IWSG News and Opportunities

1) The next Insecure Writers Support Group posting comes early in July. Don't forget to have your post up by July 3rd due to the USA Independence holiday.

2) The IWSG Goodreads Book Club is currently discussing Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat. 

3) The next #IWSGPit is Thursday, July 19, 2018, 8:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. Over a thousand agents and publishers have been invited to tune in that day. Polish your story and your Twitter pitch and be ready!


4) Announcing the next IWSG Anthology Contest genre and dates!
     Young adult romance is the genre. The theme will be revealed on September 5, along with the judges and other details.

The previous anthologies were Parallels: Felix Was Here, Hero Lost: The Mysteries of Death and Life, and Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime. Your short story might be included in the fourth anthology!

Are you a member of the IWSG? Will you be participating in any of these opportunities?

Game Masters and MythBusters

Hey all! I'm guest posting over on the Parallels blog today. If you have a chance, please stop by and read about some of my favorite science exhibits at the Reuben H. Fleet Museum as well as their influence on or by science fiction. You can check that out here.

Don't forget to share about some of your own visits, inspirations, and favorite science related facts!

HAPPY WRITING!

Writers, Pets, Pics, and Submission Opportunities

We are loving, honoring, and educating about pets in this months issue of Thrive. Check us out: http://thriveswla.com/home-family/life-with-pets 

To the left and below are pics of my sidekick. My dachshund is named Dulcinea - Dulci for short. Bonus points if you get the literary reference.

Writing these article and rereading them recently made me curious about what type of pets writers prefer. I did a little research and found many of them have loved cats, dogs, and other usual household pets. However, just as many of them have preferred unusual, or endangered, ones including ravens and peacocks.

To find out what pets make the best partners for writers, or to peruse photographs of famous duos:

The Best Pet for a Writers Health and Well-being

Adorable Pictures of Famous Writers and Their Pets

Literary Pets

Writers and Their Pets

Literary Figures and Their Wild Pets

Authors and Their Pets - Pinterest Photos

Do you want to write about your pets? Check out these opportunities:

http://www.wideopenpets.com/contributors/ -  Dog Writers Association of America

http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics - Life Lessons from your Cat or Dog

What type of pets do you have? What name did you pick and why? Did you figure out the literary reference for my dogs name?

IWSG: Titles, or names?

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.

JUNE QUESTION: What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

MY ANSWER: I have a harder time with character names than titles. To me, writing a title is mostly easy. I simply base it on the topic (maybe I've written too many essays, research papers, and thesis) and that carries over to my fiction writing as well. However, character names cause me no end of issues. After being a teacher for so many years, nearly each name reminds me of a specific student and my fictional characters then become irritating, lovable, demanding, full of folly, etc. as I am subconsciously thinking of at least one student with that name. There have been several instances when I, or a beta reader, have been editing and caught glaring character personality changes due to this. The old adage "Careful, or you'll end up in my book" is extremely true for educators.