Books for Authors on the Craft of Writing and #WritingCommunity #IWSG

 Before I dive into this IWSG post, I'm going to leave a quick remark about my previous post. 
On the subject of teens trick-or-treating. Not every teenager has good parents or a good home or food on the table. There is exactly ONE night a year where they can go door to door to ask for food without being frowned upon. 

Well, that's not true, because some people do frown upon it. Look, everyone is going to feel how they're going to feel. But what if people who hand out candy to children opted to hand out raisins or those McDonald's coupons for a free small fry to the teens? 🍟 Something like that. Because maybe some of those young adults aren't trying to pull a goof or take advantage, maybe they've just found a one-night loophole to get some free food. businessinsider.com There is historical evidence of poor children using that night to get free food. 🎃 Just something to consider.

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Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox!

August 4 question - What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?

You gonna make Daddy pick between two of his children? 😮

Okay, beyond tooting my own horn 🎺, here's a list of writing craft books I'm into: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7120981-j-dorner?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=book-on-writing

Of those, and ones that aren't my own, my favorite is "Around the Writer's Block: Using Brain Science to Solve Writer's Resistance" by Rosanne Bane.
If you haven't been writing for bit, or have been struggling, this book is very helpful.

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Only a couple more days until the next WEP! writeeditpublishnow

Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award

Thanks to Jamie for this award nomination. She's got strong opinions, wisdom, and is a fun writer. She's also married to my cousin.

uniquelymaladjustedbutfun.blogspot.com

Rules for the Award

1. Thank the person who has nominated you and provide a link back to their blog.
2. Answer their questions.
3. Nominate up to 9 other bloggers and ask them 5 new questions.
4. Notify the nominees through their blog by visiting and commenting on their blog.
5. List the rules and display the “Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award” logo.

Jamie's five questions and my answers:

1. If an employee under extreme stress says (verbally or written) something that is construed as insensitive to a group of people (age, gender, religion, orientation, etc), should that employee be terminated/ not have their contract renewed, or should they be given one more chance if they agree to some sort of approved sensitivity training reeducation program? 
• There are certainly some situations where it's unforgivable. But, on the whole, educating someone like that is the best chance to create change. If they're just fired, they might get angrier and become more prejudiced. A little compassion and learning could potentially create another ally instead, which is certainly more valuable. 
2. At what age is it no longer appropriate to Trick-or-Treat for yourself? (Meaning exceptions are in place if accompanying a younger child, such as taking a younger sibling ToT so parents can stay at the house and give out candy.) 
• After graduation from high school, maybe college. Once you can legit afford to go buy your own bags of candy with your own money, it's time to stop taking and start giving.
3. Would you support or oppose a mandate that 75% of the human population be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2 including variants and mutations)? Would your answer change if this mandate were global, your country only, or your local area only? Is there a number or percent of deaths that would influence your support or opposition of such as mandate?
• Support. I don't know if there is enough vaccine for it to be global, but we need it to be, or else this is just going to keep mutating.
  My country needs to educate people, needs to reach out to the community leaders who are holding people back.
  My local area needs about half of our state legislature to accept the reality of the virus and fight for the health of the people of our commonwealth. (So far, of the 1,230,000 cases here, 27,838 have died.)
  I feel like I know more people who were infected, and some who died. My personal experience of pain and loss is above the curve (more than 1 of every 100 people I know), so I'm biased. 
  I'm also worried for the vaccinated people who are potentially back in danger due to the eligible-but-unvaccinated-by-choice people and the de-masking suggestion that came too soon. 
  
4. Should celebrities be given exceptions to laws, rules, and terms of service? If so, how famous does one have to be to get that exception?
   
• No. And fines shouldn't be flat fees. Yes, it would be more difficult to figure out how much money an ultra-rich person is actually worth and fine accordingly by percent. But a $200 fine is half a paycheck to some people and an absolute joke to others. One person could lose their home and the other spends more on nail care every week. That isn't a crime deterrent. Plus, many of those famous people become leaders, so they set behavioral examples. If anything, they need to be held to a higher level of accountability. 
5. What is your favorite recipe to use with leftover cooked turkey? Or, what is your favorite summer pasta salad recipe? 
   
• I like leftover turkey with eggs. (Scrambled, poached, over-easy 🍳🥚 whatever.)
  https://www.spendwithpennies.com/turkey-cranberry-pasta-salad/ There. That covers both question options.
  

My five questions:

1. 😷💉 How seriously are you taking the pandemic? On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means you have done nothing and don't even really believe in it, 10 means you've masked, vaccinated, and reached out to your political leaders and such to ask them to help you and your people.
2. What are your thoughts, opinions, and feelings in regard to the Kindle Vella? https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella
3. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-july-2021 In the United States, voting rights are changing. Do you feel that it should be more difficult to vote in elections and that there shouldn't be as many eligible Americans permitted to vote? Or do you feel that it should be easier to vote in elections and every person of sound mind living in the United States and territories should be permitted to vote and have their vote count equally? 
   
4. "Jeopardy!' was hosted by Alex Trebek, who has passed away. Who do you hope the new host will be, or do you think they should just continue with celebrity guests?
5. If you had 200 billion dollars, what are some things you might do with your money, and would one of them be sending yourself into space? 🚀

Nominations:

• Janet  -- https://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/
• Nilanjana Bose -- https://nilabose.blogspot.com/
• Sarah Zama -- https://theoldshelter.com/
• Dena -- https://denapawling.blogspot.com/

#IWSG Quit Writing Over My Dead Body

Kind of quiet around this blog and social media...
Sorry.
My spouse is a chef. A guy wanted to "audition" (or whatever) for a job and wanted a reference from my Snookums. The guy made food at his place and brought it to us. (We're now guessing his place wasn't very clean.) Soon after eating the blah food, Snookums and I were sharing a 🚽🤮 horrible experience. Eventually, we landed in the hospital because it was that bad.

And that is what the majority of June looked like.

I couldn't even sit upright most days. And let me tell you, I'm a very in-shape guy. And I've eaten foods that would freak most of you out. I can only imagine the amount of bacteria that must have been in/ on this food for it to defeat my immune system so spectacularly.
I am especially deeply sorry for falling short on my co-host duties last month. 😞

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: Pat Garcia, Victoria Marie Lees, Chemist Ken, and Louise – Fundy Blue!

July 7 question - What would make you quit writing?

Answer:

Death. I never want to quit. 

I did put actual physical writing on hold last month. But I thought about my characters. 

So death is what would make me quit. 

A worldwide disaster could take down the publishing industry. (Anyone else watch "The Tomorrow War"? https://amzn.to/3dQj00A) That could stop me from publishing, but not from writing. I just wouldn't be able to share my work. (Though if I keep revising, I'm not sharing my work either... so I guess the aliens are winning... 👾😉😅)

#IWSG Let the Draft Sit

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, Lee Lowery, and Rachna Chhabria, and myself!

June 2 question - For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?

Fractions of Existence sat in the proverbial drawer for several months. It came out for editing multiple times. I rewrote the opening dozens of times. (Ultimately scraping what I consider to be a paragraph that would tie the whole series together.) Eventually, I self-published because I had an Urban Fantasy that wasn't like the other Urban Fantasy books. (There's no detective, for example.) It's also sort of a Paranormal Romance, though it isn't about shifters and the romance isn't actually the primary focus of the book and certainly not of the series. It fell into the New Adult category because a main character is in college -- but, unlike other New Adult books, it isn't full of smut or focused on lusty scenes. (And no matter what Amazon says, it isn't a fairy tale.) I hired a professional editor, a university English professor, and two friends to help me get the book as perfect as possible.

The sequel, Proof of Existence, I started writing in 2017. I've been rewriting since 2018. I used a different writing method to start the book, and the result was a stall in my process and holes I couldn't figure out how to fix. I think I've finally figured out what's been bugging me so much. So I'm going to try again. 🤞 My summer plan is to work on that.

Lumber Of The Kuweakunks originally only sat for a week. I entered it into a contest, but it didn't exactly fit the type of story they wanted. A few months later, I added a little to it and published soon after. 

Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters went straight to the editing service I used for FoE, but a different person got the project. She found exactly one typo and thus gave me a discount on the service. Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier sat for a week and then had two beta readers before being published. Both of those books were on my previous blog, broken down for the A to Z Challenge. Meaning I had a deadline.  

I guess nonfiction/ reference and short stories I write and edit much faster and with far more confidence. But the big fiction stories that are part of a series, those I let sit longer because I'm trying to be more of a perfectionist. (Not that people actually agree on the English language enough for there to ever be perfection in publication.) 

TL;DR = A week to several years.

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Also going on in my world right now:

Does anyone know how to actually fix the #Blogger
problem that doesn't allow images to be uploaded to blogs while using Chrome?
(jpeg, png, I tried a dozen images- including ones that worked before - cleared history and cache- nothing)@ChromiumDev @Google pic.twitter.com/ELGgfmJ1tw

— J Lenni Dorner (@JLenniDorner) May 18, 2021

I can't get pictures to upload to Blogger while using Chrome. I found a very annoying and time consuming work-around, but I'd much prefer a fix. A solution that doesn't include deleting 546 images on this blog, 711 images on the Operation Awesome blog, and 217 images from the A to Z Challenge blog. (I deleted a handful, just to see if that would free up space. No, it changed nothing.) My cache and history are clear. Anyone? Bueller, Bueller?


On Facebook, a friend shared a cute comic that reminded her of a scene in my Fractions of Existence book. 💗 If we're Facebook friends, you can check it out. 🌼 https://www.facebook.com/j.lennidorner/posts/3883435955106104

WEP has the "Great Wave" flash fiction coming up this month, so there's that to look forward to. https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/

Over at Operation Awesome

The June PassOrPages query contest annoucement is posted! Adult Fantasy. It'd be great if you'd like / share to spread the word:

June Pass or Pages Genre Reveal! https://t.co/SMCm2kbeQE#Fantasy is a genre of #specfic, often set in a fictional universe, sometimes inspired by myths and folklore. The query should feature features magical or supernatural elements.#query Contest!#writingcommunity #amwriting pic.twitter.com/u8rzNEXkc8

— Operation Awesome (@OpAwesome6) May 26, 2021

Finally there are GIVEAWAYS!
Wednesday, June 2 (today) is the last day to enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of a new book! https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2021/05/spotlight-on-new-book-debut-author_19.html (USA only.)

And https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2021/06/spotlight-on-new-book-debut-author-anya.html a giveaway for a fantasy book just started. 🏳‍🌈  

Thank you for visiting my blog today. 😊 I appreciate your time.

#NewBook A Quick Spell by @pjlauthor Fantasy Anthology

Blurb

Magic.

Myths.

Fantasy.

We are bewitched by what we can't see.

Conjure delight with a fantastical collection of tales. Each story is told in exactly 200 words and designed to delight your imagination no matter how busy your day is.

Will you believe? 

What made you decide to write short fiction?

A: It started with Twitter. Jocelyn Rish created a hashtag called #15tt (15 Minute Tweet Tales.) You were to use 140 characters to tell a story. You had 15 minutes to write it. I had been doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge every April and I wanted a theme, but 140 characters seemed too short for it, so I used Jocelyn’s prompts to write 100 word flash fiction for the challenge. When it was over, I kept doing them because they were great writing exercises. It wasn’t until later, when I saw a collection of 100 word flash fiction at MIParaCon that I got the idea to expand those stories to 200 words and put them into a collection. By then I had a ton of them so it was easy to pick out 45 and expand them.

About the Author 

Patricia Josephine is a writer of Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi Romance books. She actually never set out to become a writer, and in fact, she was more interested in art and band in high school and college. Her dreams were of becoming an artist like Picasso. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head for fun. That was the start of her writing journey, and she hasn't regretted a moment. When she's not writing, she's watching Doctor Who or reading about serial killers. She's an avid knitter. One can never have too much yarn. She writes Young Adult Paranormal, Science Fiction, and Fantasy under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow. 

Patricia Josephine aka Patricia Lynne
Author of paranormal, fantasy, and sci-fi novels you can escape into.
◾ Website: patriciajosephine.com
◾Twitter: @pjlauthor
◾Facebook: @pjlauthor
◾Instagram: @pjlauthor
◾Patreon: @pjlauthor

#fantasy #amreading #fantasybook #shortstories #flashfiction #magic #myths #angels #vampires #mythicalcreatures #amreadingfantasy #ilovefantasy

#shortstoriesofinstagram #shortstoriescollection #shortstoriesbywomen #shortstoriesoninstagram #booknerd #ilovereading #bookseries #readersofinstagram #readersofig #amreadingnow #newbook #newrelease #Bookishpost #patricialynne #patriciajopsehine #kindleunlimited

Short on time, but still craving a good story? Grab A Quick Spell and delight your imagination in as little as five minutes.

#IWSG Readers Responses Can Be Funny

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!

MAY 5 question -

Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn't expect? If so, did it surprise you?

It's gone now. But, once upon a time on Goodreads, someone reviewed "Preparing to Write Settings That Feel Like Characters" and said it did not educate them on how to write a setting or outline a book. 

😳😒😏

Well... that's true. 

It also doesn't teach you how to clean a fish, change the oil in your car, or do advanced calculus. 

😆

I mean... was I surprised that someone didn't actually read the title of the book? Well, I guess I didn't expect it. But some people just want to complain. 

Anyway, the review vanished. Maybe someone at Goodreads took it down? Maybe the reviewer realized the book wasn't called "how to write settings and outline books" so they took it down themselves? I don't know. 

I didn't take the review personally. I mean, if you can't even get through reading the title, how useful could anything I wrote actually be to you? 

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The A to Z Challenge is done for 2021. The survey is still open for a few days -- 112 people answered so far. 

I'm sending caring thoughts to co-host John Holton because storms and tornados are ripping through his hometown right now. Hope you're staying safe, John! 

#atozchallenge Reflection 2021, Scavenger Hunt results, and Bout of Books

Another challenge down. I had visits from 28 countries in April.
(United States, Singapore, Indonesia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Hungary, United Kingdom, India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Bahrain, Nigeria, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Myanmar, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan.)

I enjoyed the challenge. (I didn't enjoy the days this month where I didn't have power or wifi, thanks to the new neighbors who 🔥🚒🚓👮👩🏽‍🚒👨🏽‍🚒 shook up the lives of everyone in the area. It's fine, we made do.) 

I absolutely plan to host again next year. 

Considering that two people tried to sign up Instagram as a blog, yes, I think we need to add Instagram as a social media follow option (like we offer for Twitter and Facebook) on the Master List. 

I feel the option of an email verification on the Master List so people would have the option of fixing their own mistakes or even removing their blogs if they drop out before A. Having the sign-up open closer to April 1 this year meant not as many people dropped out before the first day. (See image below. This year, only 6% of people never posted for the challenge despite signing up.) Also, when the Theme Reveal and Master List were open at the same time, a lot of people didn't understand they had to sign up for both to be on both lists. I saw a reduction in complaints this year by not opening the Master List sign-up until the Theme Reveal closed.

"Are you interested in writing a guest post for the A to Z blog in the next few months (June thru February)? If so, please answer with a way to contact you (such as email or Twitter), the month you are interested in (if applicable), and your alphabet-themed post idea."
If you haven't taken the survey yet, please READ that whole thing. Two people said yes, but left no contact information, month, or idea. Six people left contact info, but no month or idea. 🤷

Speaking of the survey, currently 39 people remember being visited by me. 😁
Actually, if you read onward, you'll see that I visited every blog on the Master List this year.

💗😍 Right now, I'm the most visited co-host! Aww, thanks!

😲 Unexpected! My blog views actually dropped during the challenge. That is the first time I've experienced this. This was my tenth year doing the challenge. My theme reveal was popular. But my February and March IWSG posts both had more views than even my most popular A to Z. 🤯

Which Double Down on the #AtoZChallenge 2021 with these Bonus Challenges did I do?

• Ask the audience in March to give you prompts/ ideas for April - interaction challenge
• More comments on your blog - marketing challenge
• Check how many comments you've previously gotten during the A to Z Challenge
• I received 237 comments this year! 191 last year. 
• Take a gamble on lesser-known authors - marketing philanthropy challenge
• Mention one debut author for each letter day  -- I did this on my posts at Operation Awesome in April.
• Mix a second blog hop in during the A to Z Challenge - time management challenge
• WEP https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/p/challenges-2021.html 

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The A to Z Challenge 2021 Scavenger Hunt! Here's how I did:

No "Eye of the Tiger," or tiger fish, tiger biscuits, tiger fabric, or all these memory posts on the horrors of 2020 but no one mentioned "Tiger King"? 

I saw one T post with Tigger. Did anyone find a Tiger post?

Sometimes the posts I found mention the word, and sometimes it is just visible in a picture that day. And I used a Nutella post for nuts because none of the food bloggers used nuts on N day! (Am I alone in liking Nut Tossies?)

• A is for — Apple 🍎
https://inkonapage.com/2021/04/01/a-to-z-challenge-04-01-21-apple-art-from-japan/
• B is for — Bear 🧸
https://artmater.com/b-is-for-bear-a-to-z-challenge-april-2-2021-post-2/ (Not on Master List)
• C is for — Cobweb 🕸
https://alicesgrandadventures.blogspot.com/2021/04/c-is-for-cookie-cakes-and-maybe-cobweb.html
• D is for — Dragon 🐲
https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2021/04/atozchallenge2021-d-is-for-dragon-purple.html
• E is for — Evil 👿
https://deadmanstales.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/e-elves-of-mawveth/
• F is for — Flowers 💐
https://auntyamo.com/2021/04/07/f-is-for-flowers/
• G is for — Game 🎲
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2021/04/games-atozchallenge.html
• H is for — Hat 👒
https://theakilahbrown.com/2021/04/09/h-is-for-holes-atozchallenge-pandemicalphabet/
• I is for — Island 🏝
https://olgagodim.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/a-to-z-challenge-letter-i/
• J is for — Jewelry 💍
https://rose-the-storylady.com/jewelry-april-12/
• K is for — Key 🔑
https://www.sunitabiddu.com/keyword-research-best-blogging-tips/
• L is for — Leaves 🍂
https://jlennidorner.blogspot.com/2021/04/atozchallenge-l-is-for-joyous-living.html
• M is for — Men 👬
https://melaniecrousesblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/m-is-for-mark-and-jeff-and-darren.html
• N is for — Nuts 🥜
https://somethingiscooking.com/2021/04/16/nutella-truffles-recipe/
• O is for — Orange 🍊
https://cassmobfamilyhistory.com/2021/04/17/oranges-olives-and-octopus/
• P is for — Pen 🖊
https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=2502
• Q is for — Questions ❓
http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2021/04/2021-atozchallenge-q-is-for-questions.html
• R is for — Rainbow 🌈
https://mary-mann.blogspot.com/2021/04/r-is-for-rainbow-pride.html
• S is for — Scissors ✂
https://quiltingpatch.blogspot.com/2021/04/s-scraps-chutes-de-tissu-atozchallenge.html
• T is for — *Tiger 🐯  (see update below) http://chasingmylife.com/2021/04/23/a-to-z-challenge-t-is-for-train-tamping-track-and-all-things-train/
• U is for — Uniform 💂
https://fictioncanbefun.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/a2z-challenge-u-for-uniform/ (Not on Master List)
• V is for — Velvet 🧶
https://galeriaredelius.wordpress.com/2021/04/26/velvet-roses/
• W is for — Whale 🐳
https://heavygators.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-to-z-challenge-w-is-for-western-gray.html
• X is for — X-ray 🦴
https://maggie-itselementary.blogspot.com/2021/04/x-rays-and-parents.html
• Y is for — Yellow 💛
https://uniquelymaladjustedbutfun.blogspot.com/2021/04/y-is-for-yohann-did-not-see-this-coming.html
• Z is for — Zipper 🤐
https://quiltingpatch.blogspot.com/2021/04/z-zipper-fermeture-eclair-atozchallenge.html

I am spending a few more hours trying to reach every #atoxchallenge blog on the master list.
I'm at 75% right now.

— J Lenni Dorner (@JLenniDorner) May 1, 2021

I finished visiting everyone at 6:35 AM · May 2, 2021 -- If you are on the Master List and didn't get a comment from me, please let me know. Be sure to check your spam folder.

***UPDATE***
Thank you to Lisa (scroll to comments). She found a TIGER on T day! And thanks to Tamy for posting a tiger painted on train cars. 

 

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"But J, what was wrong with my entry on the Master List? How can I avoid this mistake?"
There were fewer problems this year. But let us take a moment to REFLECT and learn from mistakes. Maybe even find a way to help the team prevent these issues in the future.

• The biggest problem is if there are no A to Z blog posts to comment on. (Or no posts from 2021 at all.)
• In one case, the comment area was closed.
• Instagram is a social media site, not a blog.
• 1MvCrorywrites.Wordpress.com —
• https://wordpress.com/view/olbigjim.com — Blogs do not start with wordpress. "WordPress.com is a platform for self-publishing that is popular for blogging and other works. It is owned and operated by Automattic, Inc." It's a company, not a blog. This is a link to a link that opens a dashboard for the blogger. It isn't the right link.
• https://awriterdarkly.com — I couldn't comment without having an account on that platform. Nope.

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GIVEAWAY:
https://wn.nr/EvfEgH Win the Ultimate Literary Bundle from Storiarts! "Where style meets literature. Every Storiarts purchase helps kids worldwide learn to read, write, & create." And small-batch coffee in three genres-- Fantasy, Romance, and Gothic.

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QUESTIONS: 

• How far did you get in the challenge?
• Are you doing Bout of Books 31?
• Did you do the scavenger hunt? Should I create another for 2022?
• Did you take the survey?
  

    

Please consider getting a shirt.

J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author