list. I'll start listing them in rankings of worst to best.

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  13. I'm all about being too busy to dwell!

    Congratulations to Robyn!

    The Warrior Muse

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  14. LOL-ed at your answer to the question.
    Congrats to all the other authors and Robyn!

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  15. Hi Elizabeth!

    I think we are all GUILTY of procrastination! We just need to not overthink it and DIVE RIGHT IN!

    Congrats to the other writers in the Anthology. I can't wait to read the other stories!

    And a BIG CONGRATS to Robyn and her new book!

    ALL THE BEST FOR 2022 EVERYONE!!!

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    1. Maybe that should be my New Year's goal: to dive in and get things done!

      Best of everything to you for 2022 also.

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  16. Procrastination has always been my issue too, Elizabeth! I'm not as bad now as I used to be, because I've found fun ways to keep my hands busy lol (creating art while watching TV, for instance lol).
    Happy New Year, my friend!
    Hugs
    Suzy xx

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    1. I have been doing needlepoint to keep my hands busy while I watch tv. I was able to lose weight that way!

      You can tell by all that you accomplish that that you are no longer a procrastinator.

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  17. Happy New Year, Elizabeth!

    Congrats to Robyn. Love that extract - it's hilarious!
    I think keeping busy is a good way to stop procrastination!

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    1. You know you'd think being busy would keep me caught up, but I manage to fill my plate with easy things so I never have to do the hard things. It's justifiable procrastination.

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  18. You're such a sweetie--juggling it all, and doing a fabulous job too.
    Thank goodness time is too precious to invest in worrying.
    The anthology looks fabulous. I'm honored to have my book in the same post.
    Love and much gratitude.

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  19. Procrastination is real, yet, sometimes I wonder if writers, or other creatives, aren't actually procrastinating but possibly struggling with block or burnout.

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    1. I think you're onto something. My son says it's my fear of failure that makes me avoid the stuff I really want to do. You're both probably right.

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  20. Same here. I'm going to work on it. Maybe 2022 is our year to produce!

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