As we enter what looks like a great summer here in the Northern Hemisphere (with hopefully a little more freedom), one thing we can all rely on is that the first Wednesday of the month will be our meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Led as ever by Ninja Cap'n Alex J. Cavanaugh, the purpose of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's excellent co-hosts are J. Lenni Dorner, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery and Rachna Chhabria.
Let's have a look at this month's IWSG question: For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?
This is quite interesting. Although I haven't kept records of how long this has been for every book, for my current WIP, I was keen to get it out to CPs to gain feedback on certain matters. I think I left it a few days before giving it a quick reread to tie up some inconsistencies. The response was that the story was good but perhaps slightly undercooked. There might be a lesson to be learned there.
The second part of the question has me thinking. Perhaps there might be a danger after having written a number of books/stories that you do not need to give it so much time to "marinate," especially if you want to keep up to a release schedule. Instead it might be better to think of each book as your first, worthy of just as much care and attention as your early outings. After all, every book is different and will have different demands. It's not a production line. I'm interested to read others' answers to this!
Word count: 5000-6000
Genre: Sweet Romance
Theme: First Love
Submissions accepted: May 7 - September 1, 2021
How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (double-spaced, no footers or headers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your full contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group. You must belong to at least one aspect of the IWSG to enter.
Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.
