Writing, therapy or both? #IWSG

It’s time for author, Alex J. Cavanaugh’s – Insecure Writer’s Support Group – post! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the June 7 posting of the IWSG are Patrcia Josephine, Diedre Knight, Olga Godim, J. Lenni Dorner, and Cathrina Constantine!

June 7 question – If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with?

I’ve made a lifelong commitment to the study of philosophy, psychology and behavioral neuroscience. Spending time with loved ones, listening to music and working as a healer keeps me busy. No matter how I pack my days I can’t imagine throwing away my pen. I’ll always write fiction.

Noir mysteries are my favorite novels. I’ve been told my taste in genre would change as I mature; but after working at 3 bookstores and receiving a masters in writing and consciousness – mystery has remained choice!

Writing stories is a coping mechanism I’m lucky to have. Writing grounds me and helps integrate information.

Above are pics of my generous friend’s guitars. My guitars are cool – but not Dave’s guitars’ cool! I don’t play enough to commit to an investment. I’m fortunate to have talented musicians among my family, adopted family/friends.

When someone takes the time to read my writing I’m honored. Even if no one read my work, which is more often the case, I’ll never stop writing.

If I stopped writing I’d have to replace it with therapy. More therapy!

What would you do if you ever stopped writing?

I always return comments! If the punctuation’s weird it’s because I’m using hands free in traffic. Looking forward to everyone’s posts!

Order in Chaos #IWSG

Time for April’s post for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Suppost Group! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the April 5 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre!

This month I’m forgoing the prompt (kinda). Something I’ve yet to try!

Frederich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, and José Saramago all said it. There’s order in chaos.

I’m working on a massive psychopathology paper using writer, Thomas Wolfe as my subject. A psychologist recommended the movie, Genius staring Colin Firth (editor, Maxwell Perkins) and Jude Law (writer, Thomas Wolfe). The psychologist diagnosed Thomas Wolfe with Borderline Personality Disorder. I can’t see that he’s wrong.

Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Wolfe were all rejected writers until Max Perkins went through insane lengths to get Scribner’s to publish them. Hemingway was being dropped by his publisher, Thomas Wolfe was tossed out all over New York and editor Max was able to convince F. Scott to change his submission title from, Trimalchio in West Egg to, The Great Gatsby.

The real genius in this story is editor Maxwell Perkins. He had the ability to see the beauty in the madness.

In my writing journey, Lounge Act is the only published novel I’m proud off. The submission processes, the editing, editing and editing and the -hurry-up and wait- style deadlines are maddening.

Do you ever descend into chaos to create? I always return comments, but it might take a day due to midweek mayhem. Happy IWSG Day!

If I could write like Ray… #IWSG

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and JQ Rose!

It’s time for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group hop! If you’re a writer in need of support join us. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

March 1 question – Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

“The French have a phrase for it. The bastards have a phrase for everything and they’re always right.”The Long Goodbye

I wish I could write like Ray. Whoever said a ‘who done it’ is one of the lowest forms of literature does not appreciate the nuance of noir mystery novels. Raymond Chandler is one of my favorite authors. No one does word play like Chandler with Philip Marlowe’s inner-dialogue.

“She had eyes like strange sins.”The High Window

Ray’s words grab my attention and flood me with imagery. I love the stoic and realist philosophy of it all. In the present here and now “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.”The Big Sleep.

Looking forward to reading everyone’s posts to this fantastic prompt. Do you have author envy? Please share in the comments below.

Happy IWSG Day! Stay safe in this crazy weather.

3 Writing Obstacles #IWSG @TheIWSG

Time for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s IWSG post. Join us the first Wednesday of every month as we ask for and help with each other with advice at https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html. Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner!

My Top 3 Writing Obstacles

1. Dwelling on the past. Cringing over bad work is a waste of time. I try to focus on writing enough good work to bury the bad. We all have a learning curve. The advice from others that it’s good to have bad work out there and see how we’ve improved is of little comfort when it’s out there. The internet is forever and technological change is exponential. I remind myself that I’m not important enough to care and to stay present.

2. Anxiety about the future. Carving out time for writing when life gets in the way can feel as impossible as letting go of the compulsion to keep writing and ignore life around you. Overthinking and anxiety about what lies ahead isn’t helpful. Again, I try to stay present.

3. Project completion (lack of). I’m sitting on 2 manuscripts, including my master thesis I received my MFA for. There. I said it. My thesis is a noir mystery set in North Beach with a plot line and character arcs relevant to San Francisco today. The head of the department picked through and edited the work. I’ve been encouraged to submit to City Lights. It’s autobiographical and deeply personal. I have a dazzling array of excuses, but to be fair City Light’s submission process is insane.

What are your writing obstacles? I always return comments, though it might take a day or two. Happy IWSG day!

Happy New Year! #IWSG #AmWriting #balance

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted to Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

Happy New Year!

These last few months I’ve missed reading other members’ writing progress and experiences. I began my second graduate degree to become a licensed psychotherapist. Balancing my academic and art life is a work in a progress. Being around psychologists who are writers, therapists and social justice pioneers is motivating. I’m asking, “Where they get the time?”

I’m in awe.

The awesome co-hosts for the January 4 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, Debs Carey, Kim Lajevardi, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and T. Powell Coltrin!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. Join IWSG https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

My word for the year is balance. The way my writing has evolved while studying psychology has been paradoxically grounding and chaotic. My characters have more depth, but have me tripping down internal rabbit holes that are just as confusing as they are fascinating. This year I don’t want to fall into old habits of taking on too much and losing sight of my allurements. I have many (yikes) unfinished projects I’m still passionate about.

My story telling skills helped pull off the loads of papers on case studies and theory I’ve had the challenge to produce. This next semester I’m setting aside time to pick up the last project and find balance in my process. I had to prove I could ace the work load before attempting to mix it up. My characters have more depth and backstory, but my confidence in my ability to balance my work and writing life is super shaky.

I have so much more gratitude for IWSG monthly check-ins now that I’ve missed a few. Joining others in sharing our vulnerabilities and insecurities is grounding and inspiring. Looking forward to reading everyone’s January posts!

I always return comments, but it might take a day or two. Still working on that time machine. Happy New Year!

Make Them Laugh? #AmWriting #IWSG

Sept 7 question abridged: What is the hardest genre to write? Why? Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

Science-Fiction writer (our blog father) Alex J. Cavanaugh’s awesome co-hosts for the September 7 posting of the IWSG are Kim Lajevardi, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguirre, Olga Godim, Michelle Wallace, and Louise – Fundy Blue!

My answer for hardest genre: Humor

Humor sections in bookstores fascinate me. Humor is subjective, but in the indie bookstores I’ve worked at your book has to be hands down LMFAO for the manager to shelve your auto-bio in Humor. That’s what it takes for the book to bypass Biography (the one section organized alpha by subject opposed to alpha by author) Travel Adventure, and Self-Help.

I labor to infuse humor in my dialogue. An ode to the snarky one-offs of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade’s fast ball retorts.

“You were impossible. Drunk and depressed. Pushing yourself too hard.”

“You’d think you’d be used to women drunk and depressed around you.”

I’ll keep trying. Happy IWSG Day!

3 Things Readers Want #IWSG #AmWriting

August 3 question – When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want?

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the August 3 posting of the IWSG are Tara Tyler,Lisa Buie Collard,Loni Townsend, and Lee Lowery!

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

3 Things I Write Towards

There’s no right or wrong reason to write a novel. One side of the coin is to write to a market that sells. When you write because a genre’s hot and you’re writing to create sales readers can tell. You’re providing a familiar product. Your readers are investing in the comfortable predictability expected from beginning, middle to end.

The other side of the coin is writing as a form of protest. A confession of sorrow, loss and desperation word-smithed into cherished tales of a hero’s journey. Margaret Atwood put aside A Handmaids Tale a few times during it’s conception. She never thought it would take, let alone be popular. I enjoyed Voltaire’s thinly veiled social commentary of his time to hard boiled detective novels that just take care of me. There’s room for everything.

Below are 3 things I write towards –

1. Real Relatable Characters

Growing up I moved around a lot. My books kept me in the same space and time as the characters I loved and could take with me anywhere. Readers want fictional friends they can relate to.

2. Anticipation

Curiosity builds a need to find out what’s going to happen next. A bird’s eye view of a character’s adventure related to my own personal struggles opened me up to new complex concepts that helped me navigate the terrain of my own life. As I’m writing I’m thinking, does this satisfy the reader’s ever present, “Why do I care?” question.

3. Vulnerability

This circles back to the desire for relatable characters. For me to get emotionally invested I need to see struggle I can relate to. When the character’s freedom and stability are taken away my empathy puts me in their shoes. The device I use to reveal a characters virtues to the reader is simple. I take all their stuff away and see how they react.

When you write a story do you go for a voice that challenges? Do you carefully color between the lines and try to give your readers what they want? Do you do both?

I’ll be out of reception until tomorrow evening on a Mendocino camping retreat. I will return everyone’s comments the moment I’m back unless captured by Sasquatch. Happy IWSG Day!

Living The World You’ve Written #IWSG #AmWriting @TheIWSG

Happy Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day. The first Wednesday of the month we post our insecurities for author, Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog hop. Join us https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the July 6 posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner,Janet Alcorn,PJ Colando,Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton!

July 6 question – If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

Authors feel less inclined to censor themselves writing fiction. Consider the thinly veiled social commentary in the titles below. As the saying goes, “There’s more fact in fiction.” Of all these precarious worlds I would choose my own. (Not listed in graph, but to the side of this post. lol)

Better the devil you know.

Brittany Wolfe is ex-LAPD turned private investigator during the rise of the internet. The first paradigm shift of the dot.com boom gives way to access to excess; creating shifts in power in mainstream media. All forms of art are affected, crime sprees adjusted, and celebrities are controlled by the constant shifts in virtual platforms. The Wolfe series is contemporary noir in traditional mystery form.

Working at Indie bookstores I remember a kid requested me to recommend a Utopian book. He was a regular at the store picking up books with his pals for Lit class.

“I want the opposite of dystopian. Everyone reads that. A book without misery,” he said.

“Maybe a coloring book? I can order something for you. Hard to find any fiction or non-fiction without conflict.”

Hands on his hips and chin jutted out, his eyes scanned the store’s genre sections. The wheels in his head spun defiantly as he clearly just absorbed the fault in his request. “Ok. What’s the most dystopian book you have?” asked the high schooler.

I went to the Religion and Philosophy section, pulled out the King James Bible and handed it to him. “It’s got everything,” I said.

If I had to choose a book world to inhabit I’d choose the one where I played an omnipotent force. My own. I still wouldn’t feel safe. My character’s lack of moral and hidden seedy pasts still surprise me, but I already dream about them. Why not?

Which book world would you live in? Looking forward to reading everyone’s posts!

Dark Energy & Black Holes #IWSG #AmWriting

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

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the June 1 posting of the IWSG are SE White,Cathrina Constantine,Natalie Aguire,Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray!

It’s time for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. Every month, we announce a question to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story.

June 1 question – When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end?

Margaret Atwood stopped writing The Handmaid’s Tale multiple times because she felt the story was too implausible. It would never be popular. Yes, she’s quoted on that.

90% of writing is powering through obstacles. There are mornings I stare at my computer and write copy, edit copy, review anthology submissions, or keep a problematic chapter going by thinking a played out 90’s Nike slogan. Really.

We all have dark energy. Dark energy is energy we can’t see. We just know it’s there. It’s there and we can’t let it get sucked into a black hole. Black holes are the crap piles on your desk. The ghosts of projects uncompleted whispering, “You sure you want to do this again?”

Black holes suck away energy. I once threw a black hole (stack of crap) into the bin next to my desk without even bothering with what was on the top. If I hadn’t looked at it in a week, it wasn’t important. I still have only a vague idea of what it consisted of.

Helpful quotes like, “One sentence creates an avalanche.” become a mantra. While clawing, scratching, and pulling crap out of the ether to spin into relatable thought provoking platforms of inquiry and discovery I have to accept this will not be enjoyable.

I can think of 100 other things I’d rather be doing. Cleaning toilets. Holding an open pillowcase as far away from my person as possible while my friend thrusts her angry snakes towards me with a handler stick. (This really happened.) Cleaning barnacles off a boat with a rusty scraper wearing leaky snorkel gear in questionable Bay Area water. Chores like that. I’ve put my head in my hands thinking, “I’d rather be drilling screws through my toes.”

Despite all this nothing feels as good as the hit of dopamine received upon completion. My name’s on it. I feel fulfilled. Feedback rereleases the initial hit. The memory of the feeling keeps me going back.

What keeps you writing? I will return comments promptly as long as my robots let me!

Riding high. Writing low. #IWSG #AmWriting

The first Wednesday of every month, we answer questions in our IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Join us here – https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the May 4 posting of the IWSG are Kim Elliott,Melissa Maygrove,Chemist Ken,Lee Lowery, and Nancy Gideon!

May 4 question – What are your writer highs? What are your writer lows?

The highs are when I’m getting work done. It’s not that mystical.

A week ago I was interviewed by writer Nancy Christie for her podcast, Living The Writing Life. We talked about my personal versus professional life. Nancy brought up a one-piece I wrote awhile back for Authors Publish https://authorspublish.com/its-okay-to-be-selfish-with-your-writing/. She wanted to know why I used the term ‘selfish’.

We wear multiple hats. Artists have families and have to keep the lights on. As a communications specialist I write for various sites. As a novelist and anthology contributor my mornings are sacred. Nancy asked me why I used the term ‘selfish’ for my writing time. My “selfish time” is right before the sun rises and no one’s blowing up my phone, or walking into my office asking where the laundry detergent is. I keep the door shut. I have no problem delivering a sharp stern, “What?” if that door creaks open.

I don’t really feel I’m selfish, but I used the term selfish in my article to beat judgmental non-creatives to the punch. Yes. If that’s how you see it, I am being selfish with my writing time. I’m cool with that. Just like I’m selfish when I need a hot bath at the end of the day instead of a bottle of wine. Selfish when I need to destress with a workout. The highs are when I’m getting work done. My writing highs are when I’m writing. It’s not that mystical.

I could have said, “Your writing time is sacrosanct.” or “It’s okay to be protective of your writing.” instead of, “It’s okay to be selfish.” in my article. But selfish is what I hear, so that’s what I’ll respond to. Like with self care, some people see writing everyday as pampered. These people feel spending time on something with potentially little to no monetary gain is selfish. Fine. I’m selfish.

The lows are terrible. They don’t come when my queries and pitches are getting rejected by agents and editors. I’m getting responses. I know I’m trying. I’m working. The lows are when I’m stuck. When I’ve fallen off track because life got in the way, and I’m no longer consistent.

What are your writing highs and lows? I always return comments. Happy IWSG day!