Wednesday, 3 July 2024

IWSG July 2024

Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are J.S. PaillyRebecca DouglassPat GarciaLouise-Fundy Blue and Natalie Aguirre.

This month's optional IWSG question is: What are your favorite writing processing (e.g. Word, Scrivener, yWriter, Dabble), writing apps, software, and tools? Why do you recommend them? And which one is your all time favorite that you cannot live without and use daily or at least whenever you write?

I'm very old school - just Word and a pen and paper for me. I can't imagine needing anything else. I don't write entire books in longhand, but it's invaluable for sketching outlines and hashing out ideas when I get stuck. The hard part is deciphering the scrawl afterwards!

What am I up to this month? The usual, keeping on keeping on with writing and querying. I feel like I've nearly reached "the end" of the first draft of my WIP for the longest time, but other things keep piling up. In these next couple of weeks, I need to nail it.

My book, The Becalmer, is half price for all of July in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale. You can grab it here if you haven't read it! Here's the blurb as a quick reminder:

Harica is gifted with the ability to defuse conflicts using her mind. When she is recruited to assist in resolving a war via an arranged marriage, she discovers that the reluctant bride-to-be has similar powers. Princess Jasmila doesn't use her powers for good and when Harica arrives to help with the marriage arrangements, she fights back and sends Harica into a coma. It is through this comatose state that Harica discovers a mysterious liminal space populated by others who share her gift. In this new realm, she learns to do things she never believed possible, but soon things spiral out of control. In the face of a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable adversary, Harica wrestles with the decision to come to terms with the dark side of her gift. Will she take ownership of it or turn her back on it forever?

As ever you can check out more IWSG posts here! See you next month.

14 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick - well done for keeping on, keeping on - the essential in life and good luck with the new WIP. Yes - scrabbling to unravel one's notes can be 'interesting'!! Cheers Hilary

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Me too on Word and old using pen and paper. I can't even imagine my kiddos dealing with all my printed and handwritten paper when I die. :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hope you reach the end soon! I just use Word.

H. R. Sinclair said...

Word person here too!

The end will come--I'm talking about the draft that it. 😁

Natalie Aguirre said...

I'm old fashioned like you and just use Word. Good luck with your querying.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Hope you can dig out of that pile and reach the end.

Damyanti Biswas said...

I couldn't agree more -- Word, a pen, and a piece of paper are perpetual pieces of my writing process.

cleemckenzie said...

Old-fashioned works for me, Nick. Here's to success with that querying process. It's a chore, for sure.

Rebecca M. Douglass said...

Nick, I'm like you--Word, and and pen/notebook. Also like you in that my writing is hard to decipher!

Loved The Becalmer, and you remind me that I never signed up for the sale. It's never too late!

Liz A. said...

So far, that seems to be the consensus (Word with occasional longhand). Whatever works, right?

Leigh Caron said...

It's Word for me too. Can't do longhand. And long hand? I'm a scribbler and have lost some good ideas because I can't read back my own writing.

Victoria Marie Lees said...

Oh my gosh, Nick, I have trouble reading my own writing, too. Yet...I still use pen and paper to draw diagrams to "see" where my characters are at times. And yes, I use Microsoft, too. More power to you, Nick!

Victoria Marie Lees said...

Oh my gosh, Nick, I have trouble reading my own writing, too. Yet...I still use pen and paper to draw diagrams to "see" where my characters are at times. And yes, I use Microsoft, too. More power to you, Nick!

Elizabeth Seckman said...

I also prefer to do my idea sketching with pen and paper. My brain just works better that way!

Becalmer sounds great! How have I been missing getting it?