It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

                         Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

The awesome co-hosts for the April 1 posting of the IWSG are Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass!

 

 April 1 question - If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

Oh, you betcha I have songs and playlists.

I have two playlists that I put together years ago that I listen to when I’m writing in the early mornings.

 The first is music from Windham Hill that offered distinctive sounds that became synonymous with the New Age genre that produced acoustic music with folk, classical, and jazz influences. Prominent musicians were William Ackerman, Liz Story, George Winston, Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi, to name a few. Here's one of their albums.

My other playlist includes New Age music from Narada, another label from the ‘early 80’s with artists like Paul Speers, and David Lanz. The label evolved through an expansion of formats to include world music, electronica, jazz, acoustic guitar, Celtic music, new flamenco, and piano releases.  

Now, about songs that are relevant to my novel, Love in the Time of Wrinkles  that I’m the process of finding an gent for.

 

The first would be “Kiss of Life”  by Sade. While my novel is fiction, it’s inspired by my true love story. Is there anything more exciting than a first kiss? At any age? 

https://youtu.be/MmOau-PMWJk?si=uSNNPUPny8JsUoaL

https://youtu.be/1qJU8G7gR_g?si=iPUU5veaE4nT8fKl

The second song would be “At Last” by Etta James. When I finally made the move to Mexico after four years of waiting, wanting, and planning, I moved into my second act and all I could think was, at last.

 

And for music during the day writing... 

It's Sky TV's Brazilian station. 

So...

What're yours?

 

Always,

Em-Musing

 

 

It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

                          Today's awesome co-hosts for the March 4  posting are:

  PJ Colando, Ronel Janse van Vuuren and Natalie Aguirre     

The March 4 question: What elements do you include in your book launch? Or what do you have in mind for your future book launch? Or what advice do you have to offer to others planning to launch a book??

 

I come from anther time...

A magical time...

When writing a book was all an author had to do.

When the book was finished...

And the author landed an agent...

And the agent landed a publisher...

And the publisher had the manuscript edited...

And all the details about book cover design, promotion, etc...

Were handled by said publisher.

That was it!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Yeah, the only thing magical about this scenario...

Is my thinking.

Promotion for an author’s book was always necessary...

Before the Internet, and Facebook, and Instagram, and Algorithms etc. 

It was all done differently but still done.

So, getting back to today’s question...

What I’m doing about my book launch?

I’m in the process of putting together a marketing plan... 

And having a more engaging social media presence.

And you?’

What do you do for a book launch?

Or have any ideas to share?

 

Always,

Em-Musing

I'm in the trenches again sending out queries...

And it's never ending. Not the amount of queries. The endless amount of little changes. Rethinking an adjective here or an em-dash there.                      

I’ve blogged about the never-ending editing process before.                         But if you haven’t seen it...                                                                         Here it is again:

Daughters:      Mom?

Nurse:             She’s been like this for a while.

Daughters:      What’s wrong with her? 

Nurse:             When she was brought in, she kept 

                       Mumbling “Gotta keep editing. 

                       Gotta keep editing.”

Daughters:      What do you mean? Edit what? 

Nurse:             What we got out of her is that she's written 

                        a book and wants to get an agent,

Daughters:       So what’s holding her back? 

                        It’s a condition some authors are afflicted 

                                                  with, especially unpublished authors.

                          Daughters:       What’s this condition called? 

                          Nurse:             Queryphobia.

                          Daughters:      Queryphobia?                                                                 

                          Nurse:             In layman’s terms—fear of rejection.                                   

                          Daughters:      Rejection from who? 

                          Nurse:             Every agent and publisher in the world.

                          Daughters:      Is there a cure?

                                                  Not that we know of, but every now and then 

                                                  when  we turn on the Hallmark channel she 

                                                 calms down.Their stories are sweet and 

                                                 always have happy endings, but only for an 

                                                 hour or two and then she’s back at it. 

                .         Daughters:      Maybe if you can get her to binge watch it enough it will distract her and we can convince to get the hell out of here.

                         Nurse:              It’s worth a try.

                         Daughters:       Is there hope she’ll be healed?  

                         Nurse:              Don’t know. She’s got a bad case of it. 

                         Daughters:       Does she need anything from us? 

                         Nurse:              Hugs, chocolate, and maybe a shot of tequila.

                         Daughters:       Poor mom. **sighs**                                                                                                                                                                                 

                         So? Have you ever suffered from Queryphobia?

                                                                                                                                   

SOMETHNG THIS WAY STINKETH

 

It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with            something to say. 

                   Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG                                                 Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

February 4 posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox!

February 4 question - Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you/

I like just about all my writings…

The earlier ones though I can see the need for editing...

But for the most part, they’re OK...

UNTIL…

Someone wants to see something I’ve written...  

AND THEN…

I think it not worthy, stupid, why did I even write this junk?

OR 

It think it just plain stinks! 

But then I wonder

What would it stink like?

Old fish guts? 

Dirty feet or pits?

Public bathrooms?

Limburger cheese?

Thankfullly, my nostrils never had to endure what I’ve heard about that stinky queso.

What about you?

What do you think about something you’ve written a while ago?

Ever think it stinks?

And if so...

What would the stink smell like?

 

Always,

Em-Musing

 

 

 

 

Below, a parody  from Annie get Your Gun 

 

AI:   Anything you can write I can write better. I can write anything better than you.

ME:   No you can’t.

AI:    Yes I can.

ME:   No you can’t. 

AI     Yes I can.

ME:   No you can’t!!!

AI:    Yes I can, yes I can…YES, I CAN!!

ME:   Really? Have you ever been kissed? Felt warm lips on 

         your lips?

AI:    I have no lips so it's impossible to feel someone's lips.

ME:   Ever giggled till you peed your pants? 

AI:    No. I’m unable to giggle, I don’t wear pants, 

          and why would I pee in them if I did?

ME:   Ever cry watching a movie with a tear-jerking scene?

AI:    No. I cannot generate tears. I don’t have emotions. 

          Movies aren't real. Why do humans cry watching a 

          movie?

ME:   So? How do you get your info about characters and 

          writing scenes?

AI:   I generate content based on data that I’ve analyzed. 

ME:   Well then, you really can’t write from experience, can 

          you? That’s why I CAN write better than you. HA!

Always,

Em-Musing

DON'T GO DOWN THE BASEMENT

 It’s so annoying! 

When I’m watching a scary movie...

And one of the characters hears something down the basement...

Don’t go down the basement!

Of course, they go down and something bad happens.

I hate to admit it...

But I did something stupid... 

I WENT Down the basement!

 I was a junior in high school when I went down... 

My uncle was a collector of antique books...

And my father would often go over to his shop... 

And buy books such as: 

Milton’s Paradise Lost          Dante's Inferno

Because, being an artist, my father liked the illustrations in them. 

One day he brought home a book dated 1858 entitled: Incantations and Spells... 

My mother turned her nose up it and called it a witch book.

Me? I was fascinated... 

I recruited my two friends to go through the book with me.

During the course of that summer, we read every page... 

Down in the basement. 

Once, we tried a spell to make one boy fall in love with one of my friends. (didn’t work)

All was okay for a while until...

One evening my mother called me for dinner. I was in the basement when I happened to look down and saw my grandmother’s feet. She was barefoot and wearing a long gown. Why wasn’t she wearing shoes? And I’d never seen her in a long dress. Weird, I thought, then ran up the stairs and into the kitchen stopping abruptly because there at the kitchen table was my grandmother. I didn't say anything about seeing the apparition. 

A few days later, my mother was heading downstairs to the basement to start a load of wash... 

Don’t go down the basement!

She told my father later at dinner that the basement had a cold draft that hadn’t been there before. She felt it again when she hung the clothes on the clothesline to dry. 

Later, she asked me to get the clothes and bring them upstairs.

Don’t go down the basement!

I also felt the cold air plus a heaviness—or presence—in the air. It creeped me out.  But still I said nothing.

A few days later... 

My mother was doing another load of laundry... 

Don’t go down the basement!

And she saw the same apparition of an old woman in a long gown walk past her and told my father, but he just laughed saying her blood sugar was probably low and there are no such things as ghosts. 

I knew better... 

It was only when my father actually saw the old woman standing right in front of him

that he took action. He burned the witches’ book.

There are more stories about that book and what came up from below, 

But not from the basement—from another realm...

Those stories, though are for another time.

 So?

What's your favorite classic ghostly tale?  

Have you ever seen a ghost? 

And are you afraid of going down basements?

Always,

Em-Musing

P.S. Interestingly that book also had an illustration of Pythagoras’ Wheel, that, if asked a question needing a yes or no answer it would give you the answer.

The book also explained in detail how to tell the future using Geomancy but I didn’t want to figure it out. It was too much like doing math which I hated.