The Story is Yours in 2024!

Calling all writers! Time to celebrate your story!

Though it's cliché to make resolutions as we ring in the new year...

And usually those resolutions are the same as the year before...

Then those promises are soon cast aside by the return of every day drudgeries...

But I won't give up... I say: Try, try again!

And what better time to start than on the first IWSG post for 2024. To be successful, we need daily reminders of our Resolutions. I want to think about health improvements, writing goals, and being a better person in general every day. And this year, I plan to do that by using positive daily reminders. I'm also happy that my puppies need less attention, getting me back to a more normal schedule. Here are my goals:

• I've been sharing inspirations with my homeroom students for years, encouraging them to have more self-confidence, kindness for others, and a broader perspective. This is a positive boost for me too!
• For a healthier lifestyle, I've used a Food Diary App which I really like, until it becomes tiresome and time consuming to enter all the foods and activities... But I'm going to try, try again!
• 
  What I always need help with is carving out time to write--plus all the other fun and not-so-fun parts of publishing. Making a list helps me get started:
• I want to re-start the Writer's Chat.
• I need to publish the e-book of CONDUCTION--not to mention the million things that along with it (but that's another list -- check off book trailer, still perfecting, but here's the prelim)
• and I have a bunch more stories waiting to be written!
• So, I need a plan to find time to dedicate to writing, et al, and stick to it! I'm sure I'll figure something out like leave myself sticky notes, annoying phone reminders, or reward myself for getting things done.

What's your story? Are you writing? Got any advice for making time to get things done? I hope you accomplished everything you wanted to in 2023, and will accomplish more in 2024!

PS - Don't forget to stop by Alex J. Cavanaugh  &  Christine Rains my helpful cohorts promoting CONDUCTION! All you folks in the IWSG keep me going!

Happy New Year!

via GIPHY

Here we go again

Happy New Year, take 2023!

Welcome to IWSG Jan 2023

How many times have we gone through the motions of vowing to change in the new year? Too many to count, for me! But the change in year does remind me to try harder or resolve anew, as it were... I always have big plans, lofty goals, and personal growth promises that inevitably fizzle out. I realize now, that when I plan these things, I'm at the end of my holiday break from work. It's easy to reach for high hopes and dreams when you have a ton of time on your hands!

So this year, I'll be more reasonable. I'll go easier on myself. I'm going to keep up with the Blogging at least once a month for IWSG -- your voices are what keep me chugging along on this writing journey and expressing my thoughts is wonderful therapy! Eating better and exercising more gets a jump start when I go back to work and get away from sedentary-dom, eating out, and extra sweets with company and the holidays! Not that I didn't love every minute of it! 

And Writing more. I really want to work on this. It was so much easier to begin the process. We start out bright-eyed and hopeful. Sure there are many obstacles along the way: will anyone like our writing? will we ever get published? will anyone buy it? -- some of you are in these stages now! But once you've been through those, the harder challenges arise: critics, marketing, failed publishers, and pandemics! Well, I'm over it. I have to make a plan, plotter that I am, and stick to it. If I want to call myself a writer, I need to keep writing, right? (haha) And that means I need to keep working through all the hard stuff that goes with it. So that's what I would like to do. We'll see how it goes...

Thank goodness I have support from you all! And I want to jump back into our weekly WRITERS CHAT! TUESDAYS @ 7:30 PM (EST) It is time.

We use Discord - a private chat group website. Please join us if you can!

And lastly, a piece of my heart is missing as we said farewell to the sweetest dog in the world just before Christmas. Comet held on long enough for our middle son to come home and say goodbye. Having my family fill my house, I was able to make it through the difficult time. And now that they're gone and I'm taking down the Christmas decorations, the house is even emptier, deafeningly quiet. I need some time to heal before I make him a scrapbook - so many tears. Dogs are the best, we don't deserve them.

I hope you enjoyed your holidays and are looking forward to a jamboree for 2023!

via GIPHY

Harpy New Year and Best Witches!

Welcome 2021!

And thanks for stopping by the Insecure Writers Support Group

I'm usually pretty optimistic as each new year begins... but we all know how last year tore us up, so this year I'm CAUTIOUSLY optimistic. I'm always hopeful things will get better, and I'm up for the challenges. Though I'm not one to cower from change, I don't enjoy it, especially so much at once. In 2020, my writing waned, but I can't complain--I've been doing pretty well dealing with the rest of life.

As we start a fresh new year, I hope you are healthy, happy, and hopeful!

Besides re-publishing most of my books in 2020, I was determined to publish something new... and I did it, barely. (My post title goes with my latest Un-Princess novella.)

Introducing...

GERTRUDE, the nerdy princess

Un-Princess Novella #4

by Tara Tyler

High school can be tough for teenagers, but it’s nothing compared to Princess School. Especially for an awkward, overweight, nerdy princess who likes to read.

Princess Gertrude wants to be a great Queen someday, so she endures the daily torments of the frilly princesses. Until they go too far. With her emotions and clothes in tatters, she runs away into the haunted dark forest—not that she believes in such things. But what she finds there will teach her more about courage and leadership than that ridiculous Princess School ever could.

paperback on Lulu $4.99

Would love to send you a FREE copy for a review

(pdf or signed paper--let me know!)

After discovering some new "improvements" at Amazon, I have to do some fancy dancing to get the e-book done, as if the normal hoops and hurdles of self-publishing weren't exasperating enough. Plus all the joys of adding it to Goodreads--another fun-filled, hair-pulling-out experience. It's a good thing I love to write--I'm used to overcoming obstacles, and I can apply it to my characters!

GOALS

This year, I'm not going to be specific on goals, considering last year's list was a waste of time! I just have a bunch of hopes: 

• I hope to finish CONDUCTION Pop Travel #4. I'm half-way through the first draft and decided one of the events needs a major rewrite--I was taking the easy way, and easy = boring, so...
• I really hope to get out and do some live book events this year
• I hope to find time to read more and write more

The end. Keeping it simple. I'll post updates here, which helps remind me to keep at it!

How did you do for writing in 2020?

Have you made any goals or have hopes for this year?

Getting it done in

How to set writing goals in 2019

1/1/2019 -- Just another day? I like to see it as the promise of a new beginning. For some, it's a continuation of your story, maybe just a new chapter. My last chapter was quite tumultuous with moving, kids returning to the roost, and the holidays all bombarding us at once. Some days, I didn't know if I would make it. But here I am, back for a new beginning of a new chapter.

I even squeezed in some writing--subbing day-to-day, I find spots of down time, and it's a blessing to leave the house stress for a bit!

So as we press on and look ahead to a new year, it's time to set some writing goals--the topic of my IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) post for this month.

How to Set (& Achieve) Writing Goals - version 2019

1. What do you want to get done? Jot some things down, make a list. Then prioritize what you want to accomplish first. Use pencil or a computer doc... change is inevitable.
2. How much time do you have to work with? Life always comes first, and usually second and third. Writing usually has to take a back seat, but don't let it be forgotten. You need to make time for you, just be reasonable about it.
3. Don't procrastinate. If you don't feel like writing some days, that's okay. And the list is more of a guideline, you can jump around on it and add to or take away from it throughout the year. Just don't stick the list into a drawer only to find it next December wishing you'd done more on it! Plan to do a little each day.
4. Limit the Social Media temptation. Checking SM too often brings me down--no new likes or mentions this hour :( And posting all the time to receive more responses takes away time from real writing. My snippet SM advice: it's a great tool, but use it sparingly; remember, you get from it what you give, so lower your expectations; and I've found if I set aside a time to schedule posts for the week, I get more out of them later.
5. Be realistic. Writing is a long distance marathon, you need to have stamina and deal with all the bumps in the road (or find a way around the chasms!) You can reach the goal, but only if you keep going!

Here are my major writing goals for this year... the list helps me focus on writing toward the goals every day and every way I can!

• WINDY HOLLOW Release is 1/29/19 and I'm planning the Blog Tour - I made a Book Trailer for it! -- If you'd like to help out, here's the FORM (Fingers crossed my publisher holds it together to get this one out there--after that, the future looks dim. Read my NEWSLETTER for the full update...)
• Submit FARTHER ALONG to betas/CPs this Spring, then polish to gleaming and Query by Summer/Fall.
• Finish UnPrincess Story #4 GERTRUDE and self-publish this Summer. Seeking artists for this and future projects.
• Type first draft of Pop Travel #4 - POWER OF SUGGESTION or CONDUCTION - still debating on the title - by Spring/Summer, then on to betas and CPs.

And I haven't forgotten my Shout Out of the Week!

Julie Flanders!

She's a boss! With a super cute book about a baby bossie (haha) I've known Julie for several years and love it when we can get together for events or just do lunch. I'm lucky she lives pretty close!

A librarian from Cincinnati, Ohio, Julie loves to read, run, go for walks with her dog, and visit new places. She's a sports fan and an Ohio State Buckeyes fanatic. She's also a history buff and loves to weave history into her stories.

Her adult novels are "mysteries untethered by time." Two paranormal thrillers, Polar Night and Polar Day and a historical mystery The Ghosts of Aquinnah. She also recently released a horror novella The Turnagain Arm, a prequel to Polar Night. Her debut children's book, Baby Moo's Great Escape, features the animals of Sunrise Sanctuary in Marysville, Ohio. A sequel, Baby Moo Goes to Hollywood, is forthcoming.

Check out Julie, she's fantastic!

How do you set writing goals? How'd you do last year? Always room for improvement, right?

Lastly, a Shout Out to my Street Team. They are 100% wonderful, and I'm always looking for more perky promoters. Work is minimal, results and rewards mega. Here's the FORM if you're interested in doing something awesome! (name that movie)

Happy New Beginnings and Positive Vibes in 2019!!