IWSG Day and Happy 2015!

Happy New Year, and Happy IWSG Day. The purpose of IWSG is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! (And that would be ME!) IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of members. You can be one too. You can follow other IWSG members or meet them on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG. We also have a thriving Facebook page. Look us over. I think you'll like us.

Today we're supposed to introduce ourselves. My name is Jess, Jessy, Jessica--choose one--and I am an insecure writer. I've had a couple of books published, numerous magazine articles, and I'm a staff writer for Southern Writers Magazine. But guess what! I'm still insecure. No matter what I accomplish I'm never quite sure it's for real, that it isn't some crazy fluke thing that happens. How about you? Did God bless you with an enormous amount of self-confidence?

2014 was an interesting year for me. Hubby entered into his first full year of retirement which meant I had some adjusting to do. I'm still adjusting. Our daughter got married and we renovated our house. Retirement, wedding and the renovation from hell should have sent me into a deep, dark depression but I made it. Guess I'm stronger than I thought.

I didn't get much writing done in 2014, but I am proud of a few things. My novella, The Last Daughter, finaled in the Booksellers Best contest, a Published Authors’ Contest sponsored by Greater Detroit Romance Writers of America. I was also a finalist in the Ida contest--the International Digital Awards sponsored by Oklahoma RWA. 

I think the best award of all has been that my stepson actually read The Last Daughter and even recorded it in his book journal right beneath Stephen King!

I don't have any specific plans for 2015. For some reason my plans tend to fall by the wayside, so I'm just going to write, write, write whatever book, article, short story that pops into my heart. That seems to be when I accomplish the most.

What do you want to achieve in 2015? Share details!