Wow, it’s March already? I have a feeling that before I know I’ll be saying Happy 2018! Anyways, it’s IWSG day again! Where every first Wednesday of month us writers get together. Sharing our highs and lows in this winding and occasional potholed road of our writing journeys. To push each other and celebrate when we reach our goals. As well as pull each other up and encourage to go on when we stumble. Writing can be a long, strange trip. And so thanks for creating the light to guide us, the IWSG, goes to ninja extraordinaire Alex J. Cavanaugh!
Interested in joining our community? Click on the badge above. The Twitter handle is @THEIWSG and the hashtag is #IWSG.
And don’t forget to visit the awesome co-hosts for today!: Tamara Narayan, Patsy Collins, M.J. Fifield, and Nicohle Christopherson!
So what’s going on with me this month?
Well I’m still on a writer’s high from last week Friday. I finally finished and uploaded the latest chapter draft to my romance WIP on Wattpad. According to Wattpad stats stories fare a lot better and get more reads and views when they’re updated on Fridays. Not sure how true it is, for me, as my posting date is whenever I’m able to. So I wonder what’ll happen if I try to upload a new chapter consistently on Fridays.
I’m also having a lot of fun creating quote art for my chapters. Especially, now that I’m using free photos I find on Pixabay.com. Here’s the latest quote art I’ve created for chapter 9 of my WIP on Canva.com and using Pixabay:
I also wrote a tagline and draft of the hook/opening lines for the sequel, which I’ll tweak later.:
Tagline: From bedmates to soulmates.
Opening line: Mama King always said you can measure how much you love someone by what you’re willing to do for them. She’d never gave him and his sister wrong advice. But goddamn if Terrell King ever admit he’d order a frou frou drink for Kim at the bar of the newest and hottest gay bar in D.C.
Hey, have I shared the temporary book cover I made on Canva.com for the sequel “Not Dreaming of You” yet?:
Anyways, I’ve already started writing chapter 10. Guess now that I’ve finally reached the good part(s) ;-D, the words are flowing faster. Surely what’s helping is reminding myself each time I sit to write, to write like no one will read it. And to write as if I’m writing in a diary or a journal.
The writing has been so freeing and more personal this way. That I’m starting to feel as if I’m peeping into my character’s, Sharon and Justin, lives. And though I worry that the writing may suck, by the end of the day I can’t help feeling a bit proud. Because if that’s how I feel when writing it, then what may a reader feel when reading it?
Ever created quote art to promote your story? Has it helped with your book promotion and marketing? Do you use Canva.com, PicMonkey, Pixabay, Shutter Stock, etc? Which one do you prefer using? Have a story or more waiting in the wings that you’re interested on writing in your near future?
March 1 Question: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?
I was going to say I’ve yet to do that. But then I remembered a short story I first wrote during college in a writing workshop class. It’s an autobiographical short. That I’ve reworked and wanted to submit to Glimmer Train Press. I dad it critiqued on Scribophile and an online fiction class. Which also received some good responses on both forums too. Now that I’ve remembered it, I’m going to dust it off and revise/edit again.
Congrats, Lidy. Looks like you’re doing exactly what I’m dreaming of. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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Thanks Emaginette. Hope to keep this train chugging. 😊
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Congratulations on successfully uploading your latest chapter on Wattpad. I hope it takes off for you and exceeds the statistics you expect.
All the best.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat
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Thanks. Noticed the views/reads jumped up a bit after posting on Friday. Looking forward to seeing how high the numbers will go up when I post again tomorrow. Heard it’s favorable to post in the afternoon and I posted it in the morning.
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Glad your story is doing well on Wattpad. If I every use the site, I’ll remember to upload on Fridays.
No images, but I created a lot of text graphics for the release of my fourth book.
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Thanks Alex. What site/tool did you use to create your text graphics.
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I’m interested in seeing how your Wattpad chapter updates go. It’s an interesting way to garner an audience. Good luck!
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Thank you Karen. I’m doing another experiment with my chapters too. Before I featured both the main male and female characters POV in each chapter. Now each chapter will feature only one of their POVs in turn.
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Congratulations!
I haven’t found a home there yet. So many sites to conquer.
So happy to see you so happy – rubs off! 🙂
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Thanks. What writing sites are you on? Which one you like the most?
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I am on Wattpad, but I haven’t done much with it. I mostly post writing on my blog or other flash fiction blogs. Then again, I’m mostly busy just writing the next book to test the waters too much. Probably missing out, I’ve always wondered about Fan Fiction sites. But have never looked into them, have you?
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Heard fanfic is very popular on Wattpad since you’re writing fiction that already have a fan base. Have a fanfic story idea for Heroes Reborn. And thought of doing one in Faith from Buffy the vampire slayer.
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I like Freepik for images. It’s either Freepik or Freepick. Good tip about posting to Wattpad on Fridays. I have yet to post anything there. Am looking forward to hearing more about your experiences publishing on that platform. 🙂 http://www.raimeygallant.com
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Thanks Raimey. 😀 It’s the first time I’ve heard of Freepik. What do you like about it?
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Good luck with your short story.
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