Insecure Writer's Support Group and Anthology 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 today are Tyrean Martinson, Tara Tyler, Raimey Gallant, and Beverly Stowe McClure!

September’s optional question - Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in?

September marks six years for the IWSG group and four years for the website. You know what that means…

The annual IWSG Anthology Contest!

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free.

Word count: 3500-6000

Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Theme: Tick Tock. The story revolves around a clock, is time sensitive, or has something about a specific time. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines. No erotica, R-rated language, or graphic violence.

Story deadline: November 1st 2017

How to enter: Send your polished, previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please format double-spaced, size 12 font, and no headers or footers. Include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging or Facebook IWSG group.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:

Elizabeth S. Craig writes cozy mystery series for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently. She curates links on Twitter as @elizabethscraig that are later shared in the free search engine Writers Knowledge Base.

Anne Hawkins is a partner in John Hawkins & Associates, Inc., New York. Founded in 1893 by Paul R. Reynolds, it is the oldest literary agency in the country. She works with mainstream literary and commercial fiction, including mystery, suspense, and thrillers and a wide variety of serious non-fiction, particularly history, politics, biography, science, and natural history. A number of her books have gained distinction through award nominations, book-to-film contracts, significant foreign rights sales, major book club selections, or placement on the New York Times bestseller list. Anne Hawkins is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives.

Candace Havens is the Editorial Director of Covet has written multiple novels for Berkley, Entangled and Harlequin. Her books have received nominations for the RITA’s, Holt Medallion and Write Touch Reader Awards. She is one of the nation’s leading entertainment journalists, runs a free online writing workshop, and teaches comprehensive writing class.

Author, Public Speaker, and Executive Producer, Lynn Tincher was born just outside of Louisville, Kentucky in the beautiful city of La Grange. She has written four books, with the fifth one currently in the making. Her first book, Afterthoughts was optioned for movie production by Kilted Pictures and Dancing Forward Productions in Los Angeles. It is currently in pre-production with plans to shoot in Louisville, Kentucky very soon.

Ion Newcombe is the editor and publisher of AntipodeanSF, Australia's longest running online speculative fiction magazine, regularly issued since January 1998. His qualifications and employment range from horticulture through electronics into literature and communications.

Patricia (Pat) Stoltey is the author of four crime fiction novels published by Five Star/Cengage including a historical mystery called Wishing Caswell Dead (https://www.amazon.com/Wishing-Caswell-Dead-Patricia-Stoltey/dp/1432834401/) (December 2017). She lives in Northern Colorado with her husband Bill, Sassy Dog, and Katie Cat. To learn more about Patricia and her books, visit her website/blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

Mason Canyon had a love of books since childhood encouraged by a mother who loved to read. A 30+year career in journalism fueled her desire to know what a story is all about. Blogging at Thoughts in Progress since 2009 and operating MC Book Tours for over a year. Loves to read and share great stories with others. MC Book Tours

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!

Don’t forget that October 4 is the Show Us Your Writer Insecurity Contest! On Wednesday, October 4 (IWSG Day), post a photo of yourself (or your alter ego) with any of the IWSG swag or with the IWSG logo. Then leave a comment that day at either the IWSG website’s post or the IWSG Facebook post directing us to your photo. (All blog, Facebook, Goodreads, and newsletter members welcome, but photo must be posted on a blog or Facebook to qualify.)
There are some cool prizes to be had!

Plus the IWSG Writing For Profit will be available by that time.

And finally, don’t forget to submit your news to the IWSG Newsletter – free advertising for your new releases, sales, and more. Contact Christine Rains or send directly to the IWSG email address.

Ready to create something for the anthology contest? See your story in an anthology such as the IWSG’s Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life or Parallels: Felix Was Here? And are you ready to show off your writer insecurity next month?

EBook Formatting Tips

EBook formatting may seem overwhelming at first. Even once we get the hang of it, there are still little details that are often overlooked. As authors, we want our eBooks to stack up those produced by the big publishers.

Here are some tips for producing a professional-looking product:

The layout is similar to print books. Keep in mind that text sizes can be changed by readers, so don’t overload the front matter - we want those who download a sample first to get a portion of the first chapter. The general page order should be:
Title page
Copyright page
Reviews/blurbs
Dedication
Table of contents
Chapters
About author
Other books by author or excerpt from next book - with purchase links if possible

Set font size to 12 and stick with standard fonts. Unusual fonts don’t translate well.

Clean up the manuscript. Remove all extra spaces at the end (and beginning) of paragraphs. Those extra spaces at the end could create a blank page.

Always use the “Paragraph” feature in Word (or similar feature in other programs) to set indents. If the tab key or space bar were used, remove all of those with the “Find and Replace” feature. Indents can be set at .2-.5 for fiction. (With the first line of each chapter not indented and the first letter a special character or larger size if desired.) Non-fiction isn’t indented–paragraphs are separated either by a line or by setting the spacing in the “Paragraph” feature.


Text should be justified for a more professional appearance.

Chapter titles/numbers are a couple sizes larger than the text font and usually centered. Use a “Heading” style (in Word) for chapter titles, adjusting it to the correct size and position. This helps when hyperlinking the chapters, as that feature will seek out headings.

Images and tables are often bumped to the next page. The nature of eBooks makes positioning them exactly almost impossible. (Unless you are creating an ePub in InDesign where you have a little more control over image placement.) Set them “in line” with text to create a smoother flow. Always use 72 dpi sized images.

Pages are impossible to control since readers can adjust the font size, so don’t include page numbers.

Once the eBook is formatted, chapters can be hyperlinked. Create at table of contents. In Word, highlight the words “Table of Contents” and go to the “Insert” tab. Click on “Bookmark” and call it ToC. Then highlight your first chapter title in your table of contents and click on “Hyperlink.” Choose “Places in this Document” and select chapter one. Repeat for the remaining chapters and double check after finishing.

There are two ways to include links. The actual link can be used or a hyperlink. If using the actual link, it must be the full web address.
Correct - http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/
Incorrect - www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com
For a hyperlink, highlight the text in the book and when setting the hyperlink, select “Existing File or Web Page.”

Be sure links line up with the retailer. Barnes & Noble will not appreciate links to Amazon in the eBooks they sell.

Follow these guidelines and produce a professional-looking eBook that readers will devour!

Do You Look Ridiculous If You Dance?

I was curious about how Goodnight Moon could be such a successful children’s book that it has sold millions of copies. It had no plot. It was repetitious and terribly simple. If its goal was to put toddlers to sleep, that was one thing, but I thought books were to enrich and engage readers. 

Then I stumbled on an article a few of months ago, and there was my answer. Margaret Wise Brown had discovered that books for this age group had to be about their own world, not one manufactured by an adult writer. Fantasy was great for older readers, but not those pre-schoolers who might even be confused by it. She’d discovered that for her readers “. . .the pleasure of language lies less in what it communicates than in its sound and rhythm.” [Amy Crawford, smithsonian.com, January 26, 2017] 

"In the great green room

There was a telephone

and a red balloon

And a picture of–

The cow jumping over the moon. . ."

In her biography, The Great Green Room, Anne E. Fernald, writes that in Brown’s book there is “a love of color, joy in ordinary objects, repetition with unexpected variation.” [Anne E. Fernald, In the Great Green Room: Margaret Wise Brown and Modernism, November 17, 2015]

Then I began thinking that all of these elements are what I enjoy while reading. When a writer enables a vibrant color in words, that's exciting. I love seeing those azure seas or mountains soaring into black and turbulent clouds. 

Ordinary objects place me in a setting. Even if it's sci-fi and the world builder has created something that's not of this time and place, that object helps me "be" in the story. The neoprene wetsuit from Dune. The powered exoskeleton from Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Remember those ordinary object from the future? They were central to the stories, and I saw them clearly while I devoured the stories. 

And who doesn't love unexpected variation? Those surprising turns of words can be as exciting as a plot twist.

Gertrude Stein, who happened to be one of Brown’s favorite writers, appeals to older readers but using these three same techniques. Here’s some of Stein’s prose. Notice the "joy" in it, the ordinary things she refers to, and the "unexpected variation and repetition." So many of her words sing to you. A lot of grown-ups could use a good song after a day of being a grown-up.

“You look ridiculous if you dance

You look ridiculous if you don't dance

So you might as well dance.” Gertrude Stein

Everyone has a style, but sometimes writers can "borrow" a technique and play with it to see if it enhances their work. Evidently, that's exactly what Margaret Wise Brown did, and it worked--very well.

And so thank you and Goodnight, Moon. Goodnight, Miss Brown. Goodnight, Gertrude Stein.