First Feature of the Day: Insecure Writer's Support Group.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
My greatest fear is that one day the stories will stop. I will stare at my computer screen for hours and nothing will happen. That I will go for long drives and not hear a story, that I will go to bed and not dream and that when I visit interesting places begging for their story to be told, I will not be able to do it.
Even if I never become a best-selling author, I want to be a storyteller and write what I hear, see and feel. Because that is who I am.
Yeah, I have tons many insecurities about writing. I fear bad reviews, stories that don’t touch my readers and writing apathetic characters. But even then, I will have the story inside that I will tell (even if badly)
Second Feature of the Day! Christine Ashworth's Favorite Five!
This week, Christine Ashworth, Author extraordinaire shares her Five Favorite Things - You are welcome to share you five favorites in the comments too! Let’s compare.
Favorite Beverage: Water. Coffee. Or a glass of wine. Depending on the hour of the day.
Favorite Room in Your House: My office, which is also the laundry room. Messy, cramped, and occasionally noisy, but the place I can go to and write to my heart’s content.
Favorite Place in Town where you live: Coffee Bean. There’s a small corner – room enough for a chair and a table and that’s it – that’s called the Time Out Corner. I like writing there when I can break away from home.
Favorite Outfit: Jeans and a t-shirt.
Favorite Book (Your Book or WIP of course): My latest favorite is the one that’s just come out – BLOOD DREAMS, A Caine Brothers Short Story.
Blood Dreams
It’s December, and Los Angeles is in the grip of a serial killer – or so P.I. Gregor Caine would like to believe. But the moon grows fat as it builds toward the Winter Solstice and a rare eclipse. An old woman searching for a friend gone missing believes danger is coming, and the Blood Dreams that keep interrupting Gregor’s sleep portend a swarm of demonic activity.
After summer’s setback, Kendall Sorbis is finally getting started on his Revenge Life List. First up, open a portal to the Chaos Plane. Second, invite the Caines to come and play…
Christine Ashworth
Christine Ashworth is a native of Southern California. The daughter of a writer and a psych major, she fell asleep to the sound of her father’s Royal manual typewriter for years. In a very real way, being a writer is in her blood¾her father, Chet Cunningham, sold his first novel before he turned forty and has over 300 novels to his credit. Christine’s brother, Scott Cunningham, sold his first book before he turned twenty-five.
At the tender age of seventeen, Christine fell in love with a man she met while dancing with the California Ballet Company. She married the brilliant actor/dancer/painter/music man, and they now have two tall and exotic sons who are as intelligent as their parents, thus ensuring lively dinner conversation.
Christine’s two dogs rule the outside, defending her vegetable garden from the squirrels, while a polydactyl rescue cat holds court inside the house. Everything else is in a state of flux.
Demon Soul is Book 1 of the Caine Brothers Series and is now available in trade paperback format, as well as in Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats. Book 2, Demon Hunt, will be available summer 2012 from www.CrescentMoonPress.com and in all the above formats.
Christine says: My website, Wicked…With a Side of Saucy at Christine-Ashworth.com is where I talk about wine, and books, and other things that catch my attention. I’d love to see you there. Cheers, and thanks for reading!
The Romance Reviews
Hi Christine! The Coffee Bean sounds great. A comfy chair and a cup of coffee sure make it to my favorites list.
Thanks, Brinda! I’m digging into your Whisper of Memory now, and LOVING it! Hugs hon!
Just stopping by from the IWSG
Just to say (((((hugs))))) you are definitely not alone with that fear! I have lists and lists and lists of things to do if I ever find myself suffering from writers block. So far (touch wood) it hasn’t happened, but if it does, I’ll do my utmost to slap it back into place
Xx
Thank you so much Vikki, only writers understand this fear. I have a book that I scribble ideas in too.
Hi Hilde. I love your name btw. And, I totally feel you on that fear. It took me a long time to actually start writing and now that I have, I can’t image not doing it. I can’t paint, I can’t sing, and I can’t knit. This is how I create and if I can’t do it or the words stop coming, I don’t know what I would do. But, I feel so blessed that every day I get to wake up and tell stories. All we can do is just keep doing what we are doing and have faith that the words will always come.
Hey Sydney, we’re on the same wavelength, Lord! I can’t sing a lick and don’t have the patience for knitting! LOL Thank you for the kind words.
Welcome to the #IWSG, great first post. Hopefully you will have stories for years to come!
I hope so too Donna, thanks for the welcome!
Hi Hilde, I saw your Twitter hashtag for IWSG and couldn’t agree more with your post. It’s a valid fear that, one day, you’ll run out of ideas but I’m of the belief that it’s that exact fear that can keep you going.
I like to think that things like writer’s block help us to, sometimes, become more aware of things around us as we look for that next idea, plot, character, etc. It can really get the juices flowing
Best of luck in your writing.
Thank you Mark, wow! I never thought of that.
I’m stopping by from ISWG. I have so many stories I’d like to tell, it’s hard to think that the ideas will stop, but it could happen. One day I will have had time to write all the stories now bouncing around my head and then what. I’m hoping new ones join them though.
I do too, isn’t it awesome Cherie!
Hildie, thanks for having me – and what a great support group! I think all writers are insecure at heart, don’t you? Like all painters, singers, dancers – heck, I can’t even flip an omelet in the pan unless I’m willing to take a breath and GO FOR IT.
If it helps at all, I totally believe in you and the stories you tell! Hugs hon!
Hi Christine, happy to have you on board! I picture an omelet on my floor or wall if I try that!
You never have to worry about running out of stories. I know how imaginative you are. Hi, Christine!! I’m so excited about Blood Dreams!!
Hey, Ciara. Thanks for the love!
I am also afraid that I will one day run out of ideas… but then as I am working on a story, suddenly another idea will come to me. Ideas are everywhere! I don’t think they will disappear at some point. It is actually the putting the words down on paper that is the hard part.
Very True Allison, we have to keep on! Always.
Hildie, I went so long between working on my second and third books, I thought the ideas were gone!
They came back though.
Thanks for joining the IWSG!
Hi Alex, yeah, I think creativity has its ups and downs, we just have to stay on the ride huh?
When I’m out of the writing loop for a while – or when I’ve been editing – I do find the ideas are hard to from again and my writing is clunky. But a bit of practice and oiling those squeaky joints and it all flows again.
Like the undead, they always come back.
Yes Charmaine, we have to try to write daily to keep those juices flowing right?
Welcome to the IWSG, Hildie!
I think just about every writer feels a form of that fear at some point. But the important thing is not to let that fear self-actualize. Just keep your chin tucked, and keep plowing forward.
J.W.
I will J.W. Thank you!