#IWSG - May

Yikes, y'all.. It's IWSG Wednesday again!

I'm still recovering from the A-Z April Blogging Challenge. I did a day-by-day interactive fiction adventure. It was super fun, but kind-of exhausting. If you want to check it out, start at The Letter A. :)

The only thing really to report is A-Z and that I think I'm ready to dive back into my novel. My writing group did an amazing review of the first half back in February, so my plan is to get into their suggestions and make some fixes this week, and start writing the second half next week. After writing group last night I was raring to get back into it... but as soon as I got home I passed out lol ..better luck tonight!

If I get into grad school, the plan is to have the novel finished by the time classes start in August. Just to make it so that novel is not hanging over my head by then. It's a totally do'able goal! The first 40k words are already written, and it will probably only take another 50-60k to finish. So that's only 20k words/month. Easy peasy, right? Right.

How are y'all doing? For those of you who participated in A-Z, what are you doing to recover?

#AtoZChallenge - Save Queen Eileen!

Today is one of those days where ALL THE THINGS happen at once! It's IWSG first-Wednesday, posting here, and I have a post up at the Main Challenge blog! Spoiler alert: contains mention of Wayne's World. Check it out :)

For IWSG all I'll say today is - SO much going on, SO many ideas, HOW does it all get done??

For those who are here for the first time, this is an interactive fiction adventure. I will write a scene every day, and my visitors will vote for where they want the story to go next, by leaving a comment on the post. You can start from the beginning here.

E:
"General Gorilla, we need to rescue Queen Eileen. The Dinosaurs have had her for three days, and her little puppy heart can't take much longer, I'm sure." Sir Andrew adjusted his cape around his shoulders, assuming a more Princely stance.
"Yes, Sir Andrew." Gorilla bowed deeply with a glint in his eye. He responded in his gravel voice, "Just say the word and we'll attack. I've always wanted to get into that castle."
Sir Andrew looked at his most loyal advisor and said, "Dog, you always know what's best. What do you think we should do?"

How should Dog respond? "Thank you sir, I believe the correct action is to...

"..run up a Flag of truce and try to negotiate for Queen Eileen's release"?

or "...attack now and Fight to the end"?

Vote in the comments for your favorite option! Voting closes at 8:30 MTN/10:30 EDT! 9pm was turning out to be too close to bedtime, gotta back it up half an hour. Thanks, everyone :)

Voting has closed on this post! Please click here to move to the next post in the story :)
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IWSG - March 2016

The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer's Support Group, which was started by the ninja-captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh. Check out the IWSG page to see the list of others who participate (or to join!).

I totally initially titled this post "February 2016"... So that's a good indicator of where my head is at right now :)

I successfully submitted a story to an anthology for the first time yesterday! So that's exciting. Now, of course, we wait to hear if it will be accepted, but I'm mostly ok with whatever happens. I put something good out there, and if this anthology doesn't want it, there are always others, right?

There's part of me (a masochistic part? are all artists masochists in some ways?) that is actually looking forward to possibly getting a rejection. I guess it feels like getting rejections is part of being a 'real writer'. Someone who has been tempered and tested, so by the time there is an acceptance there is a little bit more legitimacy there. It means you've put yourself out there, had work critiqued by the industry, and been encouraged to keep working. Keep skill building, learning, reading books and taking classes. 

Not that I need any encouragement to keep learning things.

But.

Little nudges never hurt.

What little nudges have you had lately?

IWSG - February 2016

The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer's Support Group, which was started by the ninja-captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh. Check out the IWSG page to see the list of others who participate (or to join!).

Well, I'm making good progress on the goals I set out in January! My short story for submission needs one more rewrite and a couple beta readers to tell me what they think, and then that will be good to go. And my writing group is tackling one of my manuscripts for each of the next three meetings, so hopefully that will give me some ideas and a rekindling of passion for the project that I can use to try to actually finish it!

I also got my Independently Published Authors Liaison membership through the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers this month. So that's fun :)

I've been reading The Paris Wife, which is about Hemingway's first wife Hadley. It's a beautifully written novel and I highly recommend it. But it's also providing me with a little discomfort, which has been interesting. Hemingway is depicted (as, I think, are many prolific/successful artists) as being wholly, life-consumingly, devoted to his art.

I guess this is a variation on the oft-bemoaned modern frustration with not being able to just do art.. But, I very rarely feel totally consumed by what I am writing. Certainly not to the exclusion of my relationships (or food!). But when I had the time, I didn't lose myself in my writing either. I had six months last summer to dedicate to writing, and while I learned a lot and did get some stuff done, it wasn't like I was obsessive. Does that make me less of a writer? Mean there's less chance that I have what it might take to be successful? Or is it merely a reflection of having more facets to my self than just my writer identity?

Not really sure what the answers to those questions are.. But there they are.

How are y'all doing this month?

IWSG - January 2016

It's IWSG day. The one day of the month that I will always try to post, give updates, etc.

I don't have too much to say. My last post I said I don't do New Year's resolutions. These aren't really New Year's resolutions so much as just things I need to get done, but here are my two that I'd like to make happen in 2016:

1. Write a short story and submit it to an anthology (this is in progress, actually).
2. Finish one of my works in progress. There are three. I just want to get one written and edited and ready for submission.

Bonus pie in the sky boy it sure would be nice if... goal: finally independently publish Sky Pirates. There's a lot to do to make this happen, but it is such a great project, I'd just really love to get it done and out there for the world to enjoy!

What are you up to this year?

IWSG - October

Insecure Writers Support Group is a monthly opportunity for writers to support one another, gripe, whine, cheer, and jeer about this crazy thing we do. It was created by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's super-fab co-hosts are: TB Markinson, Tamara Narayan, Eva E. Solar, Shannon Lawrence, and Stephanie Faris.  

So... I started a new job a few weeks ago. Awesome! I had a lovely six months of sabbatical, during which I learned so much about writing. Craft, and business, and found a writing group. Fantastic. During that time I started gearing my blogging more toward writing-centric topics, because that's what I was doing at the time, and it's what I'd heard people (fans?) enjoy reading - about the process, where you're at with writing, etc.

And I started dreading writing blog posts.

Not my IWSG posts, because those are more about connecting with other writers. But the ones about what I was up to and how my writing was going, and interesting tips or things I'd learned? Ehhhhhh... Not that I don't care about those things, but I don't seem to care to write about those things. And so my blogging slowed.

And then, the weekend before I started my job, I attended a writing conference. Awesome! Met incredible people, learned a lot, watched a gal from my new writing group place in the top five of a competition. So great. I pitched one of my novels to an editor and she requested a full manuscript.

Holy. Crap. Let me say that again - she requested a full manuscript. Not just the first couple chapters. The Whole Thing. So freaking amazing! I never in a million years imagined that my first ever-in-my-life pitch would result in a request for the full manuscript.

Said manuscript is currently in a first-draft pantsed version that is in no way ready to be seen by an editor, agent, or anyone else.

I'd rather write about places like this than about writing,
ya know? (This is from our Mt. Zirkel trip in July)

So for the last three weeks I've been getting accustomed to my new job, schedule, etc, trying desperately to figure out how in the heck I am going to edit the pantsed beast I have on my hands, and utterly ignoring my blog.

I've made a decision. I'm going back to my blog being about whatever random thing I want to write about - recipes, hiking photos, thoughts on current events. If people want to hear about writing progress they can sign up for my email list. Hopefully this will mean that blogging goes back to being a fun thing, and I can feel less anxiety about writing as a whole.

And then maybe between now and next IWSG I will have something written on my blog that isn't just about how much I suck at blogging.

What do you do when you've lost focus on your blogging or other writing? Any fun accomplishments lately?

IWSG - September 2015

Yesterday I watched Brene Brown's talk "Why Your Critics Aren't the Ones Who Count". The talk is directed at creative people and is a pep talk, of sorts. A timely pep talk for me.

After this month, I needed it. August was one of those months where I felt like nothing quite worked right. I didn't get as much writing done as I wanted to in July or August. My inner critic was LOUD about calling me a 'failed blogger' and 'insufficient writer' and telling me, 'you're so unskilled - how can you think that you are good enough to tackle these projects?' I had some health issues that made me just.. exhausted.

But I got some stuff done and actually if I concentrate on the good, August was a pretty great month. I accepted a new job at a company I will be proud to work for. They'll be paying me an appropriate wage for my work (no more being massively underpaid in education), and they won't expect me to work any over time (omg amazing). We went on an incredible, stunning five day backpacking trip. I started attending a writer's group of ladies that I adore.

And yet it's the bad that I think about. *shakes head* Those inner critics are beastly creatures.

This is a quote Brene shared in her talk. I've decided to take it to heart, and hope y'all will too.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly..." Theodore Roosevelt

And seriously - go watch the whole talk.

Insecure Writers Support Group is a monthly opportunity for writers to support one another, gripe, whine, cheer, and jeer about this crazy thing we do. It was created by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's super-fab co-hosts are: Heather M. Gardner, Christine Raines, Dolorah at Book Lover, Julie Flanders and Murees Dupe

July #IWSG - a revisit to my Challenge from last week

The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer's Support Group day. It's a day for lovely people to bop around and support one another through this crazy thing we call 'being writers'. If you consider yourself to be a writer I highly suggest joining :) 

I am a co-host this month, along with Charity, SA, Tamara, Allison, and Tanya. And of course, Alex! Check them all out!

In my other professional life we talk about growth through provision of both Challenge and Support, so today I'm offering my fellow writers a dose of both.

June was an emotional month for social justice and civil rights in the USA. In just two weeks we had the shooting at Emanuel AME Church, subsequent burnings of other black churches (7 as of this writing), and the SCOTUS's decisions to maintain Obamacare and legalize same sex marriage in all 50 states. Issues of freedom, justice and safety have been on everyone's minds. We have celebrated and mourned. On the 26th President Obama gave a celebratory speech in the morning, and sang an emotional (and ever so slightly off-key :) ) Amazing Grace in the afternoon. The US has come a long way toward equality, and we have so much further to go.

Last week I challenged my writing friends to write more diversity into our books, and today on IWSG day I want to re-issue that challenge. America reads. More and more we are seeing our books turned into movies and television shows. If we as writers commit to writing more diversity of all kinds into our literature, think of how many minds we can influence!

I challenge you all to commit to write: people of all races/ethnicities as main characters, as lovers, as friends; LGBT people as positive, functional, happy, normal people; and women as powerful agents of their own lives. If all of us writers (including us white writers.. *ahem*) look at our stories and are intentional about not only having white male protagonists, bad guys who are people of color, damsels in distress, we can show our readers what the world could look like. What the world should look like. What the world does look like.

Writers have always been subversive and political in our own ways. I'm challenging you all to join me in this particular subversion. Are you in? How can I support you?

Click here to read my original, more lengthy post about the AME shooting, which contains the initial challenge and more detailed reflection.

June IWSG!

Haha it seems that the month of June is catching me by surprise this year! My in-laws have been here for a week and I was checking email yesterday when I suddenly realized that the first Wednesday of June is NOW. The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer's Support Group day. It's a day for lovely people to bop around and support one another through this crazy thing we call 'being writers'. If you consider yourself to be a writer I highly suggest checking it out :)

This Friday is our first Kindle Countdown sale. We published Armageddon two years ago, but due to my crazy previous job, I didn't have any time to do much publicity beyond the initial 'omg I published a book look at me!!!' push. Now I'm writing full time and somehow still don't feel like I had enough time to publicize this sale. Scheduled tweets and FB and blog posts, yes. But we'd decided to go backpacking this weekend so I won't even be around to help continue the boost (priorities, I know...). And I can think of a TON of other things I could have/should have done to boost visibility of the sale, but just didn't get to.

Somehow I feel like life keeps getting in the way of doing this right. I consider it my job but there's so much LIFE happening (in-laws visiting, health stuff, running and enjoying our CO spring weather). It's so easy to just do the life stuff and not focus so much on my job. But then I also find myself thinking that isn't necessarily the worst thing at this point, as I'm still very much recovering from the insanity of my previous job. So, I should be taking time for myself, and I should be enjoying the weather. It's only been a little over two months since I quit and Rome wasn't built in a day, right? Especially if that day was during the beautiful springtime...

What are your biggest distractors? How do you bring yourself back around to focusing? What is your favorite way to advertise for an impending book sale?

IWSG - May!

Today is Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday! The first Wednesday of each month, writers pop around to one anothers' blogs to offer support, insight, high fives and hugs. This month's hosts of the hop are Eva Solar, Melanie Schulz, Lisa-Buie Collard, and Stephen Tremp. Good job, team :)

Last month I talked about having seen one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Winspear, speak (you can read her blog posts here - highly recommend!). It was my first week of writing full time and her words about writer's block were exactly what I needed to hear. Not that writers block is easy to get over, but rather that we should not allow ourselves to have it because others have died for our right to freedom of speech. The concept of the privilege of writing making it an essential action hit me right in the feels. 

I took that quote to heart this month by doing my daily April A-Z post every morning. I couldn't pre-post due to the nature of the challenge I set for myself, and I loved the accountability it created. I've also been researching the business side of being an author. It was quite busy!

As I've been 'not working' (as my former coworkers seem to refer to it), I've become more and more aware of the privilege I have in being able to pursue my dream of writing. Of being an author without having to worry about having money for food or rent. This month I stumbled upon this article about how writers are often 'sponsored' by family, spouses, or wealthy patrons, thus enabling them to be creatively productive. 

I'm so incredibly thankful that my spouse can support me through this journey so I can do this without stress. But I'm also keenly aware of my time and of wanting to make sure not to waste it because I know that there are many others out there who are squeezing their writing dreams into precious snippets of time. I am privileged, yes. And also extremely grateful.

What are you grateful for this month?

***

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#AtoZChallenge and IWSG!

Happy April everyone!
It's going to be a busy month round these parts, what with April A-Z Challenge, and also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. Oh, and today is Insecure Writer's Support Group as well (see bottom of post, though I encourage you to read the whole thing!).

My theme for A-Z this year is interactive fiction. So every day I will write a short bit of a story, and then my lovely readers will get the opportunity to vote for what direction they want the story to go next by leaving a comment. I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go because it is up to y'all, so it should be fun! Here we go...

A:
Amy had never been to the bazaar. She'd read about it of course, but this was her first time walking into the heady swirl of colors, music, smells and humans. And not humans. Monkeys? Eew. Frankly, it was overwhelming. Also entirely enchanting. She found herself trying to focus on just one item, one person, at a time, allowing the rest of it to wash over her.

Each time she engaged with a vendor, she gave them her entire attention. However she was indiscriminate about what booths she stopped at, and that was how she found herself poring over a table of objects of dubious origin. Her best efforts to deflect the vendor's sales pitch failed so she tuned him out with the rest of the clamor of the bazaar. Several objects on the table attracted her attention, though.

Which object should Amy inspect?

A Basket full of Bits of fabric

The Blue Bottle, decorated with riBBon and twine

The Bouquet of interesting herbs and grasses

Please vote below for your favorite option for tomorrow's bit of adventure! I will tally the votes after 8pm Mountain Time and use them to write my next post.
Voting has closed for this post! Please visit the Blue Bottle post to continue reading :)

IWSG reflection:
Last week I saw one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Winspear, speak in Fort Collins. She ended her talk by telling us that she does not allow herself writer's block because so many have lost their lives to give us our freedom of speech:

"What a privilege to be able to make up stories for a living. There are those who would, and have, died for that privilege. If you have it, you MUST use it."

Gives new meaning to the phrase, 'I write because I must,' and was exactly what I needed to hear last week as I embarked upon writing full-time.

IWSG? Already??

How is it at all possible that it's time for another Insecure Writers Support Group post? Where in the world did this month go so quick? And next month is the April A-Z Challenge? Egads.

(do you ever feel like your life is going really fast and how are you going to do all the things you want to do and there are so many things to see and stories to tell and agghhh..)

This last weekend I attended my first writing workshop! Well, my first since middle school creative writing camp, anyway.. It was a three day intensive, so we met for three hours Friday night, eight hours Saturday and four hours on Sunday. It was a loonnnnnggg weekend, but so deliciously educational and fun. Going back to regular ol' work on Monday was rough. No lie.

I spent the whole weekend working on the second of my two NaNoWriMo projects. Specifically on developing my hero character and having consequent revelations about how those developments impact the plot of the whole thing. At the end we had to read aloud a three page concept document and I was SO nervous! I haven't really done that kind of sharing with an unfinished project before.

I got some really great positive and constructive feedback. One of the things people said was that I could make it into three novellas, rather than one long novel. And I LOVE the idea, but oh man it's going to be some work. I'm totally stoked to do it, now just to find the time..

What projects are you trying to find time for this month?

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. They're a good bunch - check my buddies out!

IWSG - First of the New Year!

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. They're a good bunch - check my buddies out!

In the normal way of the busy holidays, not too much writing has been happening around here lately. I had, of course, hoped to find some quiet time amidst all the hullaballoo, but didn't manage to do so. Somehow days that had no plans ended up being quite busy. (e.g. on Christmas Day when I ended up cantoring at Mass because the usual singer came down with bronchitis! All I have to say about that is thank goodness for Christmas Carols.)

But reading and listening to media definitely happened! I got all of the Harry Potter movies on Bluray as a gift, so we watched several of those, and listened to all of the Serial podcast during our many, many hours of driving. And, my good friend Katie gave me Amy Poehler's Yes Please. I have TORN through this book. She is so heartfelt and of course snarky, and just incredibly honest. 

She spends the entire preface talking about how "Writing is Hard".

This brilliant, successful woman who makes a living by writing hilarious things thinks writing is hard. And then goes on to tell about many of her quirks and stressors related to being a writer. Aaaannnnd of course had me crying tears of laughter while talking about it. So I guess my IWSG this month is again not focused so much on the insecurity part, but more on the support part.

If the inimitable Amy Poehler thinks it's hard, this crazy thing called 'writing' probably is hard. We are totally not alone. She worked her tail off to get where she is, just like all the IWSG'ers out there. So keep at it. 

I bet she'd love IWSG. We should figure out how to get her on this bandwagon. Wouldn't that be fun?

If you could make your writing (or life) stressors into a punchline, what would it be?

IWSG - December!

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. 

I'm sure a lot of us IWSG folks are posting today about National Novel Writing Month, as a lot of us are the nutty types who would dedicate a whole month to high word counts and (perhaps more importantly) cheering one another along while we accomplish that novel writing thing. I have, happily, won NaNo for my second year. This year I worked on two projects and had intended to spend my time on them about equally, but got swept up in one so the division ended up being more like 70/30. Regardless, I finished! Hooray. See? I have a lovely badge to prove it!

It's been kind-of a rough semester (since August things have been.. intense.. around here) so it was nice to set my mind to something and actually achieve it. I guess my IWSG this month is not so much that I'm feeling insecure, but more that I'm feeling more secure and happy in my writing than I have in a while. Is that allowed? (sorry Alex if I'm breaking the rules! ha)

This morning on my drive to work I thought of a new project and I'm a bit in love with it. I need to finish my NaNo novel first (I'd feel awful leaving it to gather dust!) so I'll take some notes and wait a bit to get into the new idea. But I'm happy that my brain has decided to continue with the writing trend!

What do you do when your writing ego needs a boost? Tell stories to kids who will just tell you they're great? Daydream about who would play your MC in the movie version? Something crazy like NaNoWriMo?

IWSG - November

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. 

Ohhh National Novel Writing Month.. What a frenzy of excitement, activity, insecurity and support! I'm going rogue, so working on two different projects, both of which were already started. One is heavily outlined and I've been so excited to get finished and moving forward to the editing stage, the other I've just dabbled at through the last two years or so. I have no real idea where that story is going. So my projects are a combination of planning and pantsing, which so far has worked alright. If I'm feeling focused I'll work on the former, and if I just need to be creative I'll work on the latter. 

But I'm starting behind due to being gone at a wedding last weekend and there is a LOT going on this month. So the freaking out side of me is somewhat in 'omg I'll never make it through NaNo!' mode. I guess the best thing to do is just keep typing, eh? And probably make sure that if I'm doing blog posts I'm not writing anything too long hah

Any other IWSG folks also doing NaNo? How's it going?

IWSG - September

It is IWSG day, and I totally forgot. Sorry, guys! I have an excuse - we're in Spain.

Here is my 'dog ate my homework' picture:

At the Arc de Triomph in Barcelona

We leave for the mountains tomorrow, where my schedule will pretty much be: eat breakfast, hike, siesta, write, eat dinner. For six days. Wonderful :)

IWSG - August

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. 

If you scroll down a little bit, you'll notice that I haven't posted much since April, because, well, life. But! Sunday marked the last day of my super-crazy work season (no 60 hour work weeks until next year!), so right now I pretty much look like this:

gif credit: pandawhale.com

My clients have all left, I'm not on call at night because even the Union is closed... (to borrow a mantra from a good friend) Life is good. That means... I can write again! Hooray!

So my post for IWSG today is not so much about feeling insecure as it is celebrating getting to return to my introverted writerly existence. Ohh laptop, tea and wingback chair at 6am on a Saturday, how I've missed you!

What is making you do a happy dance right now?

IWSG - July

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. 

So... Haven't blogged since last month's IWSG.. Yeah.. C'est la vie en ete. 

My little IWSG contribution is a moment of being glad for things like IWSG and Blog Blitz, and WRiTE CLUB (click on newer posts to read the first couple bouts! Good stuff!) because they help me feel like I'm still connected to the writing community even when I don't have the time or energy to be actively working on my current WsIP (is that the correct pluralization of WIP? help me out folks!). 

Most of my writing activity during the last month has been about reading. I read a LOT during the summer and I figure that devouring books is a good way to work on my skillz, right? Right.

How about y'all? How are your summer writing/reading projects going? 

IWSG - June

This post is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being a writer'. 

Just a quick IWSG today before I get going on work... This is my busy season at my Day Job so I tend to spend a lot of time just daydreaming about writing rather than actually doing it. Word and creativity output become very difficult when I'm working 60 hour weeks, ya know? (though I'm sure there are those of you who do it and I bow in awe your willpower. My brain is just too fried to do any more). As I'm seeing my WIP 'last update' date disappear from the rearview mirror, I find myself daydreaming of a different way of life. 

For those of you with Day Jobs, do you ever think about what it would be like to just quit and write full-time? Or, write and be a stay at home parent, or write and maybe go back to school? That's kind of part of the dream, right? To be able to live off the writing that we love doing. It's kind-of scary too though. For those of you who have done it, how did you make the leap? Did you wait until you hit a certain income from your writing before quitting your Day Job, or was it a realization that you couldn't achieve a workable writing income while spending 40+ hours per week doing something else? 

Don't get me wrong - I love my Day Job. But during busy season, I really miss being able to write, to blog, to read others' posts. I find myself in a place of 'figuring things out' this summer. There's definitely part of me that wants to make a leap, but I also love what I do here. Is there a way to balance it all? 

A to Z Challenge & IWSG: Bumperglint

This post is part of the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. This year my theme is simply, "things I know." Some posts will be informational, some about life lessons, some about things I've learned as an author/blogger. This post also happens to be part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a bloghop dedicated to writers supporting one another through this crazy thing called 'being an author.' I hope you enjoy!

image from wikipedia.org

bump·er·glint
/ˈbəmpərglint/
noun
1. raised reflectors on roads, used to denote center lines, fire hydrants and other important transportation markers
"the tired driver listed toward the middle of the road, only startled back to attention when his tires went over the bumperglint along the center line"
synonyms: cat's eyes, road reflectors, road turtles

This word is made up! My husband checked out a book once of words that really should be 'real' words you can find in the dictionary, but for whatever reason aren't. But ever since he told me about the word bumperglint, it has been a ready part of my vocabulary. It's almost onomatopoetic, which I guess is why it stuck for me. So there you go, a new word for your vocabulary! Let's make it real.

So far as IWSG is concerned, I just wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on 'made-up' words. They are tricky, aren't they? We can want to create our own. I mean, we are authors, so we're very creative. We should be able to make our own words, right? But that can be dangerous. Not all of us are as brilliant and able to create entire languages as Tolkien. But at the same time it can make our writing more compact and engaging, if done right. I find that I am terrified to coin my own. Even if there's something that seems like it could be more simple, I am apt to use 'normal' words (lots of them if I have to!) rather than make up my own word for something. This, I think, can be problematic when world-building. If that animal or object is going to play a major part in the book, why not name it? I think I am afraid of coming up with things that sound Seuss'ish. 

What about you? Have you read any books that use made up words to good effect? What about books that were terrible this way?