PJL's Write Life

Last month I purposefully missed IWSG. There were a couple things I could have written, some drafts I had saved, but instead I opted to skip out. I gotta be honest. It was refreshing. Don't get me wrong. I love this group. Your support is amazing and motivates me to keep going. I probably would have quit writing if not for my fellow writers. I may be an introvert, but it is human nature in all of us to need some form of comradery. When we find something we love, we want to share it with others who love it too. Then during the low parts, we have friends to turn to. But taking a break from posting here was still nice. I'm back to work at Salvation Army and I've been going at gardening full throttle. It's worn me out because I keep forgetting I'm not in my teens or twenties and acting like I am. Top it off with a family get together and a friend's dad's memorial, I had no spare gas in my tank for IWSG. There's been days I haven't bothered turning on the...

Decided to  keep all IWSG posts here instead of Substack. You know me, I'm wishy-washy and change my mind like I change my socks. *** February 7 question: What turns you off when visiting an author's website/blog? Lack of information? A drone of negativity? Little mention of author's books? Constant mention of books? Too much clutter and bad design. Please make things easy to navigate and read, and for the love of all that is holy, do not use white text on a black background. That burns my eyes. (I'm not kidding. I can't read it because it causes discomfort.) *** I'm back to the anniversary of my surgery . This is probably going to be something I write about on the date of because of how much it affected my life. While the physical pain is gone, there is still a bit of mental anguish lingering. One of those is FOMO. Fear of missing out. Now that I'm pain free, it's hard for me not to feel a pressure to catch up. To not miss out on getting stuff done beca...

It's IWSG day and I'm kinda sorta not doing it. Over on Substack , it's my one year anniversary, so I wrote something about that over there. I didn't want to let the day go by unnoticed though. Or feel like I'm starting 2024 off on the wrong foot. After the way 2023 went, I have serious reserves about 2024 and have repeatedly said I don't trust it already. Yet, I do not want to start the year on negative energy. But I'm not feeling comfortable to flat out say 2024 will rock either. Rock, meet Hard Place. I think my best course of action is to refuse to predict what 2024 will hold. Instead, I'll take it day by day. I have goals and plans, but I'll roll with any punches thrown my way so I can bounce up easier and get back to what I want to achieve. Totally doable, right? Today's post was part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group . Kinda. Created by the ninja captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, it's a group for writers struggling with writing ins...

December 6th question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book reviews do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author? I don’t really think about it as it’s more a matter of “Do I feel like trying to type on my phone?” because I tend to read in bed at night so when I finish a book, I’m in bed and I can’t type on my phone’s screen to save my life. First off, I want to thank everyone for the suggestions on writing tactics last month . There was a good variety of advice in the comments. Will any of it work for me? We shall see. But probably not until next year. It’s the holiday months, so writing gets sidelined a bit for me. And can I just say I’m not really looking forward to the holidays? I’d rather skip to April (and skip winter while we’re at it.) I’m lacking the energy to deal with Christmas and it’s positivity. About the only thing I want to see is Christmas lights. But I...

November 1st question: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not? I tried once and my brain thought it would be utterly hilarious to not write a single word to spite NaNo. True story. My brain is a dick. I feel the uncertainty of the future again. Lately, hubby and I have been discussing houses. By the time this goes out, we’ll have looked at least one, and I went through the process with our bank to pre-approved a loan. We’re both terrified because houses aren’t cheap. But our apartment is getting a little too small for us. Hubby’s job as a software developer pays well, so we’re both confident we can buy a house on his income. Still, I don’t want that burden to solely fall on him. We’re a team, after all. A job with more hours than my crossing job might be in my future. What does that mean for my writing? That’s the million dollar question. I know writers who carved out bits of writing here and there. I know someone who wrote their book in 1...

October 4th question: The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts? Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash Like everyone else on the internet, I have thoughts on AI. I won’t get into my thoughts of AI art because, as an artist, I might get ranty. Overall, AI is a tool. It can be used to make your life easier. The main problem is how have the AI tools been trained? A lot of the training seems to be done on stuff people did not consent to be used and without compensation. That is just not cool. As I said, I have strong thoughts on AI “art” but I don’t begrudge people who want to make cool pictures with it. People should be able to do that. But the creators of these AI tools should be seeking permission and compensating the people whose stuff is being used to train. ESPECIALLY if those AI tool creators are going to make money of their tool. If what you do is worth ma...

September 6th question: When did you discover the IWSG, how do you connect, and how has it helped you? I want to say I discovered the IWSG a year after it was created. I’m fairly certain I wasn’t there from the very start, but pretty damn close. I love this group. You’ve lifted me up and helped me through my insecurities so many times. You’ve come out in droves to help me spread the word about my books. Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash You seriously rock. I am utterly grateful to Alex for creating it, and I am happy it is still going strong 12 years later. My last few posts for IWSG have been about the turmoil in my life due to my father-in-law’s unexpected death. We’re at the 6 month mark since it happened . I’m still not sure if I trust the rest of 2023, but moments of normalcy are creeping in. I had MIParaCon at the end of August. What a breath of fresh air. The event went amazing. It felt so good to be there and have life feel normal once again. I was exhausted afterward, but I a...

August 2 question: Have you ever written something that afterward you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it? I can’t recall anything. There have been things I’ve written, and afterward, someone brought up a point that made me worry about how others would react to it. I didn’t change it, though. We are now past July. Over halfway through 2023. I’m not sure how that happened. Things have been a little blurry since my father-in-law passed. Hubby and I survived the heat and humidity of Mississippi and are back in cool Michigan. I’m optimistic for the rest of the year, but the stress of my father-in-law’s death is hovering around, throwing rocks at our heads. from Imgflip Meme Generator   At least, the rocks are smaller. Little pebbles that sting, but they’re getting less disruptive.Last week, I applied for a part-time job at the high school. I’m hoping to be a lunch lady! You may be asking what happened to the Salvation Army job. It wa...

The July 5th question of the month is: 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from? Mine tend to come from all over. Some of them have been from dreams. Others have come from books. Some I can’t even remember how I got the idea. Usually, if something can make me ask, “What if?” then a story might start brewing in my head. I’m currently melting from the insane humidity in Mississippi. We went down again for my father-in-law’s birthday. He would have been 70 if not for cancer. Thank you to everyone for wishing my uncle well after his heart attack. He’s doing well, but is grouchy that he had to give up certain foods and cigars, and that he missed the Indy 500 this year. At least from what it looks like from here, he will have many more to come if he behaves with his health. I’m going to leave it short this month. 2023 is still sus in my opinion, but June wasn’t a bad month. I worked on editing and beta reading for Christine Rains . My fingers are crossed...

Dear 2023, Man, you’ve been…something. Between the deaths in my family and the ridiculous amount of travel, I honestly would rather deal with 2020. At least, then we got to stay home. Seriously, we were down in Mississippi from February 22nd through April 15th. The next weekend, we traveled for my grandma’s memorial. The weekend after that I had a convention I was a vendor at. On May 6th, we got to stay home the entire weekend, but the weekend after that, hubby traveled for work. And the weekend after that was a family get-together. After that week was my nephew’s graduation, and the next will be his graduation party. And finally, the weekend after is another graduation. Then it’s back to Mississippi until July 8th. I AM TIRED. A cherry on top of 2023 is my uncle had a heart attack, so thoughts for him, please. from Imgflip Meme Generator It’s no wonder I haven’t really written anything new in terms of stories. Some 200-word flash fiction, but mostly, I have been editing. I feel like ...

My father-in-law passed last month from cancer so my writing came to a screeching halt. But earlier this week I had a thought. Maybe I'll get to write. I've never been so excited about a thought. I don't know how much writing I'll get in. There are still plenty of things to get sorted with my father-in-law's belongings. But it's nice to know that things are calming and I'm getting closer to writing again. Now, I just need to remember how to do it! Today's post was part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group . Created by the ninja captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, it's a group for the writers (AKA all of us) struggling with insecurity to gather and discuss our fears or to celebrate writing victors. If you are a struggling writer or need encouragement and friendship, join us. (Someone might have cookies!)   Remember to visit the co-hosts and give them a shout-out for helping. Jemima Pett , Nancy Gideon , and Natalie Aguirre !

I told you. I freaking told you. I did not trust 2023 and I was right. This IWSG, I won't be visiting everyone as much as I'm with family.The health news I mentioned in my round up post is bad, but I'm not one to plaster the details all over. All I'll say is good vibes and prayers are appreciated. Today's post was part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group . Created by the ninja captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh, it's a group for the writers (AKA all of us) struggling with insecurity to gather and discuss our fears or to celebrate writing victors. If you are a struggling writer or need encouragement and friendship, join us. (Someone might have cookies!)   Remember to visit the co-hosts and give them a shout-out for helping. Diedre Knight , Tonya Drecker , Bish Denham , Olga Godim , and JQ Rose !

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my surgery that gave me back my life. For those of you not in the know, I have Endometriosis. It looked something like this. Blank days were the days I didn't have pain. There weren't many. You can see it progressively getting worse each month. I went to the ER three times in four months because the pain was so bad. Ever not brush your teeth for days in a row? Or shower? Or use deodorant? It's not pretty. On February 1st in 2021, I had surgery. It went... a little off the rails. I was supposed to go home the same day and instead spent two nights in the hospital. I had a catheter in for a month because my bladder (and bowels) were trying to fuse with my uterus, and it had to be pried off and in the process tore. I gave my doctor a challenge, but she rose to it. The uncertainty of how much the surgery would help vanished. She was 100% certain I'd feel better. And I did. Infinitely better. The thing is there's still healing going o...

In 2022, I did something drastic. I quit writing. Sorta. Kinda. I pulled my published books, deleted a bunch of social media, and hit pause on my paranormal and fantasy writing. I had been feeling lost and uncertain about what I wanted when it came to writing and indie publishing. Having all that stuff distracted me from really thinking about it. Instead, I'd be plotting what I could do to get my books in front of readers, what to post next on social media, and all that marketing crap. So, I went dark in order to get my shit together. I promised I would be back at some point and in some form. Cue epic return. (Yes, this is a new blog.) Does that mean I got my shit figured out? Sorta. Kinda. I didn't quite think about what I wanted from writing as much as I had planned. For one, I got a summer job at the local Salvation Army. I actually enjoyed it a lot despite being a self-described anti-social introvert. There were some interesting characters who came in. (Can you say writing ...