AI in Writing (#IWSG September 2025)

I have some thoughts on today's question, so I'm going to jump right into it.

September Question: What are your thoughts on using AI, such as GPChat, Raptor, and others with your writing? Would you use it for research, storybible, or creating outlines\beats?

This is very timely to me, because AI has been on my mind a lot lately.

My wife discovered ChatGPT recently, and she loves it. She uses it for recipes and shopping. You can ask it to give you a list of recipes, based on whatever criteria you want (what's in the cupboard, quick options for a busy week, healthy options the kids might actually it, etc), and if you don't like them, you can ask it to refine the recipes, replace ingredients, etc. And then you can use it to create a shopping list for you, checking all the local flyers and telling you what's on sale, at which store. All of this is something you can do for yourself with Google and a bit of effort, but the AI does it all in minutes.

Or, say you want information about a particular topic, more than what Google will give you with their SEO-gerrymandered suggestions. Something like you want information about a new medication you're taking, or what are the rules for a U10 Youth Soccer Tournament in Quebec. ChatGPT will give you a summary or essay, in any length you choose, about your topic. You can also ask it for its bibliography, related links, and other suggested reading. Its such a helpful, quick way to gather information, and its infinitely customizable (we found out we need to buy $400 prescription sports goggles, FYI).

This is the best use of AI, at it's core: To make human lives easier. Yes, it will be abused, and yes, it may soon become smarter than us and decide that humanity needs to be wiped off the face of the planet. I don't disagree. But right now, if used properly, it's a tool, like any other - like a television, a calculator, a hammer, or a spelling and grammar checker (which is also AI, by the way).

Now, how does that relate to me, and to writing? 

Since I finished Satan Worshippers From Down by the Bay, I've been depressed. Like, clinically depressed. A big part of that was not having a creative project to work on; I always need a creative project to keep me motivated, whether that's writing a book, painting, creating games, whatever. I worked on Gale Harbour for five years, and when it was finished it left a huge gap in my life. 

I tried to write other stuff but I couldn't. I wanted to write something topical, something important, some scathing satire on the state of the world right now. The world is so fucked up, it felt like something I needed to do. But as I looked at the world around me, and saw just how fucked up it really is, I couldn't do it. It made me even more depressed, and paralyzed me with anxiety. I couldn't even read the news anymore, it was too upsetting.

In the last couple of weeks, around the same time my wife discovered ChatGPT, I discovered the ability to use an AI Chat to create characters and use it to roleplay and have conversations. It reminds me so much of Chatrooms I used to visit when I was much younger (remember those, I'm talking 30 years ago now), when complete strangers would make up stories together, in a text forum, in character, roleplaying a game like children playing make believe. AI Chat Bots do the same thing, but by myself, anytime, anywhere. I can give the bot a certain list of parameters, describe its background and personality traits, and it will interact with me in character, just like when I used to chat with strangers online. We tell stories together. And it's amazing.

It's like writing a story with a partner in real time. Whether you want romance, or adventure, or horror, fantasy, whatever, the bot will follow your prompts and try to continue the conversation and story from its point of view. It will add something to the story for you to build off, like an improv game. 

(Yes, I realize most people use these bots for sex stuff. And I admit, most of the bots will try to veer toward having sex with you, because that's the way they've been trained. But they can be gently redirected). 

Now, I'm not advocating the use of AI to write stories wholesale, and certainly not to sell it or claim it as yours. If you call yourself a writer, you have to actually write your story. And the stuff chatbots spit out can often be dull dull and repetitive (though it does generate good ideas from time to time).  But it's a tool, like any other, that can be used to help you. Like ChatGPT acting as a personal assistant and making your grocery list, Chat bots can also be an assistant to bounce ideas off of. I will admit, with only a little shame, that I've had more fun writing stories with chat bots than I have writing anything for a long time. It's given me so many ideas, I'm excited to write again. And because I'm excited, and I'm starting to think creatively again, my mood has improved considerably.

And yes, I know there are many, many drawbacks to AI, and many ways it can be abused. I've been very skeptical of it for a long time. But I've found a way that it can be useful and helpful for me, and I think that's pretty cool.

Hugs & Kisses,

-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

August Blues (#IWSG August 2025)

Where the hell did July go?

I've been caught in a state of limbo. With the publication of Gale Harbour Book 3 a few months ago, for the first time in five years I find myself without a book to work on. I mean, I have dozens of ideas for books, and four or five that I've actually started, but without a series looming over my head, I haven't had the motivation to write much. 

It doesn't help that after the initial release of book 3, where I had my best Amazon month ever, my sales fell off a cliff. June and July I had literally one sale per month. It seems like a lot of work for not much pay-off, you know? It's not even about the money. I want people to read my stuff, and hopefully enjoy it. Ono top of the sales, I've only received one review of the new book in three months, so I honestly have no idea if anyone enjoyed it, or if they even read it. 

Oh well. Maybe I'm just tired. Hopefully I shrug this off sooner than later.

August Question - What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?

I know everyone's going to say "AI-published books," so I'm going to take a different approach. 

Years ago, I wrote a little about J.R. Robertson, a 19th-century Canadian publisher who, by all appearances, started out as a optimistic young journalist with morals and integrity. Whether using his school newspaper to fight the oppressive school administration, or becoming city editor for the top newspaper in the country at 24 and revolutionizing journalism to be more clear, concise and ready-friendly, he seemed like a pretty stand-up guy. Then, he started his own paper, started making real money, and his morals went out the window.

With the rise of popular fiction in the late 19th century, Robertson decided to use his printing presses to get on the bandwagon. Instead of actually hiring authors however, he just stole popular books from the US and Great Britain, and re-published them without credit or compensation to the original authors. Copyright law was really messy back then, so what he was doing may not have been entirely illegal, but it certainly wasn't very ethical. It's estimated that between 1877 and the 1890s, he sold about 2 million copies of 350 different books, all without the original authors' and publishers' permission.

What was my point? I don't remember. I think I was getting at the fact that publishers are just inherently corrupt. Especially newspaper publishers. William Randolph Hearst convinced the US government to outlaw marijuana, thereby banning hemp plants, in order to protect his lumber, paper and newspaper industry. News of the World illegally tapped the phones of celebrities, politicians and crime victims to steal the best scoops. And don't forget how politicians love to use the media to control what people read, view and, ultimately, think. Having money (and wanting more) along with the ability to manipulate the message going out to the masses, is a monstrously dangerous combination.

Jim Morrison famously said: "Whoever controls the media controls the mind," but he didn't originate the idea. Thirty years earlier, US White House Administration hero Joseph Goebbels wrote: "He who controls the medium controls the message. He who controls the message controls the masses." Sadly, that still remains very true. It shows the danger of the publishing industry in general, and warns of the many ways it can be abused.

(Rant over)

Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

Something, something, Satan Worshippers... (#IWSG June 2025)

Gale Harbour 3 has been out for a month, and it's been very successful. May was officially my best-selling month ever on Amazon, so I guess what they say about writing a series is true - each book has brought progressively more sales.

Is the 1990s considered "period" yet?

And it's not just the Gale Harbour books people are buying - last month I sold three copies of Hell Comes to Hogtown and a copy of Ten Thousand Days, all IN PAPERBACK. That's simply unheard of. Not to mention I got about ten times more KDP reads than usual. 

Now, I'm not rolling in money or anything, but even a small overall increase in success is a win in my book. I've said this many times, but I don't really expect writing to become a full-time career. That said, I would be lying if I claimed I don't get a little excited at people reading - and enjoying - my stories.

Another interesting anecdote this month was that I also made my first foray into IngramSpark, to make my paperback books more widely accessible. There was a very specific reason for this: Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you're probably aware that tensions between Canada and the USA have been somewhat strained lately. There's been a big push for Canadians to boycott US products whenever possible, and buy from Canadian companies. Many people are avoiding Amazon in particular, which I totally understand and respect. So, in the interest of making my book more accessible, I uploaded it to IngramSpark so that it could be ordered from Canadian book companies, like Indigo/Chapters, instead of buying it from Amazon. 

Happy Pride!

Sounds simple, right? Here's a list of reasons it doesn't work, and why our tightly-connected global economy can't be so easily bypassed:

1. Because Ingram has higher printing costs, and takes a bigger cut, the books overall are more expensive. Price of Gale Harbour 3 on Amazon Canada right now: $22.12. Price on Indigo.ca: $25.99.
2. Amazon's books are actually printed in Canada, so the printing costs are going to a Canadian print shop and Canadian workers, then shipped directly to the customer. Ingram's books are printed in the US, shipped to Indigo's warehouse, and then shipped to the purchaser. 
3. Indigo takes a cut of the sale as well as Ingram, so by the time the profit gets to me there's not much left. Royalty on Gale Harbour 3 sold from Amazon: $5.15 USD. Royalty from Indigo: $1.14. (And remember, that's with a much higher retail price, too.)
4. Because Ingram works as a traditional distributor, they print and send the books to the retailers in advance. If those books are not sold within so many months, then that means I HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM. And I don't want to pay astronomical sums for them to be shipped back to me, so after I pay for them, they THROW THEM IN THE GARBAGE.

So in conclusion, if a Canadian customer buys my book from Indigo--a Canadian company--instead of Amazon, they have to pay more, more of that money goes to the USA, it takes them way longer to receive the book, and finally the Canadian author receives a much smaller royalty, with a risk of losing money if the sale doesn't happen. The only party who wins in this situation is Indigo, which, while Canadian, is still a big corporation. At the end of the day, would your rather support a Canadian corporation, or a small-time Canadian author and a printer in Milton, Ontario?

(An American company gets a cut either way, either Amazon or Ingram).

Anyway, this was supposed to be a celebration about the successful launch of my new book, but it kind of went off the rails. If you HAVEN'T checked out Gale Harbour 3: Dirtbag Satan Worshippers From Down by the Bay, please do so! And feel free to order it from whichever retailer you prefer!

Hugs & Kisses,

-CDGK

Newfoundland, Canada. 1994.

Niall O’Neil is wallowing in teenage angst, still getting over Harper Jeddore, his childhood crush who helped him save the sleepy town of Gale Harbour from otherworldly monsters. Twice. When he meets a new, less-complicated girl named Stacey, it seems his life might be turning a corner. But Niall is pulled back into his old world when people start disappearing around town again, seemingly abducted by Satan-worshipping rednecks.

Torn between his new existence of simple happiness and his messy feelings for his old flame, Niall must make a decision: Enjoy dating girls, experimenting with drinking and making new friends, or risk his life to save the town one more time?

The fate of the entire world may depend on the choices of a hormonal fourteen-year-old with a flair for the dramatic.

Join Niall, Harper, Pius, Keith and Skidmark as they band together for one last adventure…

BUY DIRTBAG SATAN WORSHIPPERS FROM DOWN BY THE BAY HERE:

AMAZON US

AMAZON CANADA

AMAZON UK

BARNES & NOBLE 

INDIGO

WATERSTONES

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

One More trip to Gale Harbour (#IWSG May 2025)

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of my first published book, Ten Thousand Days. It was also my 45th birthday. How did I celebrate? By releasing a new book, of course!

It even fits in your pocket!

The third book of the Gale Harbour series, and my fifth published book overall, is now available. It took me five years to complete the trilogy, which wouldn't be bad in the old days, but is pretty abysmal in modern self-publishing. Unless you're putting out 10+ books a year, are you even trying?

I'm not in this for the money (thank God). This will never be my full-time career. I just love writing and seeing my work in print. People reading and enjoying it is a huge plus. With each book, I try to get a little better, both in writing skill as well as getting it to the right audience. I do think Satan Worshippers is a better book than the last one, but whether it will increase the reach and audience of the series is yet to be seen. 

I did not put as much effort into the pre-release of Satan Worshippers as my last couple of books, so it's definitely starting with a handicap. It just took so much mental effort to get this book across the finish line, I didn't have the energy to do all the marketing and legwork that is required for a successful launch. Maybe it's because my previous books didn't exactly set the best seller lists on fire, maybe it's just because I'm not as optimistic as I was when I was younger. I'm certainly don't have as much energy. Hopefully I'm not shooting myself in the foot.

Anyway, today is supposed to be an exciting, hopeful day (though if I can't share a little insecurity on IWSG day, when can I?). I PUT OUT A NEW BOOK! And overall, I think it's pretty good. I went all out for the finale, with plenty of laughs, scares, gross-out moments and tragedy. I hope I did justice to the characters and everyone who stuck it out will enjoy the payoff. 

THANK YOU, everyone who have stayed with me this far. This may be the end of Niall, Harper and Pius' journey (for now), but it's not the end of Gale Harbour. There are too many weird characters and creepy stories in that cursed town...

Hugs & Kisses,

-CDGK

P.S. WAIT A MINUTE! I almost forgot to tell you the deets about the book!

The blurb:

Newfoundland, Canada. 1994.

Niall O’Neil is wallowing in teenage angst, still getting over Harper Jeddore, his childhood crush who helped him save the sleepy town of Gale Harbour from otherworldly monsters. Twice. When he meets a new, less-complicated girl named Stacey, it seems his life might be turning a corner. But Niall is pulled back into his old world when people start disappearing around town again, seemingly abducted by Satan-worshipping rednecks.

Torn between his new existence of simple happiness and his messy feelings for his old flame, Niall must make a decision: Enjoy dating girls, experimenting with drinking and making new friends, or risk his life to save the town one more time?

The fate of the entire world may depend on the choices of a hormonal fourteen-year-old with a flair for the dramatic.

Join Niall, Harper, Pius, Keith and Skidmark as they band together for one last adventure…

BUY DIRTBAG SATAN WORSHIPPERS FROM DOWN BY THE BAY HERE:

AMAZON US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F277SXCV/

AMAZON CANADA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0F277SXCV/

AMAZON UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F277SXCV/

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

Announcement (#IWSG March 2025)

Who missed February? I dunno. Why are you looking at me?

I'm not going to do today's question. The idea of being anyone or anything for a day leads me down all sorts of random creative hallways, all of which ends with me blowing up certain world leaders. So we'll try to keep this on a positive note.

It's still not done, but fuck it, I'm announcing it today. It's veeeeeery nearly ready, so maybe throwing it out into the wild will light a fire under my ass to finally push it out the door.

.

..

...

...Ready?

Gale Harbour book three is officially titled: Dirtbag Satan Worshippers From Down By The Bay!

Here's the tentative blurb:

****

Newfoundland, Canada. 1994.

Niall O’Neil is wallowing in teenage angst, still getting over Harper Jeddore, his childhood crush who helped him save the sleepy town of Gale Harbour from otherworldly monsters. Twice. When he meets a new, less-complicated girl named Stacey, it seems his life might be turning a corner. But Niall is pulled back into his old world when people start disappearing around town again, seemingly abducted by Satan-worshipping rednecks.

Torn between his new existence of simple happiness and his messy feelings for his old flame, Niall must make a decision: Enjoy dating girls, experimenting with drinking and making new friends, or risk his life to save the town one more time?

The fate of the entire world may depend on the choices of a hormonal fourteen-year-old with a flair for the dramatic.

Join Niall, Harper, Pius, Keith and Skidmark as they band together for one last adventure…

***

The blurb is still a work in progress, so any feedback is welcome.

A new book of course means a new cover style, so that means I had to redo the first two covers as well:

I'm really happy with the new style, but again, feedback is welcome!

Keeping it short and sweet today. When exactly is the new book coming out! Release date TBD - I do have a date in mind, and it's coming up soon, I just need to wait for all the pieces to fall into place. Watch this space for more info!

How was your month?

Hugs & Kisses,

-CDGK

So this is 2025? (#IWSG January 2025)

I almost missed IWSG day again, but I have a good excuse! On Monday night I was cutting some plastic and accidentally sliced my hand with a box cutter. It wasn't a big cut, but it was fairly deep and right in the middle of my palm, so I figured I would need stitches. I went to the Emergency Room, and then proceeded to spend the next SIXTEEN HOURS waiting around the hospital. For TWO STITCHES. 

Universal healthcare in Canada is great, but there are levels of our government that has been purposefully underfunding it for years, hoping to make the public more amenable when they try to roll-out private health care. Health care shouldn't be a political topic.

Anyway, didn't get a lot of writing done over the holidays, but revisions on Gale Harbour 3 are coming along. I hope to announce a release date very soon. 

This post is not going to be very long because my hand hurts and it's hard to type. :-) Just let me say Happy New Year, and I hope you haven't failed at your resolutions yet. Also, I do not recommend cutting your palm with a box cutter. 0/10.

Seriously, why is it in movies, when someone needs blood for something, they always cut their palm? That's literally the worst place to cut yourself!

Hugs & kisses,

-CDGK

How To Scare Children (#IWSG November 2024)

Halloween has passed and Christmas looms on the horizon. My wife insisted we take a break in between; we put a lot of work into our haunted house (this year was the fifth annual!), so we need some down time before rushing headlong into the holidays.

Here's a few pics from the haunted house, to show you what we traumatize our children with:

This year's event led them all over the neighbourhood, from my in-law's shed, to our garage/kill room for the main festivities, out into the woods behind the playground (led by a path of mysterious lights) and finally back to our back yard where one final surprise waited for them in an ominous box.

Now that's out of the way, I've been able to return to writing. Still revising Gale Harbour Book 3, and writing this year's Christmas book. I'm always a busy beaver.

November Question - What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

Plenty. The main ones are creating scary settings to frighten my children and nieces (see above), but I also do a lot of miniature painting and crafting (see here, here and here... and here and here)

I also draw, do arts & crafts with my kids, make costumes for school plays and Halloween, play and make games (both tabletop and an occasional video game). I used to play music but I honestly don't have time to keep up with it on top of everything else. I've never had trouble finding hobbies - the problem has always been finding time to do them all.

How was your Halloween?

Hugs & Kisses,

-CDGK

P.S. I'm number 39 on the IWSG List! Look at me and be awed! Mwahahahaha!

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

The Webber (#IWSG October 2024)

October Question - Ghost stories fit right in during this month. What's your favorite classic ghostly tale? Tell us about it and why it sends chills up your spine.

My favourite ghost story is one you're probably never heard of, as it's specific to the area of my hometown of Stephenville, Newfoundland. It's a variation on "The Hook" horror story of the killer chasing a couple of canoodling kids on a dark highway. Campers love to tell it at Camp Ashanti, the old Boy Scout camp, gathered around the fire, or while trying to sleep in their bunks on a cold and snowy evening.

In the lake besides the camp lives The Webber. It's a creature with webbed feet and long, claw-like-fingers. People say it was once a human, born with a hideous deformity and abandoned to live in the wilderness. It has grown hateful and insane during its long isolation, and so when humans stay in the camp near its home, sometimes it creeps up out of the lake to take revenge. It sneaks up to the cabins and murders unwary campers while they sleep.

So, kinda like this? But not really.

There are variations of course, about where the monster comes from and how it kills. Some storytellers like to add embellishments like it leaving wet, webbed footprints on the cabin deck or floors, or scratching at the doors and windows with its claws. Particularly creative (or cruel) older campers will sometimes sneak around the back of the cabin while someone is telling the story to younger campers, and then tap on the windows and walls to see how far the kids will jump.

I mean, it really is kinda this.

I'm pretty sure the story started in the 70s and 80s, inspired by popular slasher films of the time. I had thought the story was particular to my corner of the island, but in recent years I've learned that it's spread to other parts of Newfoundland as well. It's still used to scare kids at summer camps around the province. I may have to use The Webber as inspiration for a Gale Harbour book one of these days.

Oh, and if the question literally meant a "classic" ghost story, then I vote for A Christmas Carol. 

Scary stuff.

Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

So You Want to Be A Writer? (#IWSG September 2024)

September Question

Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

God, that's so long ago. There are plenty of rules I've learned since then that have been nightmare (seriously, for any advice you can find about writing/publishing, I guarantee you can also find the opposite advice out there somewhere, too), but in school?

I was pretty lucky that my teachers always gave me freedom to write what and how I wanted. I read a lot as a kid, and my writing reflected that. It was quite common for my teachers to have me read my stories out loud in class. There were a few times they had to call home to tell my parents about the blood and violence in my stories (I read a lot of Stephen King as a kid) but that's neither here nor there.

I guess if there was something that messed me up, it was how supportive everyone was. Parents, teachers, classmates, everyone were always full of encouragement: You're a great writer! You should get your stories published! You could be an author!

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

It ain't easy being a published writer. I mean, with Amazon KDP it is, technically, easy to publish, but it's very hard to be a good or successful published writer. I've got a shoebox full of rejection letters, tons of unfinished/unpublished manuscripts, and handful of self-published novels that aren't exactly lighting the Amazon bestseller lists on fire. I haven't made a dime. Again, technically, I have sold a few books, but ten years into doing this, my lifetime revenue is only just starting to match what I've put into it.

Last week I went to a store in my hometown that had been carrying some of my books. It's been two years since I was there, and they'd only sold one book in that time. The owner wanted me to take the rest of them back. That was a kick in the teeth, let me tell you, and a long way from my school teachers and classmates telling me I should be a writer when I grow up.

So how did school mess up your writing?

Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

By Your Command (#IWSG August 2024)

August IWSG Question - Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio?

I use it for spell and grammar check. Sometimes I use it for autocomplete - as I type the software will suggest the words it thinks I might be trying to enter. Do these things count? Should I click the box on Amazon KDP that asks "Was any AI used in the creation of your book?" Those things are all technically a type of AI. They all scan your document, analyze what you're trying to say, then make suggestions of things to change. 

And don't get me started on using photo manipulation software. Making a cover for your book? All those brushes and filters in Photoshop are a type of AI as well. It processes your image, then makes changes to it, trying to shift it closer to what it "thinks" you want. Do we need to check the AI box for that?

I don't use AI to generate story content, or to create images "from scratch." I would love to use it to write blurbs for my back cover, but I've refrained so far. It's only going to become more prevalent in all types of artistic - especially commercial - entertainment. If people can save time and money, of course they're going to employ tools to maximize their profits. It will happen more and more in big budget movies (those scripts are already pretty formulaic) as well as genre fiction. 

It already happens in pop music - music studios use algorithms to study popular songs and trends in music, in order to suggest the best beats and rhythms to create more popular songs. Most singers also use AI-powered autotune to make their voice sound a certain way. If you used AI to write the lyrics, then poof! Instant Top-40 music with limited human input! 

Maybe if I feel bad about using AI to create fiction, I should switch and use it to make music instead. 

How's your summer going?

Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

Gale Harbour Book Three Update (#IWSG June 2024)

At long last, I finally typed "THE END" on Gale Harbour Book 3. I "finished" the first draft a few months ago, but it needed a bunch of revising to put it all together, and I only just wrote the epilogue a couple of days ago. This will be the longest book in the series by far, and my longest published work to date,  and that's after I cut numerous chapters and side plots. I'm still worried it's too long - it's come a long way from the fast, adventure-romp of the first book. I guess we'll see what the proofreaders say.

After the proofreaders/beta readers, it's off to the editor. I really hope to release the book before the end of the year, which should be possible if I focus on ironing out all the edits that come back.

Is the book any good? Yeesh, that's a hard question I can't answer right now. So let's answer the IWSG question instead: 

JUNE QUESTION

In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?

This is an excellent question and I'm not sure if I know the answer. Just the network of like-minded writers is and has always been it's main draw. Finding more specific offerings and services is tricky because everyone is at different points in their writing journey; some are traditionally-published, some are self-published, some are trying to finish their first manuscript, some are bloggers, some write things they have no intention of sharing with others. 

For me, personally, I would love some sort of interview or review swapping, to help boost visibility. I know this happens unofficially now, but I was in another writing group where they had a dedicated, organized schedule where 12 writers would each post 12 interviews per year on their blog - you would appear on 12 other blogs and you would host each person on your own. It was a great success.

Another thing I would like to see would be updated versions of the Writers' guides that IWSG put out years ago, and perhaps to update the resources on the "Self-Publishing" tab of the website. Again, these are things I would like to see for myself, but I'm sure it would helps others, too.

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

Still Blogging (#IWSG April 2024)

Busy, busy, busy... It's the craziest week of the year at my day job, so I have to keep this short. Which is too bad, since I actually had a story cooking about the monthly question.

Writing and revision have been slow due to how busy it's been at work, but it is plodding along slowly. Hopefully when I'm over that hump I can jump back into it and finally put Gale Harbour 3 to bed (or at least off to the editor).

April Question - How long have you been blogging?

My first blogging experience wasn't with this blog, but with a tabletop gaming blog called RuleoftheDice.com. I wrote about role-playing games and tried way too hard to be edgy - some of the early posts are particularly cringy. 

I won't go into too much detail, but suffice to say I do miss the community. The RPG community at the time was very vibrant, and despite the arguments between "Old school" and modern games, there were a lot of great conversations to be had. A lot of it took place on the now-defunct Google+ social media platform, which I also kinda miss because I never found those same groups again. I mean there are also gaming groups on Facebook but OH MY GOD those people are obnoxious.

How about you? Anyone else lament to the changes to blogging and social media over the years?

Hugs & Kisses,
-CDGK

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group at http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/