Wednesday 5 April 2023

#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!



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!

29 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Denise - love your tag line 'be transported to other worlds'... I'm so glad your Paris cookery novel is on its way ... I love that sort of book - lots to think about and perhaps cook. I'll be there for WEP ... cheers and all the best - Hilary

Natalie Aguirre said...

That's great that you were able to move from writing as a hobby to writing as a career. Congrats on your new book. Can't wait to see the finished cover.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

It does take a lot of bad words. Glad you got through those and are now in a position to enjoy writing as a career.

Jemima Pett said...

Oh, yes, bad words. And more with me, writing long descriptions of the events in a scene, instead of exposing the scene, dialogue and all. Now I'm hard put to describe a scene except in dialogue!!
Have fun with WEP and A2Z this month - I'm on Operation Awesone for P!
Thanks for joining in the IWSG today.
Jemima

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I started with short stories. I still have notebooks filled with them. I'm sure none are worth revisiting but they were good practice.

H. R. Sinclair said...

Is that the title for the prequel? I love it!

Jemi Fraser said...

Bradbury has lots of brilliant advice!

cleemckenzie said...

Our first books need to be written no matter how they never go anywhere. They prime the pump.

I'll have to stop in at the AtoZ this month. So many writers I know are participating.

Victoria Marie Lees said...

All the luck with your Paris Cookery book. Nas Dean is wonderful, isn't she? Such a kind person.

Happy IWSG day! Have a beautiful spring holiday.

pjmaclayne3@gmail.com said...

All that 'bad' writing we do helps us become good writers.

Jen said...

I think it was Anne Lamott who said we should "write crappy drafts" and I agree. Get the words out. It's so much easier to edit something than stare at nothing and hope for perfection.

We learn by doing and it sounds like you're moving right along! Have a wonderful week!

Denise Covey said...

@Hilary. Thanks. You'll be on my list as a first reader, right?

@Natalie - I'm glad you're looking forward to my new book. So am I!

@Alex - yep those bad words. I'm sure a few still slip in.

@Jemima -I'm trying to follow all the author interviews on OA, so will see you there!

@L Diane - yes, shorts are great practise.

@Holly - I've changed it to Touched by a Vampire. Love it too!

@Jemi - he does

@Lee - 'prime the pump'. Love it.

@Victoria - thanks. Love Nas.

@pj? - it does

@Jen - you have a wonderful week too. Yep to 'crappy words' out.

Olga Godim said...

Ah, the first book. I have a nostalgic feeling about mine, but it surely isn't publishable in its current state. I think it is the fate of many first books. They serve as our school of writing, a training ground, so to speak.

Denise Covey said...

@Olga - that's certainly true.

Denise Covey said...

just testing

Denise Covey said...

another comment test

Denise Covey said...

I have changed my blog theme and am testing comments on this platform. So far so good.

J Lenni Dorner said...

All that going on, plus I'm launching a book. Ha ha ha, madness here. But I have my WEP ready to go (such as it is-- this one was hard).

Operation Awesome is glad to have you.

Happy IWSG day! Here's a giveaway- rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4fa90ac761
It's April, so I'm focused on the #AtoZChallenge.
Proof of Existence, book two in my dark urban fantasy series, is out this month.
I'm running another giveaway on my blog.

J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Reference& Speculative Fiction Author, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, and Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge

Shannon Lawrence said...

Every bit of writing helps better future writing. Awesome to hear your next book is almost done!

Nick Wilford said...

I love how diverse your work has been - spies to vampires to cookery. I agree there's no substitute for putting in the graft. You've come a long way!

jabblog said...

Having an open mind surely helps, too, and so you have explored other genres. That's quite difficult, I would think.

Visiting from http://jabblog-jabblog.blogspot.com

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

I'm having macbook difficulties, so here's hoping this time my comment sticks. Just wanted to say that naivety has its good points. I remember thinking I knew it only to find out that I knew nothing. But that's the fun part: learning. Enjoy the journey, Denise. It goes by so fast. Good luck with your new adventure.

Loni Townsend said...

It'd be nice if we could write without concerns for others. But the desire for self-improvement always leaves me needing to try more.

That's awesome that you've produced a series. Pretty good mock-up you did in Canva for your prequel!

Nilanjana Bose said...

Fiji! Gosh, I didn't know that! But on second thought, it is beautiful enough to make most people want to write reams. :)

I'll be looking out for your interview on OA. See you before then of course at the WEP.

Denise Covey said...

We learn something every day, eh? Yep. Fiji started it all in earnest.

Denise Covey said...

Thanks Loni. Canva is tricky but I must persevere.

Denise Covey said...

Thanks Joylene, It is a difficult but fun journey.

Denise Covey said...

Saves me getting bored writing in several genres, LOL.

Denise Covey said...

Furiously busy JLenni. Thanks for all that you do. Glad to see you've made time for WEP!