Melissa Maygrove

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for June 2025. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  PJ Colando,    Pat Garcia , Kim Lajevardi,    Jean Davis ,  & me! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  💻💻💻💻💻 Indulge me a short progress report before I answer June's question. As I mentioned in May's post, I took part in the May I Write a Novel writing challenge. I had never done one before, and I surprised myself. I only reached my daily goals a handful of times, but I wrote more in one month than ever before, and I learned what I'm capable of when I really push myself. My goal was 35k for the month. I wrote 28k+ (80%) of that and almost finished the draft of book one in my new western series. May will be reserved on my calendar every year. 😊 Update on my German ad: I began running a single Amazon ad in Germany for Come Back  (book 1 of my series, both e-book & paperback included) in early Ap...

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for May 2025. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn,   Rebecca Douglass,   Jemima Pett,  and Pat Garcia! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you . 💻💻💻💻💻 Before I answer May's question, I'd like to post some information about Craig Martel's 'May I Write a Novel' writing challenge. NaNoWriMo is apparently no more, so Craig stepped up and created this. I've set a bold goal for myself - 35,000 words in 31 days. That means writing 2,000 words/day on my off days to make up for the days I work or have something else scheduled. So far, I've met my daily goals all but once, but it pushes me to the limit. I might not be able to keep up this pace. However it turns out, I'm learning a lot about myself and my writing abilities. We're already a week into it, but jump on in. Each person sets his or her own goal, so join us and adjust yours accordingly. Excerpt of Cr...

I never participated in NaNo, because November. But May? May I can do. Goal: 35k in 31 days To get involved, become a member of SIA:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/successfulindieauthor

Between March's mega allergy attack and April's work commitments, I decided to skip the April IWSG.  See you next month. 

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for March 2025. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Ronel Janse Van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Liza @ Middle Passages! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you . 💻💻💻💻💻 Thank goodness for laptops.  No, my desktop didn't die. My mom tried to. LOL  My sweet 89-year-old momma did a header onto the floor at church and banged up one of her knees. She's in a brace for now, unable to drive and needing help with most everything, so I'm staying with her for the foreseeable future. That'll teach me to procrastinate pre-scheduling my IWSG post. Instead of answering the March question, I decided to post a brief update. Part of my plan for 2025 was to evaluate my social media activities and decide which to keep. On the blogging front, I plan to keep posting for IWSG, but I decided to leave Cowboy Kisses. As I told the blog hostess, it was a difficult choice and purely a business decision. She has been...

  This is my   Insecure Writers Support Group   post for February 2025. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month  are:  Joylene Nowell Butler, Louise Barbour, & Tyrean Martinson! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  💻💻💻💻💻 February 5 question - Is there a story or book you've written you wish you could go back and change? The short answer is no. Nothing significant about them, anyway. The first two novels I ever wrote got put aside for years. I debuted with #3 and published #4 as my second. By the time I went back to publish the first two (under a different pen name), they had gone through countless edits, and I hadn't seen them in years. I had become a better writer by then, and thanks to them being shelved for so long, I was able to be much more objective and polish them up quite a bit.  They don't get rave reviews like my westerns, but they are wayyy better than their original versions.  I'm lucky I had the self-awareness - and th...