Skip to main content

IWSG: November: A Time to Rest, a Time to Write

Logo for the Insecure Writer's Support Group with a light house in the background.



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. 

November has come really fast and so October flew by like a speeding bat! I was nearly burning myself out to get things done for my Halloween themed blogs and newsletter and even activity outside of my writing such as decorating the house. October and December are the busiest times of the year for me, so November is kind of a breather period between the two. So, for me, November is a time to rest . . . and to write. Not that I don’t write during October or November, of course. When I say that November is a time for me to write, I mean it’s a time to get back on track with the writing routine and not worry about holiday duties, Halloween and Christmas being two of my favourite celebrations of the year. 

What about Thanksgiving? I don’t cook so that leaves me out of any heavy duties for that holiday. And in my culture, there’s Day of the Dead/All Souls Day, but I celebrate it relatively simply. (I mostly just visit the relatives’ graves, trim the grass around them and leave flowers.) So, this month leaves opportunity for me to catch up on my current writing projects, including my upcoming book of short fiction, “Bad Apps”. “Bad Apps” is a collection of stories about evil and deadly phone apps. 

IWSG Question of the Month

Now for IWSG’s November question: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?

I never did really participate in NaNoWriMo. I did my own alternative versions of it a couple of times. Back then I would, during the month of November, substitute month-long novel writing with month-long novella writing. But even that would eventually bore me because of the short attention span that I have. So, I don’t write long works such as novels and novellas. But I will read them, like I’ll read short stories, and I admire the authors who write them. Many authors put a lot work and a lot of focus into their novels. As far as any long works go, I’ll make short story collections which often run at least 100 pages. I can manage a short story at a time and then gather them into a book rather than write one long story. 

Find out more about “Bad Apps” and the progress that I make on it, by signing up for my free newsletter, “Night Creatures’ Call”! Are you participating in NaNoWriMo?

Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts: Diedre Knight, Douglas Thomas Greening, Nick Wilford, and Diane Burton! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . . 

A skull with two skeleton hands to either side.
Credit: Pixabay.com


Comments

  1. If short stories work better for you, that's what you should write. I'm not as good with real long stories either. All of m novels have been on the short side.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I usually read the shorter novels. For me a short novel is anything 400 words or less. I rarely read novels much longer than that.

      Delete
  2. I can write really long or really short pieces, although I'm finding the novella length a good fit now.

    That's neat you celebrate Day of the Dead. We don't do Halloween, but we did decorate some Day of the Dead cookies this past weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Novellas are good mid-length works for a lot of writers.

      Decorating Day of the Dead cookies! That must've been really neat!

      Delete
  3. These BAD APPS are fascinating!

    The whole concept of malware and hacking has become very salient in Australian circles at the moment after several major organisations and companies have been hacked.

    400 words or 400 pages?

    [if you could write something with a novel strength and epic in 400 words - I commend you!]

    I am sure your relatives will appreciate you trimming the grass.

    There is a Botanical Cemetery somewhat near me.

    Adelaide Dupont

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least...

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today.  I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic...

Book-To-Movie: Guest Blogger Alex Cavanaugh Reviews 'Relic'

Credit: Tor Books The fourth weekend of the month, when we normally have our Book-To-Movie review has passed us again. However, the review is still on! This month I have a guest blogger for our Book-To-Movie review. The two of us agreed to trade our book-to-movie reviews and present them to you today, this last Monday of the month. In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation.  And my guest blogger and reviewer is Alex Cavanaugh. Alex is the author of the Cassa series  of novels and founder of the Insecure Writers' Support Group ! Here at the Fantastic Site, he’s reviewing a best-selling novel of detective horror, "Relic", and its movie adaptation. In turn, at his site, I have the pleasure of reviewing "The Black Phone" short story by Joe Hill and its movie adaptation. So, after you're finished reading Alex’s awesome review, please leave a comment for him in the box below and then head on over to his website to check out my...