#IWSG

J Lenni Dorner

@jlennidorner.bsky.social

1 week ago

jlennidorner.blogspot.com/2026/03/snow...

Second post in the book-selling series, where I test out some methods.
#booksky #IWSG #blogsky

J.S. Pailly

@jspailly.bsky.social

1 week ago

IWSG: Why Aren’t You Doing Something Useful with Your Life? I’m not a scientist, I’m not an engineer, and I don’t work for NASA.  I’m just some guy on the Internet who loves space.  In my last few IWSG posts, I talked about how I sometimes worry that I’m no…

For this month's meeting of the Insecure Writers' Support Group: "Your art/writing/whatever is good, but why aren’t you doing something more useful with your life?"

i-love-space.com/2026/03/04/i...

#IWSG #writingcommunity #amwriting #stopaskingmethisquestion

Jemima Pett

@jemimapett.bsky.social

1 week ago

How to launch my next book? #IWSG #Booksky I haven’t even written my next book yet. You’ll find out all about it in the A2Z Theme reveal later this month. But today is IWSG day, and the question of the month helps me address a question I’ve been asking myself. Who will read it? Quickly followed by: why am I writing it? PJ Colando, Ronel Janse van Vuuren…

How to launch my next book? #IWSG #Booksky

I haven’t even written my next book yet. You’ll find out all about it in the A2Z Theme reveal later this month. But today is IWSG day, and the question of the month helps me address a question I’ve been asking myself. Who will read it? Quickly followed…

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

1 week ago

3/2026 Insecure Writers Support #QOTD #QOTM
What are your book launch plans? I like the idea of throwing a party but may try a cooking lesion for my memoir. Check the Linktree in my bio. #IWSG #writers #shorts #blogger #booklover #writtingcommunity #writers #writerlife #booklaunch #authorreading

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

1 week ago

#IWSG Mar. 2026- Rebecca M. Douglass Feature & It’s Like The Full Moon part 8
#Blog post featuring a Counting My Blessings, author feature, writerly updates, and fiction installments. Check linktree to visit The ToiBox of Words. #vlog #fiction #reading #writerlife #excerpt #blessed #cozymystery

J Lenni Dorner

@jlennidorner.bsky.social

1 week ago

jlennidorner.blogspot.com/2026/03/book...

#booksky #IWSG #blogsky
Book Launch Talk

J.S. Pailly

@jspailly.bsky.social

1 month ago

IWSG: An Insecure Science Communicator Each month, IWSG asks members a question. The question is optional. I usually skip it, but this month’s question stirred up some deep feelings and some deep insecurities, so I thought I’d better ad…

For this month's meeting of the Insecure Writers' Support Group: how do you feel about rereading your own older writing?

i-love-space.com/2026/02/04/i...

#IWSG #writingcommunity #sciencecommunication

Debbie D. 🇨🇦 🇩🇪

@debbie-d.bsky.social

1 month ago

Do Walks Make a Difference in Your Life? #IWSG Writers and readers, do walks play a big role in your life? When was the last time you went for a long walk and where?

Do Walks Make a Difference in Your Life? #IWSG - damyantiwrites.com/walks/ by @damyantig.bsky.social

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

1 month ago

2/2026 Insecure Writers Support #QOTD #QOTM
Have you reread any of your early works? Reading my early work is both cringy and rewarding. Check the Linktree in my bio for The ToiBox of Words
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#IWSG #booktube #writers #shorts #vlogger #booklover #writtingcommunity #writers #writerlife #cringeworthy

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

1 month ago

#IWSG Feb. 2026- How Cringe Is Your Old Writing? & It’s Like The Full Moon part 5
-
Blog post featuring a Counting My Blessings, writerly updates, and fiction installments.
Check the link in the bio to visit The ToiBox of Words.
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#blog #vlog #fiction #reading #writerlife #excerpt #blessed

Jemima Pett

@jemimapett.bsky.social

1 month ago

Revisiting the past #IWSG #Booksky This week's IWSG question is about revisiting the past, as you'll see below. But I finally completed my accounts for the last two years, and submitted my tax return ahead of the deadline. So I thought I'd muse on some of the things that occurred to me.  J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox!  Revisiting the Figures I was unsurprised to find that I made a loss in both years.

Revisiting the past #IWSG #Booksky

This week's IWSG question is about revisiting the past, as you'll see below. But I finally completed my accounts for the last two years, and submitted my tax return ahead of the deadline. So I thought I'd muse on some of the things that occurred to me.  J Lenni…

@pjmaclayne.bsky.social

2 months ago

Writing Plans for 2026 #IWSG www.pjmaclayne.com?p=21161

J.S. Pailly

@jspailly.bsky.social

2 months ago

IWSG: Answering My Inner Critic Each month, IWSG asks members a question. Answering the monthly question is not required. It’s totally optional, which is good news for me, because there’s a different question plaguing my thoughts…

Sometimes, my inner critic shames me into not writing.

i-love-space.com/2026/01/07/i...

#IWSG #writingcommunity

H. R. Sinclair

@iamhrsinclair.com

2 months ago

2026: Plot twist loading… — H. R. Sinclair Ringing in 2026 with the coming trends in food, design fashion, and publishing--and my opinions on them.

First post of the year! Check out the fun and weird trends for this 2026, and my thoughts about them 😉 #iwsg #trends
iamhrsinclair.com/blog/2026-go...

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

2 months ago

1/2026 Insecure Writers Support #QOTD #QOTM
Check the link in my bio to see the blog post: #IWSG Jan. 2026- Plans for the new year & It’s Like The Full Moon part 1 #writers #shorts #writingcommunity #blog #bloghop #writerlife #newyear

Jemima Pett

@jemimapett.bsky.social

2 months ago

Writerly Resolutions for 2026 #IWSG #booksky Well, of course I'm going to talk about resolutions. It's still New Year as far as I'm concerned, and I think resolutions made at the start of the month should always be sat on until the end of month to see how realistic they are and whether you really want to do them. I mean, most of us want to lose weight and get fitter...

Writerly Resolutions for 2026 #IWSG #booksky

Well, of course I'm going to talk about resolutions. It's still New Year as far as I'm concerned, and I think resolutions made at the start of the month should always be sat on until the end of month to see how realistic they are and whether you really…

Janet Alcorn

@janetalcorn.bsky.social

2 months ago

My writing plans for 2026 - Janet Alcorn My writing plans for 2026 balance progress with the need to be realistic and gentle with myself. And there are memes. Always memes.

Let’s talk about goals and plans for 2026! In my latest post for the Insecure Writers Support Group, I share mine. What are yours?

#WritingCommunity #IWSG

janetalcorn.com/2026/01/06/m...

@pat_garcia

@patgarcia.bsky.social

3 months ago

Woot! It's finally happened! #IWSG #booksky - Jemima Pett It's finally happened! I'm now on Draft2Digital. You may have been there for two years, I know, but there was a hitch

Woot! It's finally happened! #IWSG #booksky jemimapett.com/blog/2025/12...

J Lenni Dorner

@jlennidorner.bsky.social

3 months ago

Best Gift for A Writer #IWSG Author J Lenni Dorner. Characters, Settings, Speculative Fiction, Book Review, Legend, Myth, Storytelling, Lenape and Native American interests.

Best Gift for A Writer #IWSG #booksky

Blog Post 📚🎁

jlennidorner.blogspot.com/2025/12/best...

Jamie

@jamiewriter.bsky.social

3 months ago

Book Party, goals, and #IWSG gift 🎁 Writer Coffee Democratic Chronic illness -respiratory Read uniquely maladjusted but fun

uniquelymaladjustedbutfun.blogspot.com/2025/12/book...

Blog post
#booksky book party, #IWSG #goals #writing

J.S. Pailly

@jspailly.bsky.social

3 months ago

IWSG: Is Writing by Hand Better? As you know, I love space, and I love science.  It may surprise you to learn, though, that I do not love technology.  I’ve never felt comfortable sitting in front of a computer, especially when I’m…

Which is better? Writing by hand or writing on a computer?

i-love-space.com/2025/12/03/i...

#IWSG #amwriting #writingcommunity

@pjmaclayne.bsky.social

3 months ago

The Best Writer’s Gift #IWSG www.pjmaclayne.com?p=20897 #writingCommunity

Janet Alcorn

@janetalcorn.bsky.social

3 months ago

The best gift I ever received as a writer - Janet Alcorn The best gift I ever received as a writer: family support. Also an update from the query trenches and some fresh memes.

It's #IWSG Day, and we're talking about the best gifts we've received as writers. Here's my post.

What's the best gift you ever received as a writer?

#WritingCommunity

janetalcorn.com/2025/12/02/t...

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

3 months ago

Best Writer Gift? #IWSG #bloghop #booktube #writers #shorts
12/2025 Insecure Writers Support #QOTD #QOTM
As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received?
Join the hop by visiting toithomas.substack.com/t/iwsg

Jemima Pett

@jemimapett.bsky.social

3 months ago

Woot! It’s finally happened! #IWSG #booksky It's finally happened! I'm now on Draft2Digital. You may have been there for two years, I know, but there was a hitch for those of us that had publisher accounts AND author accounts at Smashwords. I'd been 14 years with Smashwords almost to the day. It was December 2011 that I published the Princelings of the East on Smashwords. So what difference does it make?

Woot! It’s finally happened! #IWSG #booksky

It's finally happened! I'm now on Draft2Digital. You may have been there for two years, I know, but there was a hitch for those of us that had publisher accounts AND author accounts at Smashwords. I'd been 14 years with Smashwords almost to the day. It…

Toi Thomas

@toithomas.bsky.social

4 months ago

#IWSG Nov. 2025- What’s Your Dream Writer Life? Hi there, yes, it’s me Toi.

#IWSG Nov. 2025- What’s Your Dream Writer Life?
open.substack.com/pub/toithoma...

@pjmaclayne.bsky.social

4 months ago

Foreseeing The Future #IWSG www.pjmaclayne.com?p=20646

H. R. Sinclair

@iamhrsinclair.com

4 months ago

My Life as a Writer — H. R. Sinclair Thoughts on my life as a writer and the sameness of writing and illustrating.

New blog post: My Life as a Writer
#blogpost #blot #writing #writer #artist #iwsg
iamhrsinclair.com/blog/life-as...

Jemima Pett

@jemimapett.bsky.social

4 months ago

Life as a Writer #IWSG #booksky The IWSG question of the month for November asks about life as a writer. I had a look at all the other things that go on at IWSG as listed in the monthly email. I wonder whether I really want to be bothered with any of it? Coupled with, am I getting too old to be writing MG now? Or indeed doing this?

Life as a Writer #IWSG #booksky

The IWSG question of the month for November asks about life as a writer. I had a look at all the other things that go on at IWSG as listed in the monthly email. I wonder whether I really want to be bothered with any of it? Coupled with, am I getting too old to be…

Janet Alcorn

@janetalcorn.bsky.social

4 months ago

My So-Called Writing Life: expectations vs. reality I love books about the writing life. In fact, they are one of my favorite ways to procrastinate from living the writing life (by, you know, actually writing). I want to know every famous writer’s writing routine, favorite beverage while writing, where they wrote, what they wrote with, even the name of the human/animal/epic tragedy that inspired them to write. Writing is a vocation that inspires awe. We like to imagine that it involves some kind of magic (and really, I’m half convinced Stephen King’s works are actually written by a sentient Ouija Board, because he’s clearly channeling something). So let’s talk about the writing life, or at least my writing life (please share yours in the comments, and if you have a sentient Ouija Board, may I borrow it? Pretty please?) But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are  Jennifer Lane, Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way? My So-Called Writing Life: In the Beginning Back in 2019, about 5 years into My So-Called Writing Life, I wrote about my fantasy writer life vs. the (spoiler alert!) much less impressive reality. That post is called Living the Dream, and it might give you a chuckle. As for how I really imagined life as a writer back when I first started: I’m not sure. I don’t think I imagined it at all. I just… started. (The story of why I started is in my first-ever IWSG post, Talent is Overrated.) A little ways in, though, I developed a near-daily writing practice, read everything I could get my grubby fingers on about writing fiction, joined a writing group, and began to make real progress. Look at me, living my dream! Look at me, writing everyday just like Uncle Stevie and his sentient Ouija Board told me to! Look at my self-discipline and commitment to my craft! Day after week after month after year. Writing every day, blogging every week, finishing a novel, starting another novel, writing and publishing short stories. I was doing it, baby! How’s that saying go? Oh, yeah: Pride goeth before a fall. My So-Called Writing Life Episode 2: Reality Bites The fall came in 2023 in the form of: burnout. So much burnout. Also disillusionment. Querying my first novel didn’t go well, I was stalled out on revising my second novel, and I started to wonder: what’s the point? Why am I giving up my mornings and weekends to an activity that is exhausting and frustrating? I kept going, but my motivation was on life support. Then came 2024. I was going to finish the Revision from Hell. I was going to self-publish my first novel if I couldn’t find an agent. I was going to get my lifelong dream back on track, baby! Then I got sick. Then I took a new executive-level job, packed up my life, and moved back to my home state of California–and didn’t write for the rest of the year except for IWSG posts. Now 2025 is almost over. I’ve been learning how to manage a demanding job, a chronic illness, and the rest of my life, including writing. I’m trying to rebuild my routines in a more sustainable way, and my enthusiasm and joy are returning. I’m querying my first novel again, this time with some significant improvements to the book, and I’ve even gotten a partial request. I’m still working on the Revision from Hell, and I’ve made slow but substantial progress. I’m moving forward. So, to come back to this month’s question: I imagined my life as a writer would be one of steady forward motion, just like the productivity gurus promise. Burnout and writer’s block were for lesser mortals. My surprise was learning that I am actually a lesser mortal and am not, in fact, invincible. I have been humbled, but I’m still soldiering on. Writing update Querying Much of my focus since September has been querying my time travel romance/romantic suspense mashup, Vanishing, Inc. Here are my query stats so far (including an early attempt in 2021): My plan is to query agents through mid-January, then a few small presses. If at that point I still have no good prospects, I will start the process of self-publishing. I believe in my story, and I think at least a few other people will like it. I don’t care that much about money; I just want it to be read. Fresno LitHop I made a rare public appearance last month, reading from my short story, “Walk Me Home,” at Fresno LitHop. (I wrote about this story in last month’s IWSG post, along with the terrifying real-life event that inspired it.) Note: my public appearances are rare, not because I’m a mysterious recluse but because I am a nobody. Anyway, here’s me at Mi Cafesito in Fresno, reading from “Walk Me Home”: Yes, I do have a bad case of RBF (Resting Bitch Face) – why do you ask? Special shout out to Marsha Ingrao at Always Write, who drove up from Visalia for my reading. Marsha and I have been blogging friends for years but had never met in person. I wish we’d gotten a picture together. Thanks, Marsha, for supporting me! The memery I wasted a bunch of time on Reddit a couple of weeks ago and harvested tons of memes from the r/meirl subreddit. My loss of time is your gain of laughs. Today’s theme: Me in real life, just like the subreddit says. Here we go: After decades of caregiving, I am now allergic to responsibility. I’ve gone so far off the deep end, sanity is a distant memory. And finally, anyone with the misfortune to be at my local Planet Fitness yesterday can attest to this one: That’s it for me this month. Drop a comment and tell me about your writing life. Or your life in general. It’s bound to be more interesting than mine. May your perseverance always be stronger than your insecurity (or may you find a sentient Ouija Board. Whatever it takes to get the job done.)

My November #IWSG post is up! And there are memes. #WritingCommunity