IWSG July 2018

It's the first week of July, and we're here a day early because I hear there's some sort of big holiday going on for my friends across the pond tomorrow. Nothing else has changed though, this is still the best place to gather and unleash our writerly worries in an atmosphere of mutual support. Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh remains ably at the helm, backed up this month by Nicki Elson, Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan and Patricia Lynne.

I don't have much to be feeling insecure about - edits for the middle part of my trilogy are proceeding apace and I should be on track for an autumn release. Maybe taking a bit longer than planned, but for good reasons - I spent the past couple of weeks crafting a short story for a competition, for example. Diversions like that stop me getting bogged down, and I've come to believe that things will be ready when they're ready, rather than following a rigorous schedule. Let's turn to this month's IWSG question, which is as follows: "What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?"

That's an interesting one, quite deep for a glorious summer's day. I suppose in some way my goals have changed - initially I just wanted to finish one book, then I wanted to sign on with an agent. For the first I realised that, because finishing was in fact possible, I wanted to write a better book, and for the second, it did not seem as all-important as it once had after I started talking to other writers who were pursuing publication in all sorts of ways. But ultimately, my goals have always been to express myself and hopefully say something about the human condition. It's a confusing enough world - more and more so every day, it seems - and I'm always trying to find out what makes people tick, even if those people are on a distant planet or far into the future. I also want what I have to say to strike a chord with others and for them to relate to it, and miraculously, I seem to have had some success there, so I'll keep trying to take that further. Selling millions was never really part of the equation, which is probably just as well!

To read others' thoughts and insecurities this month head to the IWSG signup page here.

In other news, we only have just over two weeks to go before the next #IWSGPit on July 19. Will you be pitching into the fray with a tasty morsel to hook an agent or publisher? Last time we had about 5,100 Tweets and became a trending topic, and the next event looks to be even bigger, so don't miss out on grabbing a piece of the action! Rules are as follows:

Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On July 19, Tweet your pitch between 8am and 8pm Eastern time. 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.

Rules:

Writers may send out 1 Twitter pitch every hour per manuscript.

Publishers/Agents will favorite/heart pitches they are interested in. Publishers can either Tweet basic submission guidelines or direct writers to their submission guidelines. (Writers, please do not favorite/heart pitches.)

No images allowed in pitches.

Pitches must include GENRE/AGE and the hashtag #IWSGPit.

Ages:
#C - children’s
#MG - middle grade
#YA - young adult
#NA - new adult
#A - adult
Genres:
#AD - adventure
#CF - Christian fiction
#CO - contemporary
#F - fantasy
#H - horror
#HI - historical
#LF - literary fiction
#MCT - mystery/crime/thriller
#ME - memoir
#NF - non-fiction
#PB - picture book
#PN - paranormal
#R - romance
#SF - sci-fi
#WF - women's fiction