Kim Elliott's Blog, page 6

IWSG Blog Post - When the Going Gets Tough

The awesome co-hosts for the June 1 posting of the IWSG are SE White, Cathrina Constantine, Natalie Aguire, Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray!

June 1 question - When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep writing to the end? If you have not started, why do you think that is and what could help you find your groove and start?

The going has been tough for me lately. As I write this, I just returned from a last minute trip to the U.S. for my Grandpa's funeral. I didn't write the week before the trip because I was busy with travel prep, and I'm not writing this week either. I was gone only four days, but there are so many tasks to catch up on. I'm also feeling de-motivated by grief and missing my family. I haven't seen them often since moving to Canada, and I don't know when the next time will be.

I plan to give myself the week off from writing. My kids need attention from Mommy. As I write this blog post, my toddler is hovering at my elbow and whining. I just hope I'll be able to find my groove again. People at the funeral kept telling me how proud Grandpa was of my writing. He had a strong work ethic, and I think his example is part of the reason I'm so disciplined. He was my last remaining grandparent and the one I was closest to. Maybe I'll place some memento of his on my writing desk to motivate me when I'm feeling low. I did come up with a few exciting ideas for my story while I was sitting in airports, so I think it will be a good sequel if I ever sit down and finish it! 

IWSG Blog Post - May the Fourth

The first Wednesday of every month is officially  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!

The awesome co-hosts for the May 4 posting of the IWSG are Kim Elliott, Melissa Maygrove, Chemist Ken, Lee Lowery, and Nancy Gideon!

May 4 question - It's the best of times; it's the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)?
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The best times are when I receive positive feedback. After a contest win or glowing comment from a reader, I could take on the world. My highest high came from the first flash fiction contest I won. Competition was fierce thanks to the prize pack that included $500 cash and a $100 Tim Hortons gift card. It seemed impossible to win, but I entered anyway. An irresistible idea had popped into my mind when I saw the writing prompt.
Like a barista blends dairy and coffee, I blended a meet-cute with Tim Hortons new cold brew beverages. I hit the 500-word limit precisely, making each choice count. After submitting, I daydreamed about the piles of apple fritters the gift card could buy, then I went back to loading laundry into the washer.
The entry period was long enough I forgot about the contest. All my attention was on editing my first novel. When I received the congratulatory email, I jumped and squealed and ran circles around the kitchen island (silently, because my kids were napping). I CAN write! They like me; they really like me! Apple Fritters! Thankfully, no one was there to see it.

Aaand the lows… 

I feel low when I read something amazing that I could never have written: How did this author make me cry over the death of a character I hated when first introduced? I'll never be that good...I'm a fraud!
I get discouraged when circumstances conspire to keep me from writing: One chapter took a whole month...I'll never finish these edits!
My lowest low comes when I feel trapped. When I feel I have no influence over my life or career and I’ll die a bitter old woman filled with regret for all the dreams I never accomplished.
So emo.
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I combat the lowness by escaping to write in my head for a bit. Even on the busiest days, I can do that for a few minutes. The episode of DS9 I watched last week sparked an idea. What if I combine the Orion Syndicate, a cool bad guy inspired by a movie poster I saw at the theater, and a main character with a personality unique enough to be memorable but generic enough to be relatable… If I like the scene I conjure, I jot down an outline. It might make a good book someday.

Let me close with one final thing.

A few moments ago in a blog post right exactly here...
It's May the Fourth!!!​ As a proud nerd, I can’t ignore a date like this. In honor of this auspicious day, I've prepared the following memes for your enjoyment.
(I'm using the gallery feature for the first time, so I hope they show up okay!)

​May the Fourth be with you, always. *All Star Wars images from Pinterest

IWSG Blog Post - Audio Books and Discouragement

It’s time for another group posting of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  The purpose of the IWSG is 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! 
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!

April 6 question - Have any of your books been made into audio books? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audio book?

Nope. 
This month is a short answer for me. I know nothing about audio books or how to put my work in that format. It's one of the many "nice to have" features I'll get around to someday. Right now, my focus is writing. I plan to finish the series I'm working on, market it, then complete my other WIPs.

Lately, the plan has stalled, and I’m frustrated. I'm editing book two of my Heroes and Villains trilogy. Or, I should say TRYING to edit. I thought I'd be further along by now. Good grief, I wrote the entire first draft in one month during NaNoWriMo, but the editing is snail-like. Everything conspires to bog me down. My kids get sick. I get sick. My husband has evening meetings multiple nights a week. Family is visiting. My kids get sick again. 

I'm only on chapter ten out of nineteen. Barely halfway.

I tell myself I'll get back on track next week. Just like I told myself last week. Sorry this post is a downer! I'll end on a high note.

​My favorite show is back on TV! The Masked Singer brings a smile to my face every week. I know it's a silly concept, and sometimes the "celebrities" are people I've never heard of, but when somebody truly cool is unmasked, like Cyclops or McTerrier... *chef's kiss*

See you next time! I'm co-hosting the blog hop on May the Fourth!

Sale!!!

Starting Monday, April 4, Falling for the Villain will be on sale for 99 cents on Amazon. If you've been waiting to purchase the ebook, now is the time. The sale will only last a week, so don't delay! 

IWSG Blog Post - Conflicted

It’s time for another group posting of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  The purpose of the IWSG is 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! 
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!

March 2 question - Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

I have a WIP this question applies to. It's a short story that’s mainly fiction but with autobiographical elements. The story explores a difficult experience from my teen years. I suspect anyone who was ever a teenage girl has a similar story. Without getting into specifics, something happened to show me unequivocally what everyone in my social circle thought of me. I was pathetic to them. That lesson stayed with me even when I had the chance to reinvent myself in later years. I couldn’t seem to move past the bedrock impression that I was somehow less than everyone around me. I became pathetic to myself.

​I've never written anything remotely true, so it's a bit scary. What if people realize which characters were inspired by them? What if someone thinks a character was inspired by them when it really wasn't? Will people think I’m whining about something I should’ve gotten over years ago? And most important: Is it worth exposing this bad (and humiliating) memory to the world?

The answer is: no, it's probably not worth it. 
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But I'm going to keep writing it. I'm not conflicted about writing the story. I'm conflicted about letting people see it. So, I'll write, edit, and see how it looks. If I can mask the truth enough that no one will recognize it, I'll put my story out there. If it's good enough, I might even submit to a competition or two. I think it contains some themes others might relate to.

What about you? Have you ever been conflicted about writing something? Have you ever written anything true(ish) and worried it would offend people?

Newsworthy

I'm famous!
Well, not quite...but I was in the newspaper this week. The Langley Advance Times had a story about me on the first page of the Arts and Entertainment section. Here it is for those who aren't lucky enough to live in Langley: You can read the full article here. 

Announcement Time
And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for. It's time to announce the title of book two in the Heroes and Villains series. The sequel will be called:

Heart of a Hero
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That doesn't give much away, does it? When we left Aubree, she'd just received an intriguing offer. If you're anxiously waiting to find out whether she accepts, you'll get your answer when the synopsis is released. Until then, have a super day!
(That pun is incredibly versatile and will be used in many more blog posts!)

IWSG Blog Post - Missing Mentors

It’s time for another group posting of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  The purpose of the IWSG is 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! 
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!
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February 2 question - Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn't around anymore? Anyone you miss?
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I have a feeling this topic will be emotional for many of my fellow bloggers. I look forward to reading everyone's heartfelt posts!

For me, the person who comes to mind is my favorite college professor, Dr. D. He taught Literary Analysis, the weed-out course for English majors. Freshman year, I took the class with the other professor who taught it...and I did not pass. Failing made me question everything. How could someone who got straight A's in high school fail at a freshman level college class? Was I cut out to be an English major? Without a passing grade, I couldn't take higher level literature courses.

With fear and trembling, I registered for the course again, this time with Dr. D. He too had a reputation as a tough grader, so I fully intended to drop the class and change my major if I still couldn't cut it. 

To my surprise, things made sense this time. Dr. D's teaching style connected with me, and I finally understood how to develop and support a thesis. When I received my first graded paper, the drop/add deadline was near. Nerves on edge, I found a quiet spot to open the envelope. There, at the top of the page, was a big, beautiful B. At that moment, I knew I could do it. Although his classes required rigorous work, I enrolled in as many as possible. I even took classes from the professor who'd failed me. Now that I had a solid foundation, I excelled under her teaching too.

A year after graduating, I went back to campus for a visit. Dr. D made time to chat with me over coffee. I was self conscious to admit I worked at Yellow Pages, publishing phone books. Not quite the glamorous career of an editor at one of the big five publishing houses. However, he was excited for me, saying how great it was that I’d found a job in my chosen field, regardless of what I was publishing. From then on, I held my head high when telling people what I did for a living.

That was the last time I talked to him in person, but he was always present for me and all his students over social media, ready to cheer each success. The last thing he said to me was "Nice, Kim!" when I won a flash fiction contest.

He passed away suddenly a few months ago. 

Most of the students who offered tributes to his memory spoke of how frustrated they were when they received their first F on a paper. Gradually, they came to see he only tore them down to build them back up. For me, it began differently, but like the other students, I'll always remember him as the person who challenged me and made me a better and bolder thinker. I am so thankful for the privilege of knowing him and for the positive impact he had on my life and my writing.

Exciting News!

A short story I wrote is being published in the seventh annual Insecure Writer's Support Group Anthology. This year's title is First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts. My story is called "Clyde and Coalesce". The book should be out in the summer.

You can view the announcement here.

IWSG Blog Post - Regrets

It’s time for another group posting of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  The purpose of the IWSG is 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! 
The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writers. This group is all about connecting!
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January 5 question - What's the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?

​I know my answer to this right away! My biggest regret is not starting sooner. If I'd gotten the rookie mistakes out of the way as a teen or twenty-something, I'd be much further along by now. So why didn't I write earlier? I could say I needed to gain life experience. I could say I needed to come up with a good enough story to tell. I could list a thousand reasons, but they'd be untrue. I didn't start writing because I didn't realize the daydreams and bits of stories fluttering around my head were worth writing down. I thought authors sat themselves at a computer, poised their fingers on the keys with resolve, and wove a tapestry of words from start to finish...something I wasn't capable of.

After watching a movie or reading a book, I'd lie awake at night and imagine myself as the main character, making different choices and taking the plot a different direction until the story was unrecognizable. Everyone does that, right? It's how we escape. It's where fanfiction comes from. One night, the scene taking place in my head wouldn't let me sleep. I could hear the characters talking. I could see the expressions on their faces. It took on such a life of its own that I reached for my tablet on the nightstand. After putting down those few hundred words, I laid my head on my pillow and slept like a log. I thought that was the end of it, but leaving things unfinished isn't my style. The story had its hooks in me. I wrote a little at a time, putting down whatever scene came to me. Within a few months, I had a finished novel. It was a mess and completely unreadable, but it was finished. 

No one has ever seen that first book. I won't even tell you what it was about (at least, not in this post), but it turned me into a writer. These days, my stories are outlined ahead of time. That first attempt taught me I'm a planner, not a pantser. Who knows, maybe someday I'll go back, do some editing, and see if I can tame it into something publishable. Even if nothing ever comes of the book, it holds a special place in my heart. You never forget your first!

Wattpad: Waste or Worth It?

One of the leading free sites to find web novels is Wattpad.com. There are books in every genre, written by authors of all ages from around the world. Most books are free, but there are some that cost money to read. The quality of the writing varies greatly, and many books are left unfinished on the site.

Some people swear by the power of Wattpad to attract new readers, especially teenage readers. There are also those who argue that anyone who posts their content on the internet for free is throwing away their hard work.

Wattpad markets itself as an opportunity for writers to connect directly with readers, get useful feedback, and perhaps even make money from their writing. Programs like Wattpad Paid Stories, Wattpad Studios, and Wattpad Books provide the chance for select writers to see their work earn income, make it into print, and even make it onscreen. 

So, what are the pros and cons? As someone who's been using the site for over a year, I'll take a look at the things I think work and the things that don't.

Pro - Get Feedback
Wattpad allows you to try out a story idea and get instant, line-by-line feedback from readers. When you ask friends to read your story, they might offer a few suggestions, but overall they're going to be polite with their feedback. They don't want to hurt your feelings and won't be as brutally honest as you need. On Wattpad, nobody knows you. Readers may not be kind, but they will be honest. If there's something in your story that doesn't work, they'll let you know. They'll also tell you when something has a powerful impact. As a writer, I try to have some humor in every story. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a joke lands the way I want. With Wattpad, your readers can tell you with a simple emoji whether your writing has the intended effect. 

Con - Get Lost in the Crowd
Just like it's difficult to get people to buy your book on Amazon, it's hard to get people to read your book on Wattpad. Even though it's free, you still have to market yourself. Chatting with other users and leaving insightful comments on other writers' stories are some ways to be found, but it's an uphill battle. If you're going to put in that much work, why not put in the work on a site where you can SELL your book? 

Pro - Gain a Following
Even though it takes some effort, getting readers on Wattpad is a good way to build a following. Dedicated readers who'll devour anything you produce are the foundation for a career. If you write good quality content, market it, and post updates to your stories regularly, you'll start building a fan base that will (hopefully) follow you for the rest of your writing journey. Even successful authors have started creating Wattpad accounts to reach readers they might not have attracted otherwise. Margaret Atwood is a good example of this. She has 113k followers!

Con - Low Odds
Wattpad talks a big game about its opportunities to get published and attract attention from TV and movie studios. However, the number of writers who have that kind of success from the platform is extremely low. You may as well buy a lottery ticket. Even if your writing is stellar and you manage to gain lots of readers, it's still a long shot.

Pro - Contests
This is where I get excited when I talk about Wattpad. The site runs periodic contests put on by big name sponsors like Tim Horton's, Maybelline, and Shaw. Usually, the contests require users to submit a flash fiction piece (about 500 words) on an assigned topic. Often, these serve to promote a new product the company is launching. For example, the #timscoldbrewstories contest told participants to write a story featuring Tim Horton's new cold brew coffee. Of the entries, ten were selected as winners and two were chosen as Grand Prize winners to receive $500, a Freewrite tablet, and a $100 Tim Horton's gift card. I entered that contest on a whim because it sounded like a fun writing prompt. I never expected to win the Grand Prize, but that's exactly what happened. In addition to the great prizes, winning the contest gave me a huge confidence boost. Since then, I enter every contest I can. Any prize money I win allows me to pay for book cover design and marketing for my novels. The contests are seriously my FAVORITE thing about Wattpad. My kids also love the contests. We've been eating a lot of apple fritters with the gift card! 

Verdict
What's my final verdict? Wattpad is worth it...as long as you use it wisely. I personally don't post books out there that I feel are good enough for me to publish on Amazon. I mainly use the site for fan fiction, short stories, and contest entries. However, I've seen others use the site as a place to write first drafts and get feedback. Those users then edit based on the feedback and publish their final version on Amazon. It's an interesting idea, but I don't know if their readers on Wattpad follow them to Amazon to buy the final version after reading the draft for free. Part of me doubts it. And anyway, my first drafts are so rough I wouldn't want ANYONE to see them. 

For now, I'll keep posting stories to Wattpad whenever I can. I'll always be grateful to the platform because it's where I wrote my very first stories that I let anyone read. It's where I practice, it's where I gain confidence, and it's where I grow as a writer. If you're not on there yet, go make an account!