Wednesday, November 7, 2018

IWSG Day November 2018 and The End of Another Contest

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the November 7 posting are: Ellen @ The Cynical SailorAnn V. FriendJQ Rose and Elizabeth Seckman!

This month's optional question is: How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?



The submission period has closed for this year's anthology contest and it looks like we are shaping up to have yet another awesome collection on our hands. We are in the final throes of choosing our top picks to send to the judges and this is no easy task. The standard is extremely high this year and it is a thrill to read through such a diverse and exciting bunch of entries. Well done to all who entered!

In other news, the next Twitter pitch event is in January. Another exciting opportunity to get noticed by editors and agents. Don't miss it!


And for our new partnership with WEP (Write Edit Publish), we're hosting a competition to decide the theme for the February contest. 

Rules: Submit your idea for a WEP February theme by November 12 to admin AT insecurewriterssupportgroup.com. Nothing too U.S. culturally bound. Should have wide appeal.

Prize: Feature in the December newsletter for the winner. And, of course, the winning theme will be the official February WEP theme!

Deadline: November 12. Winner announced in the November newsletter on November 28. 
Are you on Instagram? We run a different prompt for each day of the month. Participants are welcome to participate in comments or on their own feed. While on their own feed, the hashtag #theiwsg is used and @theiwsg may be tagged. Participants may use images, words, or some combination to answer each prompt. Each prompt is explained in more detail on the day of posting. 


This month's prompts could be particularly helpful if you're participating in NaNoWriMo. We're already one week in, so if you're already knee deep or even still thinking about whether to jump in, we're sending some power your way. Good luck!

Did you enter for the anthology this year? Looking forward to grabbing a copy? Interested in Twitter Pitch or WEP? Are you NaNoing this month?

17 comments:

Sarah Foster said...

I'm not doing NaNo this year (thankfully), but I would like to tackle it someday. I've really only tried it once and I gave up pretty quickly.

Pat Hatt said...

Never saw the point in NaNo for me, but great for those who do it.

J.L. Campbell said...

I'm doing NaNo after a fashion to get what I've started finished. :)

nashvillecats2 said...

I won't be taking part as there are lots of issues on my mind at present. Good luck to those who does take part.

Yvonne.

Anstice Brown said...

I'm not doing NaNo this year as I feel too burnt out at the moment, but I will probably do Camp NaNo in the summer which is an easier time for me.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Yeah there's some great stories in the mix this year. Tough to come up with a list of favorites.

Toi Thomas said...

I did finally enter the anthology contest this year, my first time. It was fun. Can't wait to see it when it's done, even if my story isn't chosen. I love the prompt.
Not doing Nano; just not my thing. Best of luck to all who are.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Some of the entries were so creative.

PJ Colando said...

I'll forever be a NaNononono - who needs the pressure, the prompt, the spread of the behind that sitting in a chair for hours and days and weeks ignites?

Yeah, I'm a rebel - and I like writing too much to destroy it with deadlines and mandates and demands.

cleemckenzie said...

I don't do NaNo. It doesn't fit the way I think about writing.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I'm sure I'll grab a copy of the anthology. I have all the others. Never going to NaNo, but I'll probably write close to 50K this month.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Like Lee, I don't do NaNo. It doesn't work with my schedule.

Roland Clarke said...

Attempting Nano again this year - to get my series started. WEP helped kickstart the process, Also submitted to the Anthology, although well outside my comfort zone.

Jemi Fraser said...

I adore NaNo, but with Real Life taking all our time right now, I had to skip it and the IWSG anthology contest. I was looking forward to both, but maybe next time!

Michael Di Gesu said...

No NaNo for me... I just need to get through my present WIP, hopefully it will be done by the end of the month.

All the best to those who enter!

Good luck on choosing the top stories. It must be very hard. So many amazing writers!

Juneta key said...

I set up my profile for NaNo but not really doing it. Working on other stuff. Happy IWSG DAy.

Diane Burton said...

I admire those who do NaNo. Nov. is such a busy month for me, I don't want to add anything to it. I did enter the anthology contest. I usually don't write "short". I had fun with it. Although I missed WEP for October, I plan to do it in Dec. When I did it before, I had a blast. Flash fiction really stretches us. Enjoy the Fall.