I’ve been on a break, and how much I needed that! 2021 was a long and very challenging year for me as it was for so many people. It was good to take time out and focus on my family and friends who aren’t online with me, but who sit across the table and chat over a cup of coffee. Since we have three stair-step boys (5, 4, and 3) in our family who are eager to see what Santa has delivered-not to mention two new Queensland Heeler puppies, there’s a lot of action all through December up to the big day. I wouldn’t say it was a restful month, but it was chock-full of fun and excitement. I look forward to 2022 with hope for good health among all my family and close friends, and some productive writing/reading experiences here with all of you.
Now it’s time-as Alex says-to rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
Remember, the question is optional!
What’s the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?
I’m sorry I published early. I thought I was ready to jump into the fray, but looking back, I wish I’d waited and scoped out the business side of writing more carefully. However, when is it a good time to take that leap and send your manuscript out into the world? If I’d waited, I might never have found a publisher who thought well enough about my work to take it on. As it was, I had two books out in two years with a third in the wings. I received good advances and good reviews, so I was launched, and I just had to learn as I went.
While I still have regrets, I think I’ve overcome that choice, and during these years I believe I’ve become a better writer for having made a lot of those new writer mistakes. I’m curious to read what others are writing in response to this month’s question.
Be sure to visit the awesome co-hosts for today’s post!
Erika Beebe,Olga Godim,Sandra Cox,Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken!
The Seventh Annual IWSG Anthology
Contest Winners!
The genre is sweet romance and the theme is first love.
Thanks to all who entered. We had a record number of entries this year.
Now we present the authors of
First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts
The Art of Making Doughnuts - Linda Budzinski
Paper Faces - Sylvia Ney
The Real Thing - Sammi Spizziri
My Heart Approves - Melissa Maygrove
Oliver’s Girl - Michael Di Gesu
Clyde and Coalesce - Kim Elliot
My First Love(s) - Templeton Moss
How to Save a Princess - Katie Klein
The Castle of Ohno - SE White
Marmalade Sunset - Denise Covey
A special thanks to our official judges:
Author Nancy Gideon
Nancy Gideon is the award-winning bestseller of over 70 romances ranging from historical, Regency, and series contemporary suspense to dark paranormal and horror, with a couple of produced screenplays and non-fiction writing books tossed into the mix. She’s also written under the pseudonyms Dana Ransom, Rosalyn West, and Lauren Giddings.
Agent Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Associates
Caitlin Blasdell has been a literary agent with Liza Dawson Associates since 2002 with a focus on commercial fiction. Before becoming an agent, she was a senior editor at HarperCollins Publishers.
Author Susan Gourley
Susan Gourley is traditionally published in fantasy and science fiction romance using the name Susan Kelley. She is currently serving as the President of the Pennwriters writing group renowned for the annual conference.
Author Jennifer Lane
Jennifer Lane writes sports romance and romantic suspense with a psychological twist. She has published nine novels and two short stories, including Behind the Catcher’s Mask as part of the IWSG Masquerade Anthology.
Author Meka James
Meka James is a writer of adult contemporary and erotic romance. A born and raised Georgia Peach, she still resides in the southern state with her hubby of 16 years and counting. Mom to four kids of the two legged variety, she also has four fur-babies of the canine variety. When not writing or reading, Meka can be found playing The Sims 3, sometimes Sims 4, and making up fun stories to go with the pixelated people whose world she controls.
Author Loni Townsend
By day, she writes code. By predawn darkness, she writes fantasies. All other times, she writes in her head. People call her peculiar with a twisted sense of fashion, but don’t let those understatements fool you. Her behavior is perfectly normal for a squirrel disguised as a human.
First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts will be published by Dancing Lemur Press’ imprint, Freedom Fox Press, later this year.
This is our seventh anthology! Previous titles include Dark Matter: Artificial, Voyagers: The Third Ghost, Masquerade: Oddly Suited, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime, Hero Lost, The Mysteries of Death and Life, and Parallels: Felix Was Here.
Quote of the Week: “There’s nothing I value more than the closeness of friends and family, a smile as I pass someone on the street.” Willie Stargell, baseball Hall of Fame
I think the choices you made worked out well for you. Sometimes if we plan too much, we can second-guess ourselves, procrastinate and miss opportunities. Learning on the job is often the best way to go. Happy New Year! I bet those pups are tons of fun.
Happy New Year to you and your family, Lee! I’m still on hiatus but slowly returning to online life-good to come by and read your inspiring post. As a writer I learn so much from you. Read Shattered over the holidays. Review coming up soon!
Happy new year. My fingers are crossed that 2022 won’t tell 2021 and 2020 to hold its beer.
Hi Lee,
Happy New Year! I see you posted on FB another walking challenge….the incline will give you a good challenge and help build up your stamina even more.
LOVE the pics of you new pups! So gorgeous! I don’t envy you, though, pups are SO MUCH WORK and you have to be on top of the them 24 hours a day. But, the effort is certainly worth it.
Thanks so much for the congrats of the IWSG winners! I am THRILLED to be one of them. This is my first publication, so I am super excited.
Wishing you the best of health, happiness, and prosperity for 2022!!
I wished I’d waited as well, and maybe did a little more research on my genre. And I wish I’d started writing sooner. LOL, I did so much wrong, but I guess it’s all part of the process. Happy New Year!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’m wishing the best for you and everyone in 2022. I’m so excited about the new anthology and so happy for those being featured. Glad to hear that you’ve overcome your biggest regret and happy that you’ve learned from it. I’ve enjoyed your work and plan to read more of it.
Beautiful dogs. It sounds like Christmas was fun. I wish my grandkids live closer (they lived in Utah). As for the business end of writing, I’m glad I never have had to worry about paying the bills from writing. My first several pieces published were in academic journals (who don’t pay anything but a few free copies, and that’s after you deal with the peer review stuff). May 2022 be a good one for you, Lee!
Ooh sounds nice and restful 🙂
The business side of self-publishing is what concern me — keeping track of all the different formats, sales, deals, cover pages, newsletters, follow-ups, etc. seems like a full-time job! I’m always happy to learn from authors like you who’ve paved the way!
I wonder how many of this month’s regrets will be split between slow and fast? Although it does sound like you’ve overcome your regret rather well 🙂
It’s so easy to have wisdom later. At the time, we do the best we can. Your holiday sounds wonderful!
Hey, as long as you got to where you eventually wanted to be, all is good. You would have learned what you needed to know sooner or later, but perhaps this route caused you to learn harder when the time came. And let’s face it-the business side of writing keeps changing all the time, so you’re always having to learn new stuff anyway.
Happy 2022!
Glad to hear you had a good break.
Great photos!
We all make mistakes in the beginning. The trick is to learn from them and become better. You managed that.
Glad you had a nice break! That’s so important. What adorable puppies!
I have two teen boys, and I never regretted slowing down or butting writing on the back burner to make time for them.
I’m glad your break was a good one! I guess the question is whether you’d be where you are as a write now if you hadn’t made that too-early step in the first place?
The Warrior Muse
Breaks with family are wonderful! Glad you had a good one! 🙂
Oh my goodness, those puppies are adorable! Glad you enjoyed your break.
It’s always good to learn from our mistakes.
Here in the UK, we too had a relaxation in restrictions to allow us a slightly more ‘normal’ Christmas and New Year this time. It was very much the lull before the storm of Omicron infections we are experiencing now, but it was worth it for some quality family time!
I am so pleased that you got to spend time with family and friends and I’m sure there will never be a dull moment with those two new live wires taking over your home!
Have a safe and happy 2022 🙂
OOh Queensland Heeler puppies, lovely, from my state. Have they got a cattle property so they can run, LOL!
Happy New Year, Lee. There’s a lot we can only learn after we publish our first book. Until then, It’s all a theory and reading this and that and feeling inadequate. Much success in your writing journey in 2022!
Happy New Year!
One of my favorite writing quotes is from Charles Finch, who says, “To me, the single biggest mark of the amateur writer is a sense of hurry. Hurry to finish a manuscript, hurry to edit it, hurry to publish it.”
That was a hard pill to swallow when I first read it, but I totally agree. Slow and steady, so we do things wisely and don’t burn out.
Sounds like you had a wonderful holiday, Lee! I bet it was also nice to return to your comfort zone 😉 No need to wonder if you began too early - or even too late. All in good time is what matters. You’ve obviously spent good time wisely. I love your books!
So glad you had a great Dec. Those pups are adorable.
Love the pups. I adopted a lab/retriever cross in September and have been hopping ever since. hehehe
I think all writers should follow their instincts: dive-in, dip in a toe, whatever works for them. 😉
Anna from elements of emaginette
I’m glad you got to spend hectic, fun times with your family.
Regrets…we’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
As for learning about the business end of writing, I’m still ignorant.
Here’s to a fabuloso New Year!
We have to keep learning, don’t we? That’s what makes all of this so much fun. Old dogs. New tricks. I never believed that old saying, and I know you didn’t either.
It sounds like your holiday break was fantastic! I bet the boys and the dogs were so much fun and made it very, very special.
Loved every minute. Loved returning home where there was some quiet time. Have to have both!
There is so much to learn in today’s publishing world, I suspect no matter how long we wait, it might seem too soon. 😆
Kids and puppies! What a wonderful combination. The very definition of joyful noise.
I know. I just think I understand what to do, and it’s passe! My mind’s set to tick tock in a digital world!
Happy New Year! What adorable pups. I can only imagine how energetic your household must be. My holidays were much more quiet, and I’m ready to dive back into the writing world. Take care!
Glad you’re getting back to your writing world. That is always wonderful after a break.
Welcome back.
Huge congratulations to the Anthology winners. As I so often say (truthfully) writers are my heroes. I am endlessly grateful for your inspiration, hard work and courage.
Hi Sue! I know the winners appreciate what you just wrote. Thanks so much.
That’s an interesting regret that had me thinking. It’s easy to NOT pull the trigger on a new book, to say, “Just one more read”. It’s very hard to make the decision to let it go.
But when is it too early? Hmm…
Your “Hmm” is exactly right. I spend a lot of time doing that. I suppose hesitation and indecision is part of the “I’m a writer” package.
LOL - that’s my regret. I went in too early. We’ll just call it a learning experience.
I’m excited to work with the new authors.
Well, we’re in it now, so we have no choice but to swim. The alternative isn’t attractive.
Happy new year - your busy December sounds completely wonderful!!
Congrats to the anthology winners - I spy a few friends in the group!
I don’t know if there’s a way to avoid those newbie writer mistakes - and I think you’ve done amazingly well!
By now you must have snow just about window sill level. I always love seeing your picture of winter in Canada.
Yes, I see some friends as well. It’s exciting when people you know publish.
Here’s to more mistakes that take us down the road! And here’s to a great 2022, Jemi.
Happy New Year. It sounds like you have a full and fun December!
There was no time for much else except Christmas and New Year. I’m glad I took a break from social media, or I would have been a disaster.
Sounds like you had a wonderful time (and that is a lively bunch!) We learn from everything. So, I’m not sure if regrets are necessarily as ‘negative’ as they seem. We wouldn’t be what we are today if anything changed.
So true. All those decisions that lead us to where we are make us who we are.
Congrats on the winners! Love the pictures! This publishing thing is a learning curve. If I waited until I thought I was ready, I’d probably still be waiting. Thanks for sharing.
You’re right, of course. How long is the wait for a perfect time to jump into anything? Forever?
Happy 2022, Elizabeth.
Happy New Year, Lee!
Congrats to all anthology winners! A great batch of stories.
You’ve done well on your writing journey. I love your books.
The word ‘regret’ is not a word I’d use because ups and downs form an integral part of this journey.
Happy IWSG Day!
That’s true, Michelle. We all know about that rollercoaster ride, don’t we?
Hi, Cheryl-Lee!
Happy first Wednesday of the month and year, dear friend!
Yessum, three little boys + two pups = a lot of action. Thanks for posting those pictures. I also enjoyed your account of how you entered the world of published authors and learned from your early mistakes as you went along. If released in time, that sweet romance/first love anthology would be a pleasurable read through in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. I well remember Willie Stargell and like his quote, especially the part about getting a smile from a stranger. That’s huge in this day and age, a simple random act of kindness in which we can and should all participate.
I wish you a year filled with joy, satisfaction, achievement and recognition, dear friend Cheryl-Lee!
I loved Stargell’s quote as well, and I enjoy finding quotes from outside the literary/art world. Sometimes they’re the best.
Thanks for reading and sticking around so many times to leave a comment.
Hi Lee - great to see the fun family photos and my imagination can take on the family time.
Yes as Alex says - congratulations to the anthology winners …
Happy New Year and all the best with more writing - I’ve loved your books - cheers Hilary
Happy New Year, Hilary! Yes, I’m sure you can imagine the chaos within those walls.
Thank you for being one of my readers. I feel like a success when I know someone from the UK likes my stories.
That’s good that you had lots of family times over the holidays. Family is so important. It’s great that you’ve learned as you go in your publishing career.
I think it can be compared to learning to sail while you’re crossing the Atlantic! 🙂
Congratulations to the anthology winners!
Those pups look like a handful. Literally.
You’ve had a long career and learned along the way - that’s more than most writers will ever get.
It will be great to have the next anthology launched! I’m sure it will be a success.
Thanks for your great comment, Alex.