Let's Talk Writing Again

   Seems like lately, all I've been talking about is my personal problems, and it's time to change that.
   A nice side effect of finding a new writer's support group online is that I've sold a few more books and received several nice reviews. I've also encouraged a couple people to share what they liked about my stories, but also what they didn't like. That is always important to me as I want to improve and grow as a writer.
   There were two common themes to the feedback: I'm not consistent with my descriptions and I didn't make things difficult enough for the MC. I happen to know the folks who felt I wasn't hard enough are also fans of Grim/Dark fantasy. Granted, I don't bloody my characters relentlessly, but that's just not my style.The difficulties I try to inflict on my characters are usually emotional, and I will continue to do so.
   The issue with my inconsistent descriptions is something I can fix, and will. I never realized how much I expanded the scenes I thought were important and glossed over other scenes that were important to the reader. The trick will be trying to determine just how much extra description a particular scene needs. From the comments I received, it should only require a few more sentences to flesh out.
   Another plus from joining this new support group is the large number of young readers and writers. Their enthusiasm for my YA stories has given me a new spark to continue those stories. The support and encouragement I've received from the group has really helped me to look past the trials of last year and focus on the future.
   In other news, today I reached a small milestone in my life. I met with the previous owner of our Meetup site and critique group to officially transfer ownership. I am now the proud owner and administrator of the Kitsap Writer's Critique Group. This is not a position I ever imagined myself in, but I take the responsibility seriously. I'm looking forward to the future and doing what little I can to help others become better writers.
   Thanks for reading.

Making My Way Back

   It felt good to finally get out of the house last night and spend some time with friends and fellow writers. I was disappointed having missed our first critique meeting of the year two weeks ago, especially since I'm supposed to be leading it.
   Our group has grown to the point we couldn't complete all the critiques in one meeting before the pizza joint where we get together needed to close for the night. I added another session each month to cover the overflow, and also to provide a separate meeting for those who are close to completing their manuscripts.
   I shared some ideas with the group last night on ways we might be able to speed up the critique process. Everyone was in agreement and things went pretty smoothly. We finished up six critiques in under two hours which meant the folks who live an hour away got home at a decent time.
   I'm pleased to report, words are actually being put down on paper again, and my head is filled with stories. I'm one of those folks who writes in their head. When I've got a scene worked out in my mind where it's just the way I want it, then it gets written down. With the constant pain and grogginess from lack of sleep the last couple of months, I haven't been able to concentrate enough to run those scenes through my mind.
   Dumping words on a page for the sake of word count, hoping they can be made into something coherent later, is just not my style. Some of my critique group accuse me of writing final drafts, and they have trouble finding things to critique. That may or may not be true, but it makes for a slow process. It works for me. I hope to publish two more stories this year so it had better work.
   Thanks for reading. 

A Rough Start

   What is that old saying? "The best laid plans of mice and men". I've written absolutely nothing in the last week because of pain.
   I suppose I can't put it off any longer. I just need to bite the bullet and get my knees replaced. I see my doctor today to get the ball rolling. I've been hesitant to get them done because of the two gals I take care of. Fortunately, I have two daughters who will come over to help out.
  It was also very frustrating missing the first meeting of the new year for my critique group. I was looking forward to starting out the new year on the right foot by sharing my vision for the future with my friends. I did feel better after several of them e-mailed me today and said they missed me at the meeting. There are so many excellent writers in the group, and I hope to see them published by the end of the year.
   I know some of you are not happy that I'll be spending less time on google, but I feel I need to go where the action is. Participation on posts and interactions between people have dried up. Personally, I feel the abundance of negative, political BS has driven people away. I can post a question in one of the communities I belong to on google and I'll be lucky to get one or two people to respond, and these are communities with thousands of members. If i Post the same question in a writers group on FB, I may get twenty or more comments in the first hour.
   As far as I can tell, very few new people are coming to google. The communities are stagnating. Even though I have over four thousand folks in my circles. I only see posts from the same ten people each day. Since I joined the group on FB, at least a dozen new people join everyday, and discussions are going on continuously. 
   It's also been a huge confidence booster as I've received nothing but positive feedback from folks in the FB group about snippets of writing I've shared or they've actually read my stories. As a test, I made my books free for two days last week and only mentioned it in the group and on my blog. I had over two hundred downloads in those two days, and a couple sales the day after. That's more than any other promotion I've run using paid advertising and sharing on google.
   Whether all those downloads will result in a few reviews on Amazon remains to be seen, but it was fun being ranked in the top twenty for a day.
   OK, I've got to quit and put my leg up. Thanks for reading!

Attitude Adjustment

   I'm going to make a concerted effort this year to maintain a positive attitude no matter what. I'm also planning to return to my weekly blog posts starting today. Regardless of how I feel, words will be written, whether for this blog or one of my stories.
   It has been far too easy lately to let my depression overcome my ability to function the way I want to. If that doesn't change, I'll die of old age before the next story ever gets finished. Although there probably aren't many, I have to believe at least a few folks are looking forward to the next installments in the series I started.
   To accomplish this I have decided to make some changes in how I spend my time. First of all, I am going to limit my time on Google Plus. The writing communities there have become ghost towns, whereas the groups on FB are flourishing. My google stream has become nothing but political BS, and I'm tired of it. It's been a year people, grow up and get over it.
   That time will now be spent on writing, whether I feel like it or not. This will be a major change for me as I've only picked up a pen when the mood struck. Obviously that isn't working. I must find a way to get more words down on paper. If I could wrap my head around the idea of being a plotter, I might even try that, but for now I'll remain a pantster.
   I don't want to lose the many wonderful friends I've gotten to know on Google so I will continue to check in from time to time and comment when I can.
   I also plan to make more of an effort to get my stories in the hands of readers this year. More paperbacks will be ordered, and more deals run on Amazon. So in that vein, for the next two days, my e-books will be free for download on Amazon. If you haven't already, please check them out and leave me a review, good or bad. It's always nice to hear when your story works, but I can never improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
   Thanks for reading.

 https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Roland+Boykin&search-alias=digital-text&text=Roland+Boykin&sort=relevancerank