Welcome to the first posting of 2022 for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! I hope everyone's had a restful and healthy holiday season and is in a good place for a great year of writing. If anyone is new to the group, its purpose is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, this month's co-hosts are Erika Beebe, Olga Godim, Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster and Chemist Ken.
Christmas and New Year were pretty relaxed here at Wilford Towers and weren't marked by adverse illness, which I'm thankful for. I do go into 2022 with several queries outstanding on my standalone YA sci-fi novel, but I'd rather see these as opportunities than insecurities. I've managed to garner some valuable feedback to hopefully strengthen my query and will be revising and sending out more this month.
Meanwhile, I'm starting the process of getting the final part of my dystopian trilogy readied for publication, which includes sending it out to beta readers. The bulk of this book was written by the end of 2019, but I struggled with the ending for a while, even having to rewrite it after a data loss. 2019 was also when the second part of the series was published, so I'm wary of the gap extending for too long. I did also fight shy of releasing during the pandemic, but such concerns seem increasingly meaningless. In fact I think we need the escape of a good story more than ever.
Finally, I'm continuing with a new WIP I started towards the end of last year, which I've enjoyed dabbling with over the festive period. This one is set in the near future, centres on trans characters and features a heavy sci-fi twist on the process of transitioning. It ventures into unknown territory for me and I'm enjoying the research and writing so far.
Let's have a look at this month's optional IWSG question.
What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?
I'd rather not focus on regrets at the start of a new year. The only thing I would say I'd regret was I didn't start taking writing seriously earlier. I started writing my first book at 26 - I'd had a few false starts before that but nothing went anywhere, which was probably out of doubt that I could actually do it. At some point you have to push through that doubt and just keep going. Like most people's first attempts, that book didn't come to much but it gives you the confidence to do another, and then another... in fact this year it'll be 15 years since I started down this road, which is strange to think about. I might do something to celebrate!
In the meantime let's look ahead to a very exciting annual event which is coming around the corner fast.
8:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time
Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On January 26, 2022, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.
Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch - it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.
See full rules here - and don't forget to check out the full list of IWSG participants here.
