Easter 2024

We just finished Spring Break here. I spent the majority of it ill. I've been sick more in the last nine months than I have been in the previous few years combined. I'm hoping the upcoming long weekend will offer me a chance to finish recuperating.

I hope you are all able to enjoy some much need time of relaxation, fun, and love this weekend as well.

Looking for a great Easter read? Check out This Easter Reading List.

For a little Easter writing inspiration, check out one of my former posts 4 Easter Inspired Prompts, or this list I came across: Easter Journal Prompts.

Do you celebrate Easter? How are you celebrating this season? Have you tried writing anything Easter inspired, or similar to the above prompts? Do you want to share anything that you have felt pulling at your heart lately?

Reminder of A to Z and Twitter Pitch

 It's nearly time for the 2024 "Twitter Pitch" as well as he 2024 "A to Z Blogging Challenge". If you're interested in either:

#IWSGPit Twitter Party

The next #IWSGPit will be March 27, 2024.
10:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, Tweet your pitch using #IWSGPit. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.

Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch - it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.

For hashtags and guidelines, visit our #IWSGPit page.

Do authors really find agents and publishers through a Twitter pitch party? Yes they do! Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. has found FIVE authors from this event, including one of our best sellers, Damien Larkin.

So, get your pitches ready for March!

It's also almost time for the annual "A to Z" blogging challenge. Most repeat participants have already begun planning their posts for this April and will soon be posting theme reveals. Are there any themes you would particularly care to see, or learn about in April?

Sign-ups usually begin in March.  Followed by a schedule similar to below:

Theme reveal sign up: March 8
Theme reveal closes: March 20
Master list opens: March 29
Master list closes: April 7
After-survey: May 1-8
Reflections: May 3-8
Road-trip: May 10

To learn more about this challenge, or what you can expect to see this April, be sure to follow their website http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ 

 Will you be participating in #IWSGPit? Have you had success with a Twitter pitch party? Have you ever participated in the "A to Z" challenge? Will you be taking part this year? What other hops or challenges do you enjoy? Are you attending any this year? Do you have a favorite that we haven't listed here?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

March 17 is the traditional day to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. If you're interested in participating, but not quite sure how, check out this article I shared a couple of years ago: Irish Classics, Prompts, and Party Tips.

Feeling Lucky? Check out the post about where I and a few other writers get their inspiration: https://iwsganthologies.blogspot.com/2022/03/feeling-lucky.html

Some additional educational and fun holiday ideas include:

• Streaming Irish jigs and songs.
• Watching traditional Irish dance on YouTube or chrome cast to your TV.
• Adding green food dye to your short bread cookie recipes.
• Sewing or gluing crazy Green Irish hats, ties or belts using felt, ribbons, or fabrics.
• Cooking Irish Stew, scones and clotted cream or butter from scratch or from cans. 
• Telling Irish fables about leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, or gnomes.
• Reminding your children about the “kiss of the blarney” and the folkloric tradition known today as “the gift of the gab”.
• Research the real St. Patrick.

How about you? Are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day? How are you spending this time?

IWSG: AI Use

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 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. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs. You can also join us on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG, or on the Facebook page.

Now, IWSG hosts have changed up the format in an effort to make it more fun and interactive. Every month, they will announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day 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. 

Don’t forget to visit others that day to see their answers. Want to join, or learn more? Visit our - Sign-up List.

MARCH 6 QUESTION - Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

MY ANSWER - We had a similar discussion in our October posting if you'd like to look back at those. My only interaction with AI as a writer has been to address using it in the classroom. As soon as ChatGPT released more than a year ago, I saw a huge use of it by students to attempt writing assignments. We spent time actually looking at instances where you could use it, but the software was creating sadly horrible and oftentimes completely incorrectly factual writing. This helped to dissuade plagiarism in that first year. However, as AI software increase in reliability so too does it's use, not just by students but also by teachers and writers. Some only use it as a means to see examples (a learning or confidence building tool). However, I believe we may see an increase in reliance on this technology, and an outright substitution for individual authentic creation. In response, more schools and legal systems will attempt to define what is allowable and what is not (refer back to Hollywood/writers/actors strikes last year).

What about you? Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?