March #IWSG: March Madness (aka editing like crazy) Month

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question: How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story?

Co-Hosts:

Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham,Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner!

Happy March Madness! 

I'm super excited to co-host today! My CP is a drill sergeant. Just kidding. But she keeps me moving on my WIP. When I finish two chapters and send them to her, I critique hers and get ready to send a few more. We go back and forth until we get through the entire manuscript this way. Then we will exchange the whole manuscript for a final walk-through. Along the way, I take breaks. Sometimes I hang out with this guy Oliver. And, yes, that is a kitty bow tie.

But mostly, after a long week of editing or writing, I take my youngest downtown to get ice cream while I get a coffee drink. Then we snoop around, checking out the local museums and attractions. One place she loves to visit is the Hannibal History Museum. They sponsor the local Steampunk festival each year. In the back room, they have about twenty dioramas. Each one displays a scene from Mark Twain's book Tom Sawyer. It's a frightening experience especially with the lights turned low. And when you press a button, you hear a lady's voice reading from the book. Not creepy at all.  

When I finish editing a manuscript, I clean my entire house. Yay me. How about you? How do you celebrate each step along the way? 

P.S. I apologize to my WordPress friends. In order for my avatar with a link to my blog to show up in your comment feed, do I need to create a Wordpress/Gravatar account? Not sure why it won't show up like on other blogs. Is there any other way to do this without having to get a WordPress account? Any thoughts? 

February #IWSG: Murder, Anyone?

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question: What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

Co-Hosts: Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia,Angela Wooldridge, Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!

I write mostly upper middle-grade/young adult mysteries and fantasy with 12-14 year old protagonists. 

I have always loved mysteries: murder mysteries, art heists, stolen artifacts. It doesn't matter whether the mysteries are geared for kids or adults or anyone in between. I LOVE all forms of mysteries: books, movies, TV series. 

Any good story/TV show will incorporate a heavy dose of mystery and intrigue. In reading/writing mysteries, I love the set-up, the devious deed, the red-herrings, the suspect list, the plot twists, the motives, the means, the opportunity, and the big reveal. 

My favorite mystery writer for kids is Robin Stevens. Her Muder Most Unladylike series feature kid detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong who solve murders in the English countryside at a boarding school known as Deepdean. They also solved one aboard the Orient Express, and in her most recent novel, they solved a double murder at Cambridge University. 

My favorite fantasy series staring paranormal investigators would be none other than the Lockwood & Co. books by Jonathan Stroud.

What keeps me turning the pages of a good mystery is my personal hunt for the murderer or the art thief or the villain, trying to solve the case before the main character does.

What is your favorite genre and why? 

January #IWSG: Steps to Success

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question: What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

Co-Hosts: Tyrean Martinson, The Cynical Sailor, Megan Morgan, Rachna Chhabria, and Jennifer Lane.

I write everyday. Some days I write all the words and other days only a scene or two. With an active family of five, it's challenging to be an author, but I make it a priority. And the kids hand me plot twists left and right and enough dialogue to fill endless novels. So there's that.

As for the publishing side, I would like to state that I have pursued new book deals and an agent with full force this past year. I have a couple of finished manuscripts with publishers and one with several agents. Still waiting on decisions. *Twiddles thumbs, taps fingers on the desk, refreshes email every ten seconds* This process takes time and patience. Oh, did I mention patience? Like an ocean full of tearing-out-your-hair kind of patience??? 

In the meantime, while I wait for bookish news, I write and live life. My two WIPs are shaping up nicely. 

I thought the Midwest dodged a bullet called winter. A week and a half ago I hiked with my family in fifty-degree weather. Yes, we enjoy those temps around here for December. This past week we plunged into wind chills of thirty below. Send summer and a remote car starter. 

Creepy barn from our hike.

One week later. Yay, snow.

I hope everyone had a safe and warm Christmas. And if you tell me you spent your holiday in Hawaii, I will stick up my nose at you. Hope everyone writes all the words this new year and has much success! 

December #IWSG: THE END IS NEAR

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question: As you look back on 2017, with all its successes and failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

Co-Hosts: Julie Flanders,Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue,and Heather Gardner!

The end is near.
How did this happen? If I could backtrack, I would switch brains with a NY Times Bestselling author. Okay, maybe that's not what IWSG intended by the question of the month. But I write fiction. Can you blame me for dreaming?

My NaNo month ended on a high note. In November, I wrote almost 25k for my new MG mystery, and I started a new MG sci-fi thriller with another 8500 words. In fact, I'm so pumped about my new sci-fi that I'm ditching the other one (for now) and going full force with the newer one.
Did that make sense?
Brain is fuzzy.
Writer's cramp.
Where's my coffee IV?

During Thanksgiving vacation, we stopped at a hotel about an hour from Chicago where I got this crazy idea for a sci-fi novel. Inspiration can literally hit you anywhere at anytime. I don't think I've ever been struck before with such an overwhelming and fun idea for a story!

Good luck with revisions this month. I'm sticking to my rough draft. Hoping to edit after the new year. Merry Christmas!

How about you? What would you do differently this past year? Want to switch places with anyone?

November #IWSG: NaNo Time!

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

IWSG Day Question: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I n the month of October, I managed impromptu hiking excursions, trips to corn mazes, haunted houses, pumpkin patches, and indoor soccer games, trick or trreating, and binge-watching Stranger Things 2. Whew. I just got tired writing all of that.  

Writing? Er, not so much. But today's the day!!!

 I like to start my NaNo prep in late September, so I'm already fifty pages into my new MG mystery. I always finish my NaNo projects even if it's in the month of December. My first book ever published was a NaNo novel.

So grab your pencils, er, laptops, and let's get cracking! After a very busy month of playing around, I'm ready to rumble, er, write. Join me on a fantastic way to crank out a rough draft in thirty days.  

Good luck on your NaNo project or finishing your work-in-progress that you started last year. 

Corn Maze time!

Mathessin State Park near LaSalle Peru, Illinois

 

October #IWSG

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

I am a co-host today with these awesome members:

Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, and Tamara Narayan!

October 4 question - Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose?

Every single time I write a character I give them a bit of my twelve-year-old self. What can I say, I enjoyed my childhood. Okay, maybe not the red hair and glasses, but I loved spying on people and pretending to be a secret agent. 

My teenage boys always end up as main characters or quirky secondary characters. But I'm changing things up. In my new WIP, let me introduce my first girl protagonist! Loads of fun. But I must confess, the twin antagonists are turning out to be my favorite characters to write.

October is a time for change.

The weather (thank goodness!) chills, leaves turn, haunted houses pop up all over the Midwest. I just want to recognize my oldest son who redesigned my blog and website. He is a computer science major and quite talented. I've been wanting a complete overhaul for a long time and it's here!!!!

Take a look at my new website: www.jenniferlhawes.com  and tell me what you think!

I participated in two events this past month. On Monday, September 18th, I became a book fairie for the day for #Goodreadsturns10 and #Hideabookday world wide. You can read more on my website. I hid eighteen books in the downtown area of Hannibal, MO. 

Saturday, I was involved in my first ever author takeover event with a live chat on Facebook. My publisher Saguaro Books hosted the event. 

I hid books along Mark Twain's boyhood home
and even one in the paint bucket near the fence.

Now, get out there and enjoy the best month all year. Happy October!

September #IWSG: Change Is in the Air

Come join Alex J. Cavanaugh and the Insecure Writer's Support Group. We discuss our fears, insecurities, ups and downs of the writing process and post the first Wednesday of every month! http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

Question: Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? (For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in?)

Change is in the air, or it's just pumpkin spice. My favorite season descends upon us like a teenage boy consuming a Taco Bell Quesarito: fast and furious.

In my current work in progress, I decided to switch things up. Because of the idea of branding, I plan to continue with MG mysteries, but will launch this new story in a different direction. Where's the fun in writing if you can't take detours and end up in an alternate dimension? 

Writing contests might be considered "surprising yourself" with your writing when you actually win. 

Over the weekend, I received good news! My current MG mystery (out with many different agents!!) Link Lakowski & the Dead House won third place in the "Awesome Openers" 2017 Rate Your Story Contest. WEEKEND MADE.

I even took a screen shot to savor the moment.

Hope you are trying new things in your writing world!