Fire Star Press: slow and steady

Friday, June 7, 2019

Turtle Writers Club

#Authorconfession: I'm a slow writer. I always have been and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

You may be thinking "But Izzy, you told us in your last post that you're now retired. Doesn't that mean you have more time to write?" Yes, I guess it does. It also means I have more time to do other things like go through the boxes that have been piled in the basement since our move two years ago and keep my grandson. I've worked full-time for most of my adult life and at this point, I'm not willing to turn my hobby into another full-time job.

I would like to say that I'm okay with being a slow writer but I'm not always. Being a slow writer in the hurry, hurry, hurry, publish more, more, more culture created by Amazon is difficult. But, I'm not alone, there are other slow writers out there. There is even a Turtle Writers twitter account created to support and encourage slow writers; the account managers post writing prompts and more. You can also find other slow writers by searching on the #turtlewriters hashtag.

Image courtesy of www.depositphotos.com

Slow writer or not, I'll keep plugging away as long as writing is fun. Once it stops being fun, I'll stop writing. I absolutely don't believe the old saw that a "writer who doesn't write goes crazy." A writer who doesn't write does something else creative: they paint, dance, sing, open an Etsy shop or any number of other creative endeavors.

So, until next month, I'll be over here slowly tapping away.

Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/isabellanorse

Website: http://www.isabellanorse.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaNorseAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorIzzy

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/isabellanorse/

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I'm a slow writer at the best of times. I'm in awe of authors who churn out multiple books a year. I will never be in their ranks. Most of the time I'm okay with that. Right now it's a bit of a struggle.

I began the year with big plans:

✓ Revise and submit Saved by the Belle (It was published by Fire Star Press on Aug 8th.)

✓ Complete and publish the next entry in my Paws and Effect series (It's Meow or Never was published in February.)

__ Complete and submit Dances with Werewolves, the next full-length novel in my Kudzu Korners series

__ Complete Something Whiskered This Way Comes, the 3rd entry in my Paws and Effect series, and submit it to the Kindle Worlds program

__ Use National Novel Writing Month in November to write a rough draft of my first inspirational romance, Finding Faith

As you can see, I only have two of the items on my list checked off. And, I'm struggling a bit with that. You know from some of my earlier posts that my mom passed away earlier this year. For me, grief and writing were not a good mix.

About the time I started getting my writing groove back, we decided to start looking at houses. My husband and I both grew up in the country (some would say the boonies) and we wanted to get back to a rural environment. Almost every evening after work was spent driving endless miles looking at what seemed like hundreds of houses. As exhausting as it was, the process was totally worth it. We closed on our new house at the end of July and moved in the first weekend in August. The past six (eight?) weeks have been filled with a plethora of boxes (packing and unpacking) and next to no writing. As a matter of fact, this post and a post for my personal blog are the only things I've written in the past couple of months. But hey, it's a start!

Our new house, aka The Cabin

I'm the queen of beating myself up over things both big and small and it would be easy to get discouraged about the lack of progress I've made this year. But, in my ongoing effort to stop being so hard on myself, I'm choosing to look at things from a different perspective. I have six published stories - six. That's not too shabby for someone who, a decade ago, wouldn't even have dreamed of being a published author. Take that, negativity!

Now that we have our house in a livable state, it's time to dust off my laptop, find a quiet corner, and get back to work on Dances with Werewolves. I'm looking forward to that magical feeling that occurs when the words start flowing. After all, the only way to fail is to give up. Right?