#IWSG April 2023. My first foray into writing a book.

 So hi again. So soon. April is a feeding frenzy with the A - Z Challenge and the WEP April challenge and all sort of other writing challenges coming our way. 

The awesome co-hosts for the April 5 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

I'm participating in the A - Z Challenge as an interviewee. Operation Awesome is interviewing some authors who suit the letter of the day and I happened to be one of the lucky ones with my pen name, Silver Tree. Interviewed on April 24.

Winners of WEP contests win critiques on their WIP and may be optioned to be included in our WEP Anthology, out in 2024.

So, the 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?

The April 5 question takes me back.

Writing was always a hobby.  I always loved to write from an early age, but never saw it as a career. Teaching was my career and writing dovetails nicely with that, especially when you're an English teacher. But it wasn't until my kids were grown that I took writing seriously. That entailed learning my craft. Sadly, (and I've heard other writers bemoan this fact) you can't just write what you like how you like - you have to write to certain tropes in your genre/s, keep the action coming and throw stones at your protagonist. That took me ages to learn.

The question is a little confusing. First book? That was a spy-type of thing that went nowhere. Many others came and were binned. I've always loved short story writing, but my first real crack at a book was written while staying in Fiji with Nas Dean. Called Fijian Princess, it was okay, but not publishable. I might pick it up down the line. Trying my hand at these books was better than any craft book. As Ray Bradbury said and I paraphrase - you have to write thousands of bad words first ... Now that I'm on my way, there's no stopping me. After terrible trouble finding an ending, I'm currently about to hand my Paris cookery novel over to beta readers and the publishing process begins.

My first published book was Book 1 in my vampire series. I've written four books in the series now and have one to go, including a prequel (already written) for which I mocked up a cover in Canva yesterday.

Unfortunately with free Canva, there are not many fonts. However, this will be handed over to Kim Killion soon and she'll do an amazing job like she did on Paris Dreams.

Have an amazing April writing! We at Team WEP would love you to join us for our April challenge, Life is Beautiful. Go HERE for the POST and HERE for ideas!

Closely following Life is Beautiful is a sci-fi (or whatever) prompt from the movie -

Wooo ... come on sci-fi lovers! Give it your best shot!