Co-hosting IWSG & A New WIP is Born

Aloha,



Thanks to El Gran Capitán Alejandro for the chance to co-host the Insecure Writers’ Support Group … and after last month, I too, am so very glad we’re not changing the format or the name of ISWG…

Wait a sec – whoa Betsy…

...Speaks “ISWG” out loud…

Ah knickers…

C'mon, man, it's IWSG.

Say it again… IWSG

One more time... IWSG !!!

(Coughs)… I mean the IWSG.

Anyhoo, it’s always a pleasure to help his Cavanaughness, and I’ll zip through much of the current IWSG membership alongside my co-hosts, the wonderful Nancy Thompson and the delightful Heather Gardner.

For once, my issue is simple (PTL, I hear many say :)

I started WIP#2 Monday.

I can’t share much about the story, except to say it’s about this great, white Poodle that takes over a beach in New Jersey and creates havoc over one, long summer season.

(It’s set in the 1970s – and my working title is PAWS – but I’m not sold on it yet.)

Seriously though, if I can recap where my writing head is:

·         WIP#1, a memoir, heads to a professional editor this week for final polishing, so things look good there.

·         The days as a weekly and daily beat reporter are well behind me.

·         My blog is doing well (and I remain forever grateful when non-blood-relatives leave comments – and beg forgiveness for my crassness when unable to respond in kind.)

This leaves me, for the first time in my ten-year writing career, at the beginning of a project that is all fiction – and all mine.

So, I’m writing what I want – like I've always wanted – but now it’s also time to discover if I can walk the walk.

Honest, I’m *NOT* fishing for compliments, but this is the Insecure Writers Support Group, so I wonder:

Am I a good enough Writer?

Can I create a great story that generates more interest and buzz than the three coffee machines I unsuccessfully tried to sell at our recent garage sale?

My deadline to finish the first draft is Halloween, so I suppose we’ll see how scary the writing is, right. :)

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Thanks again to El Gran Capitán Cavanaugh and now, off I go walkabout…

(PS: Since Monday, I’ve found myself standing over the small amount of first draft pages, chanting “My Precious! O my Precious!” in a strange, Gollum-esque voice. It's kinda weird, but I’m sure it will pass once I get to chapter two... Right? :)