Insecure Writer's Support Group for November 2013

Anna Nordeman

 

Thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh for starting Insecure Writer's Support Group.

This is my nineth post for IWSG.

For those who would like to see my list of how-to-write-books, please go here. 
[If what I write here is difficult to understand, go back to my IWSG-posts for August here, for September here, and for October here.]

For my November edition of IWSG I can report that we now only have six cats, from the original eleven we had in July. (The last kitten we are going to sell, Bamse,  went to a young family living in neighbouring town, Nyköping, on October 15th.) Life is slowly returning to normal. I am student-teaching and have no time for blogging or NaNoWriMo at all. I am writing this post on October 16th and scheduling it for November 6th. But I will reply to all who leave comments.

This photo made them choose Bamse

Thanks to Denise Covey's monthly writing exercises for Romantic Friday Writers (RFW) and now her new blog, Write-Edit-Publish (WEP), I've stumbled upon an idea for a story that I like. But I've decided to not try to complete it for NaNoWriMo. I am treating my story like a delicate infant, and only plan to work on it when I know I have the time do something worth saving. It will take  longer than 30 days to do it this way; but I don't care. I'm sure that I'll be much happier with it in the end.

I have to get a paying job. I was disheartened when I read Yolanda Renee's post about how little money she received in royalties for her first mystery, Murder, Madness and Love. I've read it, and it's a great story. I am certain that she put a lot of time, thought and hard work into it. If a really good writer like Yolanda is not earning very much for her efforts, who am I kidding? I may never get published! And if I do, who will read my story?

But it must feel good to have succeeded in writing a book of your own and seeing your story in print. I'd still like to try to write a novel and get it published.

Yesterday, I took a look at the other extreme, and watched a short documentary film, A Year in the Life by James Runcie (to be found on the extra DVD with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) about J.K. Rowling writing the last book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She has earned a lot of money from these books, that took 17 years to write. Hers is a rags-to-riches/Cinderella-story that the majority of us will never ever come close to. 

But I'm not putting her down. I'm glad that someone can do it, and especially someone, like Rowling, who seems to not have forgotten what it was like to be poor. According to this film, J.K. Rowling has given away millions of pounds to different charities that help families in need, and to multiple sclerosis research. Her mother died of MS without ever knowing how successful her daughter's writing would become.

I haven't given up my dream of writing. But for now, I will have to write papers about education and schools and work as a student teacher. If I do well, maybe I will be able to get a teaching job.

Thanks to all who read this post. Good luck to those who plan to write for NaNoWriMo in November! There is a lot to be learned from trying.


Best wishes,

Anna

First Commenter:

Wendy Tyler Ryan

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Wendy Tyler Ryan - Author