What Do Tangents Look Like & Do They Wear Monocles? | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there's an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's optional question is:

"Has your writing ever taken you by surprise? For example, a positive and belated response to a submission you had forgotten about or an ending you never saw coming."

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. You can find out how I answered the question below.

My writing takes me by surprise each and every day. 

Hmm. I just read what I wrote. It's not exactly accurate. In fact, it's a bit of a lie.* Or is it a complete lie? Can you have bits of lies or is any untruth a full-fledged lie?

Sorry, that was a bit of an unwanted insight into how my mind operates. It goes off on wild tangents and sends me down rabbit holes where there aren't any adorable, fluffy rabbits, just more odd tangents.

{Did you ever wonder what a tangent looks like? I always picture them as stocky sort of creatures with three eyes who wear waistcoats. Some of them wear monocles too. Although, I'm not sure how they decide which of their three eyes to put the monocle on.}

Anyway, back to what I was saying. When I'm typing away, whether on a blog post or one of my cozy mysteries, sometimes I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the stuff that flows out of my brain. It's often weird. Sometimes, I find myself smiling because the weirdness is amusing in a sort of Terry Pratchett way. Not that I'm comparing myself to Sir Terence, mind you. I can only aspire to a fraction of his hilarious literary genius one day.

Writers often talk about their muses, that personified force who is the inspiration for their creativity. My muse, Simon the Time Traveling Cat, is constantly surprising me with the stuff he comes up with.** That's gotta be a good thing, right? If he didn't, I imagine that might mean the creative well is dried up. Or do some people have muses which don't surprise them, but still generate lots of interesting ideas?

Yes, I know. More questions than answers. But that's where you come in. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on creative muses.

*Were you wondering what this lie was that I was talking about? Since I don't write every day, my writing doesn't take me by surprise on a daily basis. And why don't I write daily? It's all due to a severe lack of mental discipline and focus. I blame all of those monocle-wearing tangents for distracting me. Do you write daily? How do you do it?

**The regulars among you might be wondering where Simon the Time Traveling Cat is today. One of the tangents dropped his monocle, Simon batted it under the couch and he's spent the whole day there trying to get it back out. When I told him it was time to write this month's IWSG post, he ignored me, hacked up a hairball, then went back to ignoring me.

BREAKING NEWS!

Murder at the Marina is currently a bestseller on Barnes & Noble! 

Talk about your writing surprising you! I know this won't last long (update: the tag has already disappeared), but I'm going to enjoy it while it does. It's on sale for only 99c through August 12th. 

Grab your copy HERE.

 

Does your writing ever surprise you? What's your relationship with your creative muse like?

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