Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing. A different question is posed each month as a writing prompt. Answering it is optional. For February, the question is: “Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?”

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are Louise – Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon.

My answer to the question

That would be a resounding “yes.” New friendships – virtual and in real life – are the cherries on top when it comes to blogging. I believe every blogger agrees. The conversations that ensue in the comments are what keeps us going. I love those interactions and I have had the pleasure of meeting quite a few bloggers in their own homes, after following their blogs for months or years.

Terri of Second Wind Leisure Perspectives, Janis of Retirementally Challenged, Kathy of Smart Living 365, Donna of Retirement Reflections, Jude of Dr. Sock Writes Here, Duwan of Make Like An Ape Man, fellow IWSG author Ellen of Ellen Jacobson, and Stephanie of SV Cambria come to mind. And if we would have planned our visit to Toronto, Canada a bit better two summers ago, I would also have been able to visit with Debby of D.G Kaye, Writer and Natalie of Natalie the Explorer!

My book news

In my writing update of last month, I hinted at my first one-star review by a certain Lisa G. and how I felt about that. I also mentioned my travel memoir Plunge had been picked by a book club. Believe it or not, there is a correlation; an ironic tidbit I can now share, after my conversation with the sailing women of New England who discussed my book is successfully behind me. I was anxious about that Q&A after the group’s main discussion… Why? Because Lisa G. was the one who picked my book for this book club!

This is what happened: Lisa’s first sentence of the review was “Only reason I finished this book was because it was selected in our book club.” Huh? I was astonished Plunge had already been picked by a book club and wondered which one. As I posted some promo info on a sailing-related Facebook group, another member of this book club told me about their pick and if I would be interested in joining their Zoom event after the main discussion. This is when I found out it was Lisa who instigated the book club and who chose Plunge as its first book! But, she ended up not liking it and making that very clear to me in her review… The Q&A went fine. I was glad she was NOT the moderator. She only asked if I had fun experiences sailing as well. Many! Which I included in my book.

January was an extremely busy month for me. Again. This time with conducting interviews, writing guest posts, preparing a webinar about writing and publishing my book, social media posts, and a phone interview with The Daily News, the local newspaper in Newburyport, Massachusetts. A feature article about me and my alternative lifestyle will be published in their quarterly magazine around mid-March.

Five guest features with me were posted last month: an interview with Marian, a true story (the beginning of chapter one in Plunge) for Hugh, and a Q&A with Jacqui, with Jude, and with Operation Awesome.

More four- and five-star reviews for Plunge showed up on Amazon and Goodreads. The one from Suzanne not only compliments my book and is extremely well written, it also touches upon the essence of Plunge. She really gets what I was trying to achieve with my writing.

My cover made the final round of the “Cover of the Month” contest in January on AllAuthor and finished at #22. Not bad, knowing that about 400 covers were nominated to compete. I can now say I made the “top 25.” 😊 Thanks to everyone for voting.

The biggest book event I had last month was my “scary” Zoom presentation for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA). For the first time in my life, I was one of two panelists at a webinar. I created a 25-minute slide show in PowerPoint (also new to me), did some practice runs in my head, and was nervous about this for weeks. The recording of my presentation will be available on YouTube later this week. I will share a link to this free resource about writing and publishing on social media whenever it is live and on Roaming About in my next writing update (first Wednesday of March).

What’s next?

In August 2020, I began working on Plunge non-stop. Weekends, evenings, on the road. When I wasn’t sitting behind my computer, my brain was going 100mph. I felt overwhelmed and stressed. After six months of this (yes, it’s been that long!), I need a little break. But, of course, I have a hard time allowing myself to slow down. Yet, I don’t live in a camper van to work full-time (and for no income) …

So, here’s the compromise: Mark, Maya, and I drove south for a change of scenery and the prospect of February beach time. We are currently in Baja California, Mexico. Internet has been spotty to say the least. For good or for bad, I have had to let go of my daily “upkeep.”

This month has a few things in store: reviews of Plunge should start appearing in print, I hope to secure a couple of interviews with influential travel bloggers, I have a phone interview lined up with a major Belgian newspaper (not sure I’m ready to tackle that “market” yet or whether my Dutch is still up to snuff…), and I plan to target a larger audience, somehow. Stay tuned!

I contributed this post to edition #6 of the #weekendcoffeeshare.