IWSG Blog Hop: Enduring a Storm in Your Writing Life, Blogging A to Z Challenge: A Phony

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story blog by J.Q. Rose. 
It's the monthly meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group(IWSG) blog hop and the continuation of the Blogging A-Z Challenge.

Internet Writers Support Group Blog Hop

First Wednesday of every month.

What is IWSG? Founder of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group and author Alex J Cavanaugh explains the group's purpose is "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!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.

The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month.  The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page. I hope you'll take some time to visit the diverse list of bloggers.

IWSG Question for the Month

April 4 question - When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing? When I was writing my romantic suspense novel, Deadly Undertaking, I had a cloudy, rainy, thunderstorm in my writing life. I just could not write that story. But rather than ditching it, I decided to write short stories that summer and let my main character rest. Of course, she didn't rest or let me rest. I'd wake up in the middle of the night or run thoughts of the story through my brain while taking a shower, a walk, washing dishes, trying to determine why I couldn't write the story. 

I really had a good summer though playing with short story characters and settings.Then I had an epiphany about the character in Deadly Undertaking. She was based on me, my life as an undertaker's daughter. I had put her into a situation that I couldn't bear in my real life and that was my problem. When I finally learned to think of her as a completely different person from myself, I was able to finish the story!

My advice to writers who are dealing with tough times writing a story is to divorce yourself from it and plan or work on a completely different project. Just realize your brain won't completely disengage from the problem because sub-consciously you'll be working on a solution. 

# # #

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

~dissembler~

a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold 

in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives

I loved how author Helena Fairfax described her character, Fliss, in her “feel-good” novel, Felicity at the Cross Hotel.  Fliss was acting dumb about what was going on in the Cross Hotel. She had to conceal the truth from the son’s owner.

Can you hide your feelings or bite your tongue when you need to not express your true feelings on a topic? Names for someone who conceal their real feelings. 

Please leave a comment below and let us know your REAL feelings about this word or about your writing life. Thanks.

Click here for the MASTER LIST
of all participants who signed up
for the #AtoZchallenge 2018!