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@TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the August 5 posting of the IWSG are Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia!
Every month, we 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. August 5 question - As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process?
🤔
I don't totally believe in regret, because we make the choices we make with what we have at the time.
(Was that microwave burrito 🌯 the BEST meal choice? No. Was it the the best option at the time, given all restrictions? Yeah. The outcome might be regrettable, but the reasons for the choice were probably solid at the time.)
That being said...
There was a publication offer from a Canadian publisher in the early 90s. (They no longer exist or were absorbed into a big five or who knows.) I didn't feel the book I was working on at the time was ready. Nor did I appreciate a small press from another country that somehow reached out to me. But maybe I should have. Maybe I would have been moved to a bigger publisher if that place was sold. Or maybe I'd have a legal battle over my work.
I never published that book. It was a dystopian YA where "marriage" was now two people leaping off a cliff. Survival granted marriage and procreation rights. Most people did not survive. It was actually a government population control ploy. The MC plots to overthrow the government mandate after her love interest breaks up with her and dies jumping with her best friend. (Really a hot take 🍵 on governments manipulating people via religion, using a fictional religion so as not to offend any one group.)
Actually, the first few chapters were published in the PEACE-LOVE-JOY-RAGE zine. So a few hundred people read it. The opening chapters did get good reviews. Probably how that publisher found me.
I don't know if I still have a copy. Maybe on a 3.5 floppy 💾.
There was also a scifi YA I worked on three hours a week every week my senior year of high school. I deleted it because someone pointed out my main character was named Leah, and naming a mc who is part human part alien that name is problematic because a more famous scifi story used it. The person said "Star Trek," which I hadn't seen. I deleted all my work and decided to hate Star Trek.
⭐️
Five years later, I learned it's actually Star Wars. And I'm pretty fond of the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies.
And why didn't I just change her damn name?
🤦♀️
I'm open to the possibility that my writing could become published and sell enough plus create enough discussion to be deemed classic fiction one day.
I am insecure about publishing because I am disabled and my writing, my creativity, might not be Profitable enough (as determined by my government). I have never sought to write purely for profit. The idea of writing only or primarily to turn a dollar sounds disgusting; I would equate the idea with sex for love and intimacy versus prostitution. (Have I benefited financially from several relationships with someone with which I had sex? Yes. Was the primary function or goal of a sexual encounter an exchange of funds? No. Could published writing result in profit? Absolutely. Is that my primary goal or motivation? No.)
I worry that more book bans will result in fewer books purchased by libraries. Several of my WIPs are MG or YA. That's a big target audience to lose!
I believe this shouldn't be political. School boards, PTAs, and librarians do enough. Politicians, Congressional Representatives, shouldn't have the authority over this. It shouldn't be about politics! Especially not in a nation with Freedom of Speech.
(And, allegedly, Freedom of the Press. Unless the press reports news that someone then suggests they shouldn't have a broadcasting license for reporting. It shouldn't be a political option-- that's my opinion as a writer who was on my high school and college papers. 📰)
And in Arkansas (bottom of the literacy barrel in the US) they're now putting librarians in prison if children read books! Okay, certain books, like ones with human biology or anything that upsets... certain people in power.
I oppose this blanket censorship as a writer. Again, it makes me feel insecure about publishing several of my books. I have a few friends in Arkansas. If I publish and send them a copy, do I risk prison? 🚔 😬
That's a writing insecurity.
