I know we writers work alone, and yet community (small gatherings like yesterday) nurtures us. In a very similar way, each month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group brings us together to reflect on a question and calls on us to support and to read what others have written.
IWSG's August 5 question begins with an anonymous quote: "Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don't write short stories, novels or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be." Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn't planned on writing in?
This month's question fits right into my writing journey. Way back in 2006, I retired, ready finally to write, and took my first creative writing class. We were to write ten short stories in ten short weeks. Aargh!!! But what a plunge into the unknown that was. Those stories became my first publication, The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales.
One of those stories simply led me to 1842, the Industrial Revolution, and Scotland. My first novel, historical fiction, somehow morphed into a series with two more novels.
I have learned so much through the last fourteen years about writing -- with much more to learn as I dabble with different genres and the challenges indie writers face. My latest, The Seventh Tapestry, an art crimes mystery, swirls with history and a stolen tapestry.
All of this leads me back to yesterday afternoon, sitting in the warm afternoon, and sharing the first chapter of the next book. And to tomorrow, the next scene, this time, set in Egypt, where I once touched a pyramid at Giza.
May you be blessed with much good writing and writing friends as we continue to persevere with our craft during pandemic.
Thank YOU to the co-hosts for this month's post for the Insecure Writer's Study Group: Susan Baury Rouchard, Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jennifer Hawes, Chemist Ken, and Chrys Fey!
That's so cool how you have learned to write in different genres over the years and that it led to your books being published.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Natalie. Sometimes I think that writing makes us more observant, more aware of what's around us. I'll see something somewhere, and later, that becomes a germ of an idea that won't let go. Actually, The Seventh Tapestry began when I noticed the lion and the unicorn in Scotland's coat of arms AND in those famous tapestries (the lady and the unicorn) currently held in Paris.Probably geeky, but fun.
DeleteIt totally sounds like you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, Beth! You took the plunge and look how far (or deep) you’ve gotten. Fate. :-) Glad to read you had some writerly company. We could all use some of that.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liesbet. I like how your writing is inspired by your two traveling companions. May your journeys take you to beautiful places, even now.
DeleteWhat a great decision to take a writing class and put your short stories together in a book! It seems like you’ve been going strong ever since. It’s also nice that you had an outdoor social distancing gathering with other writers. Oh to have been a bee in a tree that day!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Thank you for visiting, Julie. I wish you had been able to join us for now I'm wondering what you would have thought of our works-in-progress. May your own writing go well.
DeleteThat class certainly sent you on quite the journey.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex, for visiting, and, yes, I still admire my teacher for her creative writing and photography. Aren't writers inspired by images as well as challenges! Stay well and thank you again for all your support of writers, IWSG and otherwise!
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