Melissa Maygrove

I'm skipping this month's IWSG to spend time with family. Consider visiting my February post on writing goals  and grabbing the freebie. It contains a link to a printable PDF Author Planner I made.   April's post has instructions on pre-scheduling blog posts and how to get rid of the pesky white background behind text you paste into your posts. Thanks for stopping by.  See you next month!

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for April 2024. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre,  &  Pat Garcia! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  💻💻💻💻💻 How long have I been blogging?  Twelve years.  If you want to read my very first post, you can find it here . I decided to choose my own topic this month. At the beginning of this year, I made a new plan for my author business that included creating content in batches and pre-scheduling blog posts. (If you didn't grab the free planner, it's still there. Click the link.) Today I'm going to show you how I do it and give you some ideas for staying on top of your blogging obligations. I realize many of you already know this, but skim the post, just in case. Caveat: I use Blogger, so that is all I know and the platform the screenshots were taken from. But the principles can be applied to other platforms. I'm someone who likes efficie

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for March. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Kristina Kelly,   Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis,   and Liza @ Middle Passages! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  💻💻💻💻💻 [Image purchased from Depositphotos] Believe it or not, I wrote this before Alex posted the March question. Imagine my shock when I went to get the names of the co-hosts! Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route?  How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing? A few IWSGs ago, the topic was AI and whether it would replace writers. I posted, but I didn't know much about it at all.  Since then, I've dabbled a bit. Wow. *mind blown* I'm going to pause here to say that AI is a very  controversial and often divisive topic.  AI bashing within the typically altruistic writing community has risen to a shocking and frankly saddening level.  If you comment, please treat

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for February 2024. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Janet Alcorn, SE White, Victoria Marie Lees, and Cathrina Constantine! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  💻💻💻💻💻 I took a break last month to spend on goal planning for this year. (God is probably laughing at my plans, but at least I have them. 😄) For the sake of accountability, I'm going to tell you my goals for 2024 and give you a free author tool for reading this mile-long post!  But first I'll answer the February question. What turns you off when visiting an author's website/blog? Confusing or hidden navigation. Headers so large they fill the entire screen.  Annoying pop-up 'subscribe' windows that overlay the content the minute the page loads. A site that lacks the basics. No 'about me' info. (Whose blog is this?) Bonus points for a headshot. No blog follow options, or they're hidden way down at the bottom. When I

  Happy New Year! I'm taking 2024 by the bal-- horns.  I have BOLD plans, so I'm taking a break to jot them all down. See you next month!

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for December 2023. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:    C. Lee McKenzie,   JQ Rose,   Jennifer Lane,   and  Jacqui Murray! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you . 💻💻💻💻💻 December 6 question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book reviews do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author? This one is complicated. Not only has my perspective changed, but being honest is going to reveal a side of me I'd rather not. I became a voracious reader before I became a writer. I began leaving reviews that praised stories I enjoyed, but I wasn't shy about saying what I didn't like if one didn't meet my expectations. As I learned more about fiction writing - about what authors *should* be doing - my negative reviews turned harsh. Too harsh. When I finally published, that created a huge dilemma. Not on