​I spent last weekend at the NJ SCBWI annual conference, where I had the chance to tell writers about IWSG as a source of information and encouragement. I was proud to sign books there, including the new IWSG anthology, Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life.

I haven’t quit yet, although there are two projects (“starter novels,” so-to-speak) that I have abandoned. My debut, Pandemic (published by Sky Pony Press in 2014), was actually the fourth novel I had written. I would encourage writers not to stop after their first, second, or even third attempts at creating a story.

Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding the group, and to this month’s blog hop co-hosts: JH Moncrieff, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Jen Chandler, Megan Morgan, and Heather Gardner.
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Happy National Short Story Month! It is especially fitting that during this month, my coauthors and I get to celebrate the release of the Hero Lost Anthology. Mysteries of Death and Life came together through an IWSG contest and includes my short story, “The Art of Remaining Bitter." You can learn more about all twelve stories on the Hero Lost website. Congratulations to my fellow anthologists, Jen Chandler, L. Nahay, Renee Cheung, Roland Yeomans, Elizabeth Seckman, Olga Godim, Ellen Jacobson, Sean McLachlan, Erika Beebe, Tyrean Martinson, and Sarah Foster, with special thanks to IWSG and Dancing Lemur Press.

You can find this fantasy anthology on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, andGoodreads

Today is the monthly IWSG blog hop. The awesome co-hosts are Nancy Gideon, Tamara Narayan, Liesbet @ Roaming About, Michelle Wallace, and Feather Stone, so please visit them as well!

​The question for this month's IWSG Blog Hop is: 

What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story?

I researched emerging infectious diseases as well as historical pandemics in order to write Pandemic, my debut young novel. Pandemic doesn’t take place in the distant future; it’s about what it would be like to survive a deadly contagious illness tomorrow. To make it realistic, I read nonfiction books like David Quammen’s Spillover, interviewed a local county public health officer to understand the possible ramifications of a deadly outbreak on a small town, and researched the swine flu pandemic that occurred in 2009-2010. I also found the New Jersey (where the novel is set) Pandemic Influenza Response Plan online here: www.nj.gov/health/flu/documents/splan/combined%20pdf/toc_res.pdf. (Be warned: It’s not light reading.) Although the blue flu in Pandemic is a fictional disease, I modeled it after the Spanish Flu of 1918 (like the fact that it primarily affects mostly healthy people, not infants and senior citizens).

Here are some facts I learned from my research:
 
1. The first cases of the 2009 Swine Flu/H1N1 pandemic occurred in Mexico, California, and Texas. Most countries in the world have since experienced infections.
2. Because of airplane travel, germs can be transmitted almost anywhere in the world within 48 hours.
3. Waterfowl are carriers of all influenza viruses. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls them “natural reservoirs.”
4. The Spanish Influenza of 1918 killed more Americans than all of World War I.
5. Too much research can cause worry! This was an emotion I was able to transfer to Lilianna, the main character in Pandemic. And I definitely wash my hands more than the average person.

(For more answers to the question of the month, Michelle Wallace's blog features info about our Mysteries of Death and Life anthology story research.)

​Do you have any tips for getting work done around other obligations? Do you have a writing routine you’d like to share? Any fun/useful writing habits? Any advice for other writers?

I used to write on my laptop balancing my napping baby but he has gotten a little too big for that now. So out of necessity, I have started writing on my phone and it has completely changed the way I write. I was pretty skeptical at first when a friend told me he wrote on his phone but now I live by it. I have a One Plus Three (yes, why not just call it Four, haha, joke’s been done by my husband more times than I can count) and I have been writing my latest novel using the Google Docs app on it. Although I went into it thinking it would slow me down since I’m a fairly fast typer, I found writing on the phone surprisingly quick. The autocorrect has even learned my character’s names and does autocomplete on them!

Writing on the phone has freed me up to write pretty much anywhere, from waiting for my appointment at the doctor’s office, to on the go as a passenger in the car. It has also made me focus on writing. I haven’t gotten to editing yet but what little I’ve done seems to be much more difficult. This has forced me to forge ahead with the story, rather than going back to endlessly edit what’s already been written. On a good day, I can get about 2000 words in now and I definitely urge you to give it a shot.
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Of course, using Google Drive and Google Docs means I can switch seamlessly between machines, whether it be computer, laptop or phone. I urge anyone to give it a shot.

​What do you like to write about or what drew you to this anthology? Is there anything interesting about your background as a writer you’d like to share?
​
I’m a recovering workholic. So working full-time left little time for creative outlets like writing. I had promised myself that when I go on maternity leave, I would write a book, get something published for the joy of it. (Oh how innocent I was, imagining all the spare time I would have as a new parent. I can only laugh at my past self right now.) So around August last year, I started writing short stories, building a world through them piece by piece. When this contest came around, a story set in the world just popped into my head and the whole thing got away from me from there on.

You can connect with Renee on Web | Blog | Twitter | Facebook.
Learn more about the anthology on the Lost Hero website.

If you are taking part in the YA Scavenger Hunt, go here for Team Red and the opportunity to win some awesome giveaways! (If you've never tried this hunt to win book prizes, you might like to check it out.)

It's the first of the month, which means it's time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group's blog hop. IWSG was founded by author Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts are  ​​Chris @ Madness of a Modern Writer, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Fundy Blue, and Chrys Fey!

This month's (optional) question: ​Have you taken advantage of the annual A to Z Challenge in terms of marketing, networking, publicity for your book?

While I have enjoyed networking with other A to Z Challenge bloggers, I haven't used the challenge much to promote my books (other than to have people arrive at my blog). For the 2014 A to Z Challenge, I blogged about Writing Inspiration. For the 2015 and 2016 challenges, I blogged about productivity.

Here are links to last year's posts, since I'm not A-to-Z-ing this year.
​A is for the Anti-Muse
B is for Backing Up Your Work
C is for Clear Your Mind
D is for Daily Tasks
E is for Exercise at Your Desk
F is for First Things First
G is for Getting Creatively Unblocked
H is for How to Curate Social Media
I is for Ivy Lee's Six Things
J is for Journal
K is for Knowledge: How Are You Spending Your Time?
L is for Lessons Learned and Inspirational Quotes
M is for Marking Progress
N is for NaNoWriMo Principles
O is for OneTab
P is for Productivity Book Recommendations
Q is for Quit Something
R is for Routines to Encourage Creativity
S is for Set a Deadline to Improve Productivity
T is for Take Time to Fill the Well
U is for Unplug
V is for Victor Hugo
W is for Weekly Review
X is for Xebec
Y is for YA Writers Advise How to Get the Writing Done
Z is for Zig Ziglar

Blogging to market a book can be a tricky combination. It depends on whether the blog audience is the same as the target book audience, for one thing. Do you read blogs to find new books, or to read the actual blog content, or both?

Since this blog hop is for the Insecure Writers Support Group, I thought I'd share one of my favorite morale-boosting quotes about writing.

As a writer, how do you feel about the gap between what you are reading and what you are writing?

If you're interested in reading other answers to the IWSG monthly question, follow the blog hop links below.  (If they don't show up due to tech issues, please visit the IWSG website to access the links.)

Do you have any tips for getting work done around other obligations? Do you have a writing routine you’d like to share? Any fun/useful writing habits? Any advice for other writers?

When I'm feeling overwhelmed by the blinking cursor or my current WIP is mired in muddy plot-issues, I write in my journal or I write with writing prompts. After I do that for 10-15 minutes, it seems like something finally lets go and my creativity and ability to write comes back. To work around other obligations, I take my writing with me wherever I go. When my daughters needed me to drive them to activities, I would write while they were engaged in those activities. When I've had to, I get up earlier and write or I write while the dinner dishes are getting done by someone else. If I cook, my daughters and husband usually clean up - this grants me a 15-20 minute window to write. 15-20 minutes may not seem like much, but I can get some writing done and that helps keep my WIP fresh for a lengthier session later. Creative daydreaming time is always useful, too. If I'm taking a walk, I try to imagine my story world. This helps when I sit down to write.​

What do you like to write about or what drew you to this anthology? Is there anything interesting about your background as a writer you’d like to share?

I love reading and writing fantasy so this anthology seemed like the right fit and then the prompt about lost heroes gripped me. The more that I've thought about it (even beyond writing my story), the more I'm convinced that most fictional heroes are lost when we first meet them in their story world. I don't know many fictional heroes that don't have some sense of reluctance at the beginning of their adventures. It might be that I'm just drawn to reluctant or lost heroes because I feel they represent the kinds of doubts we all have about ourselves. When I think of real world heroes, I often think of firefighters, EMTs, and missionaries who run orphanages, schools, and human trafficking counseling centers. Real heroes never seem reluctant or lost on the outside. However, a semi-retired 80+ missionary lady I know has mentioned that she harbored some doubts at different times in her 60+ years of missionary work - she's taught classes in schoolrooms in Pakistan, India, China, Brazil, Kenya, and Peru. My family has a firefighting friend who has shared the heaviness of his work - it isn't something he just leaves behind him. He is troubled by the pain and suffering he sees. In my personal background, I have struggled with bullies both as a kid and as an adult teaching in a classroom that included both victims and bullies. As a kid, I always wanted some kind of righteous vengeance on my bullies until one day one of them asked me to forgive him. I realized that I had been becoming a bully on the inside, letting my anger and hurt change me. I had to rely on forgiveness to change my path toward something better.  I think that the concept of a lost hero is part of how we deal with those moments when we struggle to find something good or heroic in the world around us.​

​What’s your favorite recent book and/or one from your teen years or something from your to-read pile?

So far in 2017, my three favorite reads have been Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (it's a Star Wars book that runs parallel to the original movies), Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (a superhero urban scifi fantasy novel), and Red Rising by Pierce Brown (science fiction/dystopian). My favorite book as a teen was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. On the surface, Ender's Game is a sci-fi novel, but I really think it's more about bullying on an individual level and a societal level. Each of these novels includes a redemptive arc for the main character that requires the character to forgive others or themselves.

Despite all the seriousness of my answers here, my story "Of Words and Swords" is fairly light-hearted. Sometimes, I think we need a little light-heartedness when we read and when we write. ​

You can connect with Tyrean on Blog | Twitter | Facebook.
Learn more about the anthology on the Lost Hero website.

My one personal writing tip? Don’t let self-doubt rule your head. The dream will never have a chance to blossom. Rejection does happen. Keep going. Eventually your hard world will pay off when you least expect it.

What do you like to write about or what drew you to this anthology? Is there anything interesting about your background as a writer you’d like to share?

I’d like to stay the course in Young Adult Contemporary or Urban Fantasy. Teens need all the magic and hope they can get. They’ll be in charge of the future and I like working with them, and writing for them. Hope is my motto. I write to bring hope when the world feels desperate and dark. I’ve been down plenty of deep rabbit holes and had to dig my own way out. The fallen hero theme of the anthology seemed perfect, envisioning a hero at the bottom and then writing the way back up to the top. Ethan, the main character in my own short story “The Wheat Witch,” doesn’t allow himself to succeed. His fall caused a lifetime of failures due to his own lack of diving deep and listening to his heart.

Anything interesting about me? I volunteered and worked in a zoo for a good 8 years. I shoveled hippopotamus dung, and welded the lion exhibit. I cleaned the gardens, hoisted away the trash, drove the train, boats and survived many hot days in the blazing Kansas summer heat. All of these experiences helped sharpen my awareness of the senses. Imagine what I smelled like after a morning cleaning the dung in the African Veldt, or the fear I felt climbing a small metal pathway from under the lion exhibit nearly peeing my pants when the lion lunged at me, way too close? Turkey vultures stalked me and one attacked me, trying to grab my hair in his feet. I think I picture the senses and I paint them well because I’ve been there.

What’s your favorite recent book and/or one from your teen years or something from your to-read pile?
​
My all time favorite series was Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush-Hush Series. The second series? L.A. Weatherly’s Angel books. I like the balance of character and the creativity in both worlds. The series held strong through every book, something that dies in others I’ve read. 

More about Erika Beebe:
Writer, author, dreamer, she envisions the possibilities in life and writes to bring hope when sometimes the moment doesn’t always feel that way. Working in the field of public relations and communications for more than fifteen years, she has always been involved with writing, editing, and engaging others in public speaking. In 2013, her first short story “Stage Fright” published in One More Day anthology. Her two young children help keep her creativity alive and the feeling of play in the forefront of her mind.

You can connect with Erika on Facebook | Blog | Twitter
Learn more about the anthology on the Lost Hero website.

Do you have any tips for getting work done around other obligations? Do you have a writing routine you’d like to share? Any fun/useful writing habits? Any advice for other writers?
​
Don't stress about how other people are writing, or how much they manage to write. You can only write according to the time you are given and within the circumstances you are in. It's incomparable to anyone else.

What do you like to write about or what drew you to this anthology? Is there anything interesting about your background as a writer you’d like to share?
​
I seem to write about women- typically mothers--finding their way through traumatic situations. Since I was way too young to be a mother! I wasn't sure at first how I would relate that into this topic, but I knew she had to be a she, and she had to bend preconceived notions and be a soldier. With my female characters, I love writing a complimentary male figure--not specifically for romantic interests. I love the differences in how things are approached and handled by each, and how we compliment and challenge each other when respect is there. That came out very strongly, yet in a heartbreaking way, in 'Breath Between Seconds'.

What’s your favorite recent book and/or one from your teen years or something from your to-read pile?
​
Recently, I'd say the On The Bones of Gods series by K. Eason (especially when listened to). It's a great mix of fantasy, old Nordic life and mythology, and a smart addition of unbalanced matriarchal government (any unbalanced government is bad, but this was a first glimpse into this opposing spectrum).

You can connect with L Nahay on Web | Blog | Twitter | Instagram.
Learn more about the anthology on our Lost Hero website.

​Do you have any tips for getting work done around other obligations? Do you have a writing routine you’d like to share? Any fun/useful writing habits? Any advice for other writers?

I really wish I had tips for getting work done around my other obligations. This is actually an area I've been struggling with recently. We're currently getting our sailboat ready to go cruising in the Bahamas and boat projects have overtaken my life. After long days trying to fix engine problems and contorting myself in small spaces trying to remove bolts, my creative energy is sapped and writing is the last thing on my mind. I am hoping that once we're out there on our boat, anchored off of a lovely deserted island basking in the sunlight, I'll be motivated to get into a daily writing routine.

You can connect with Ellen on Facebook | Blog | Google+
Learn more about the anthology at the Lost Hero website.

By Yvonne Ventresca

It's the first of the month, which means it's time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group's blog hop. IWSG was founded by author Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts are Tamara Narayan, Patsy Collins, M.J. Fifield, and Nicohle Christopherson!

This month's question: ​
Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

Yes! Sometimes leaving a story to work on something else and returning to it later can lead to success...

​Black Flowers, White Lies went through many incarnations over the years before it evolved into my second published novel (Sky Pony Press, 2016). I actually wrote the first draft of the psychological thriller in 2006. I had a hard time getting the plot to come together, so after many rewrites, I put that manuscript aside and began a story about deadly bird flu, which became my debut novel, Pandemic (Sky Pony Press, 2014). Pandemic’s success reenergized me, and I started a new version of what became ​Black Flowers, White Lies. BuzzFeed’s included ​Black Flowers, White Lies on their list of 23 YA Books That, Without a Doubt, You’ll Want to Read This Fall, which was a gratifying moment. I’m glad I didn’t give up on the story!
​

Do you ever feel refreshed after leaving a project alone for some time?
​

If you're interested in reading other answers to the IWSG monthly question, follow the blog hop links below.  (If they don't show up due to tech issues, please visit the IWSG website to access the links.)

By Yvonne Ventresca

This is my first month participating in the IWSG blog hop! The question is: 

I often find myself analyzing for craft as I read. For example, if the story contains a satisfying twist, I go back to figure out how it was executed. If a scene is particularly suspenseful, what makes it so? What makes a character unique or compelling? 

This can work for negatives, too. If I'm losing interest in a story, why is that? What diminishes the tension?

A few years ago, I took a "Reading as a Writer" workshop given by Ann de Forest at an SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference.  “Books that we read can be our teachers,” Ann explained then, and I still find that to be true. (I wrote a summary of the workshop if you're interested.)

In other news, the brand new website for the IWSG Anthology, Heroes Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life is now live! You can check it out here. Thanks to my fellow anthologists for being such an organized, motivated group of writers, and a special shout-out to Renee Cheung for creating the website. I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's stories, and I hope you'll follow the group blog to learn more.

If you are reading this on February 1st and live in the NYC area, consider coming to the Jefferson Market Branch of the NYPL for a Teen Author Reading Night! I'll be reading, along with the an amazing lineup of young adult authors, from 6 PM to 7:30 PM:
Crissa-Jean Chappell (Snowbirds), Tiffany D. Jackson (Allegedly), Pam Laskin (Ronit and Jamil), Shani Petroff (Romeo & What’s His Name), Matthue Roth (Rules of My Best Friend’s Body), Mary Thompson (Flicker and Mist), and me (Black Flowers, White Lies)

What's the last book you read that you learned something from?
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If you're interested in reading other answers to the IWSG monthly question, follow the blog hop links below.  (If they don't show up due to tech issues, please visit the IWSG website to access the links.)