It’s the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. And did I have a challenge last week that I want to bring out into the open. That challenge was, what I call, a writing drought.
A Week of Writer’s Block
Last week was a bad one for writing. I had a writer's drought all that week like my region has had a water drought for a lot longer. In other words, I had writer’s block. I felt like I couldn't come up with anything new to write either fiction or non-fiction. I had just barely come up with something for last weekend’s post.
Because of my writer’s block, I got behind with the story I've currently been working on for my upcoming book of short fiction. Originally, I planned to get the book out by this month but my stay in the hospital made me have to push it back to September, but now with last week’s writer’s block, among other things, having slowed me down it looks like the release will have to be in October. I still have several more stories to edit for the book and put through my writer’s critique group. Then I have all the technical processes to put it through like the book formatting and cover design.
I also want to release a beta copy of the book before releasing the final product. If anyone out there is interested in being a beta reader, let me know. The book’s theme will be strange and deadly phone apps. So far, I've titled it "Bad Apps".
IWSG Question of the Month
And now for the IWSG question for August: What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?
My favourite book about the craft of writing is Stephen King's "On Writing". This book is part fiction writing instruction and part memoir. King does a great job breaking down the fiction writing process all the way to the grammar basics (needed for nearly all types of writing, fiction or non-fiction). This book has especially inspired me because it’s written by an author of horror which is my genre and so he uses examples from his own works such as “Carrie” and "The Shining" in showing us the writing process.
The thing I love about “On Writing” is that King goes over his life story. He starts from his early childhood as far back as he can remember all the way up to about the time he started writing "On Writing". He also shows how several of his life experiences influenced his fiction, including his greatest known works such as the two above examples.
King’s “On Writing” is the book I turn to whenever I feel a need to refresh myself on the craft of writing fiction. His life story as a writer, his writing instruction and advice motivate me to keep writing. I have adopted many of the techniques from this book, tweaking some to adjust to my own capabilities and writing comforts. This is a book that I will never tire of reading or looking to as a reference.
How do you deal with writer’s block? Have you read Stephen King's "On Writing"? If so, what did you think of it?
Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts: PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels!
Until next time . . .
Sorry about the writer's block. October is still a good month to release a book.
ReplyDeleteI have King's book but haven't read it. Really would like to know what he went through to write The Shining.
I forgot exactly what he said about "The Shining ". I do remember him saying something like his own drinking problem influenced the main character.
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