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My greatest fear as a writer–and a middle grade Victorian mystery
OK, today let’s talk about a topic that plagues just about every writer I’ve ever talked with: fear. In the spirit of honesty and commiseration, I’ll share my greatest fear as a writer, and if you also write (or create or are just a fraidy cat like me), you can share yours in the comments. And I’ll tell you about my friend Karen’s shiny new middle grade mystery, The Etiquette of Voles. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Feather…
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Short story “Proof Text” published in Kings River Life
My short story, “Proof Text,” was just published in Kings River Life! “Proof Text” is a short suspense piece about an exhausted farm wife who must finish one essential chore. I thought up the idea when I was doing farm chores on a windy fall day in Flagstaff. Read “Proof Text” free on the Kings River Life site. I wrote “Proof Text” in 2019, when I was still very new to fiction writing. In fact, it’s the first short story I ever wrote as an adult. With much fear and trembling, I shared it with my newly-formed critique group, expecting them to think it average at best. They loved it!…
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3 ways I’m finding my way back from a writing slump
I mentioned in my 2024 highlight reel post that I accomplished very little on the fiction writing front last year. I got pretty discouraged about that, even though there were some good reasons why I didn’t write much. This month I seem to be finding my footing again. I have a 24-day writing streak in Online Writing Log, and I’m finding easier every morning to sit down and start writing. So how am I finding my way back from a writing slump? Let me count the (spoiler alert: 3) ways. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of…
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Cliffhanger endings: 3 reasons why they make readers mad
Mickey Spillane once said, “The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.” Unfortunately, some authors interpret that truth as meaning they should end a book with a cliffhanger. There are (at least) 3 reasons why cliffhanger endings will make readers mad–and angry readers are less likely to read your next book. But before we get to that: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine. Stop by and leave them some comment love. Each…
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How a 12th-grade English assignment convinced me I couldn’t write fiction
A long, long time ago1, in a galaxy far, far away2, a 12th-grade English assignment convinced me I couldn’t write fiction. Two disclaimers before I tell that story: And one more thing before we get to the story: For anyone who’s new here, this post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando. Click those links and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s…
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6 tools that power my writing life
Every writer has their own process for writing. Some of us are plotters, some are pantsers. Some write with music, others require silence. Some use Word, some Scrivener, some old souls even draft in longhand. We writers are all special snowflakes1, so we each tend to assemble our own writing toolboxes. In this post, I’ll share the contents of mine, the 6 tools that power my writing life. But first: This post is part of the IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) monthly blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are JS Pailly, Rebecca Douglass, Pat Garcia, Louise-Fundy Blue, and Natalie…
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Two ways fiction writers can use AI ethically
I’m going to do something I rarely do–make a prediction. I predict that AI is going to revolutionize our lives on a level nearly comparable to the internet and smartphones. And I’m going to go even further and predict this revolution will be (mostly) a good thing. Trust me, I hate the idea of AI-generated fiction and art as much as the next creative, and I don’t believe AI will replace writers and artists (though I do think plenty of AI-generated crap will get made and sold by unethical people). I do think writers (and maybe artists too) can find ethical ways to use AI to help them work more…
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What makes an author website great?
One of the first pieces of advice new authors get is to create a website. Our websites are our homes on the internet, a space we control and can use to promote ourselves and our work (unlike social media, over which we have little control–ask anyone who spent years building a following on the Site Formerly Known as Twitter only to see engagement plummet under He Who Must Not Be Named). But what makes an author website great? One way to answer that question is to provide examples of great websites and talk about what makes them work well–and that’s exactly what I’m going to do in this post. But…
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2024 is off to a strong start: the January recap
Welcome to my first What’s Been on Your Calendar post of 2023! I went into my holiday break last month recovering from COVID, exhausted, and struggling to figure out how to rebalance my life so it wouldn’t grind me into fine powder by April Fool’s Day. Then I rested, took a short road trip, spent some time in nature… and felt renewed. January has been the best month I’ve had in awhile. I’m not sure what made the difference but my money’s on rest and spending time really thinking about how best to prioritize the many demands on my time and energy. I’m also not sure how long this new…
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2023: my year in writing
I covered the highlights of my year in writing in my last post, but I’ll add more detail here, in my first post of 2024 for the Insecure Writers Support Group. My IWSG posts attract a different audience from my routine weekly posts, so I think it’s OK to repeat a little. If you read my last post, feel free to skip to the memes (I’m pretty sure half my readers skip to the memes anyway, but don’t tell me that–you’ll hurt my delicate writer fee-fees.) Before we proceed to my authorial navel-gazing: The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writers Support Group day, on which we insecure writers…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
