This month’s piece for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group post might be somewhat different as I’ve spent five days away in a Care Home- River’s Edge- with my laptop giving me grief, so no emails no writing, no gaming. There were no other amenities at the center to distract me, and the caring was hit and miss… so I got badly constipated and worse.
At least Juania and Treeky, plus Blondie, our new Companion fur baby got go camping, and enjoy themselves with 30 extended family and dogs. Most had fun playing in the trees and water, although Juanita fell on her tailbone, then got bitten during a dog-fight, then got a finger caught in a car door.
Not an ideal trip.
For now, Ukraine is my writing priority. As I’ve said a few times, I will continue my Ukraine stories until a just peace is reached and the reconstruction has begun.
Every month, IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
Remember, the question is optional!
August 2 question: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?
I must pass this month, after all the mishaps. But I will be back with my Ukraine Night Witches historical shorts The next episode is due around August 16th to 18th 2023.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Welcome WINDSONG BLONDELLE PHOENIX better known as Blondie, our new Companion fur baby. She will never replace my unique Quetzal, who remains irreplaceable and I’m still mourning her. Blondie is full of energy and tries so hard to play with Treeky. But the old man only wants to bark and bark. As for this old man, I’d love our new fur baby to share my bed – without stepping on my catheter – but the three times she’s been on the bed, her visits have been brief. She prefers getting Juanita’s attention by chewing her shoes. Luckily new toys are on order.
2. One minor problem is chewing through my computer cable, which left me unable to check my emails, write this post until Tuesday, or keep up to date on Ukraine. So, I’m being briefer than usual.
3. Health continues to plague me. I’m meant to be going on respite at the end of the month so Juanita and the dogs can go camping. Should be interesting… if I can take my laptop to write.
For now, Ukraine is still one of my two writing priorities. As I’ve said a few times, I will continue my Ukraine stories until a just peace is reached and the reconstruction has begun. The next episode is due around August 16th to 18th 2023.
Every month, IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
July 5 question – 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?
Remember, the question is optional!
I must be brief this month, but I can start by saying as a teenager and in my twenties, dreams were often my inspiration.
But that gradually changed to echoing real-life events as with my two current projects. My Snowdon Shadows police procedural series reflects Welsh issues with touches of the history and folklore. Likewise, my Ukraine Night Witches historical shorts are fiction set against ongoing events… not forgetting the initial short echoing the Firebird legend.
I’ve even used Norse mythology for some WEP/IWSG flash shorts.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
As our health costs spiral, living off two pensions is a struggle, requiring careful budget savings. Sometimes harsh reality catches us out. We are now having to pay $860 p.m as our monthly ground rent has been increased by $65 p.m. Fortunately, my brilliant wife made a major grocery saving by getting us accepted for meals on wheels.
Our house move plans are progressing slowly.
My care team are still aiming to get me in my power wheelchair for indoor trips. But now they intend to avoid depending on commercial therapists, by us all learning simple massage techniques to help straighten my knees.
I’m now planning with my wife, for when I move on/pass. When we lived in Wales, we found a woodland cemetery, where we wanted to be buried. In Idaho, there is no such green option. So, I’ve been dreaming of being in Sussex again with my wife, somehow.
Restaall Peaceful Forest Cremation Urns
Probably. two cremations, one urn shared with our fur-babies. Wakes in Idaho and Sussex so everyone who wants to entertain with memories is welcome.
On to the writing… well, briefly as this month’s question is a departure from scribbling.
For now, Ukraine is still one of my two writing priorities. As I’ve said a few times, I will continue my Ukraine stories until a just peace is reached and the reconstruction has begun. The next episode is due in three weeks around June 21st – prompt ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’
So much has happened over the last few weeks, notably the announcement about Western jets, relevant to my 2022 Night Witches as they face returning to Ukraine,and now on June 6th the destruction of Nova Kakhovka Dam .
The post should be up next week.
Slava Ukrayini
**
Every month, IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
Remember, the question is optional!
June 7 question – If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with?
Clue: Before reading more, decipher my photo clue and mention your thoughts in a comment. Please. Then read my answer.
June Answer: When I stopped photography, I found time to write. Therefore, photography might be my replacement for writing.
I gave up professional photography when my Canon pro-camera became too heavy to use due to my declining health. My wife agreed especially as all my lenses made the equipment too bulky to carry around.
Lumix FZ100
We bought a lighter Lumix, which my wife still uses. The photo from our office window in North Wales of the view towards Snowdon is hers, and I asked her if I could use it for ‘Writing Wings’.
Snowdon above Portmeirion by Juanita Clarke
However, I still struggle to lift some things – like the Lumix.
Solution: 4K Digital Camera for Photography and Video Autofocus 48MP Vlogging Camera for YouTube with SD Card 3” Flip Screen Flash 16x Zoom Anti-Shake Travel Camera for Beginner.
However, this small camera offers possibilities beyond stills. So, prepare for videos and vlogging. Will this get me out of my bedroom into the wider world? First though, I have transfer photos off the camera successfully.
Then decide how to target Sussex into my plans…remotely. I need to find a UK base unit.
Clue Answer: Selfie taken in family graveyard, at All Saints, Highbrook, near where we plan to rest forever, with a view over the Sussex countryside… once we’ve finished vlogging.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
First, I must remember to celebrate our 13th Wedding Anniversary on May 14th.
Second, our house move may take longer than hoped. Some of the houses we were interested in, we can’t view yet as they are not ‘active’ in the market. Our realtor explained he gets fined $1,000 for each ‘inactive’ property he shows prospective buyers around. Maybe all our funds will be in place when we find the perfect home.
At least a delay gives my care team more time to get me in my power wheelchair for indoor trips… and then outside with trees and grass in a gated, over 55 community with amenities.
Until the move happens, gaming and writing keep my brain active and alive. Tomorrow, May the Force be with you.
Ukraine is still one of my two writing priorities. I will continue my Ukraine stories until a just peace is reached and the reconstruction has begun. Next episode is due around June 21st – prompt ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’ However, first I’m working on another Ukraine piece to build on my April entry: https://rolandclarke.com/2023/04/20/wep-iwsg-april-challenge-life-is-beautiful/
Every month, IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
Remember, the question is optional!
May 3 question – When you are working on a story, what inspires you?
Interesting question with at least two answers, depending on which story I’m working on:
Snowdon Shadows: Characters have inspired me as I wrote the various stories within my Snowdon Shadows world, especially my crime-fighting duo, Sparkle Anwyl and Kama Pillai. However, other characters involved in their cases have proved inspirational in their own way.
Fevered Fuse, the first Snowdon Shadows novel, has seen this trend continue. Furthermore, I note another inspiring element – the setting, notably North Wales. In many ways, Snowdonia is another character. Therefore, I chose ‘setting’ as another ‘inspirer’.
2. Freedom Flights: Events inspired my ongoing Ukraine saga, initially real-life events. Then those inspired the fictional events to develop the episodes within the saga. Again, the characters proved inspirational. However, when I come to link the present-day stories back to my initial World War II story, ‘Feathered Fire’, I will use real events woven within fictional ones… and characters. My intention is to work on these pre-2022 episodes during NaNoWriMo 2023.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Excessive exploring down rabbit holes leads to drowsiness…
.and lost words of wisdom.
If I keep dozing off, this might be next month’s effort. Which works as we will be about to celebrate our 13th anniversary on May 14th. As last month I said, “13 years, three countries, and five homes… and a sixth looking necessary for various reasons, although selling our house might stymie our intent.”
The house move must happen as I need to leave the house when the weather improves – no green snow on April 1st. 😉
My care team are already planning the first stage: getting me in my power wheelchair for indoor trips…to the front room.
Outside needs upgrading from mean streets to trees and grass in a gated, over 55 community with amenities. So far, we have the idea house and community… except no trees = keep looking with help of our realtor friend.
Until the move happens, gaming and writing keep my brain active and alive.
Ukraine is still one of my two writing priorities. I will continue my Ukraine stories until a just peace is reached and the reconstruction has begun. Next episode is due around April 19th – prompt ‘Life is Beautiful.’
Every month, IWSG announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
Remember, the question is optional!
April 5 question – Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you’re at the start of the journey, what are your goals?
Interesting question with at least two answers, depending on which book is the first:
The first complete draft of a novel: When I was finishing college in the gorgeous Laurentians, north of Montreal, I thought I was on the brink of a career as a fantasy/science fiction writer. I had written the first draft of a fantasy novel, some short stories, and edited a SF/Fantasy fanzine called ‘Mind Sphere’.
However, family demands led me back to England with some short stories, copies of the fanzine, but not the draft novel. Dreams of becoming a writer unwound, although I scribbled a few shorts over the next three decades.
Cover credit: Danielle Sands
The first novel published: ‘Spiral of Hooves’ was my first published novel. The writing journey is full of memories as it’s a mystery set against the horse world surrounding the sport of eventing, which I was covering in my last years as an equestrian journalist. However, the initial inspiration came a few years earlier when I was photographing events… and before I switched career paths to selling organic produce… and then to TV/film production.
Eventually, I returned to writing about horse sports as an equestrian journalist. My initial idea proved too unwieldy, but this time I was ready to commit although my journo-journey was taking off and eating into the fictional commitment. But it was feeding the plotlines. Then at an international indoor show, I was watching a showjumping class when the pieces gelled.
Okay, it took invaluable comments from the experienced novelists of Tunbridge Wells & District Writers Circle , an incurable disease, retirement, a few more years, and my determined American wife to encourage me across the published finishing line.
From that encouraging start, I have kept writing, although judging by the out-of-date ‘Work Progression – or not’ page on this website, kept distracting my progress with new projects… often during NaNoWriMo. Even my second finished novel ‘Wyrm Bait’ was submitted to an editor, and June 2013 I received a positive appraisal with extensive notes and suggestions on how to revise it. Instead, I darted down another rabbit run.
So, eight plus distractions later, I have two more challengers for second novel:
Fevered Fuse – my Snowdon Shadows police procedural, which I’m attempting to revise through my health issues, guided by my editor’s notes, and encouraged across the finish by you, my loyal followers. Many thanks.
Freedom Flight – my ongoing Ukraine saga, requiring a just peace, and maybe a NaNoWriMo attempt to fill in the blanks.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Most important, to me, is my wife Juanita’s birthday. She’s 71 today and precious. In just over a month, we will celebrate our 13th anniversary. 13 years, three countries, and five homes… and a sixth looking necessary for various reasons, although selling our house might stymie our intent.
Juanita shares her special day with St David, the Patron Saint of Wales. When we moved to Harlech in Snowdonia, our first morning in our new home was March 1st, 2014.
That post made me look for other March 1st IWSG posts.
Although, this next one appeared on March 5th, 2014, it seems the most relevant, as we are/might be on the move again. Hopefully, we won’t be offline as long, especially since in 2014 my brother pulled political strings to get our IP provider to provide our connection faster.
Rather than link every March IWSG post, I searched for one more appropriate piece. The one below is not March, but my second ever IWSG post – my first being a month earlier. The chicken-list is interesting as it shows how my life has changed. Neither of my current writing projects were in existence, and Wyrm Bait is now on ice. Gaming has become a lifeline, although I keep it in check.
Every month, IWSG announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG 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.
Remember, the question is optional!
March 1 question – Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?
This month I’m passing, not because of no lines or twists existing, but because there are too many. I manage to find at least one in most novels I read or listen to. Author envy occurs too often.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Writing Wings 