It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.
To visit the IWSG website, click here.
To become a member of the IWSG, click here.
Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are
Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.
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Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.
Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.
Remember the question is optional.
This month's optional question is:
Is there anything you'd like to see changed, added, and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry?
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Happy July, Everyone!
I hope that you have had a happy, healthy, and fulfilling June!
I've been home since last IWSG Day, and that has been wonderful.
I've had time to sit out on our deck with Terry and enjoy the long summer evenings.
Almost Mid-Summer's Eve
Looking West Toward the Rockies
Aurora, Colorado, USA
June 16, 2026
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
Being home has also forced me to confront all that remains
to be done after our major home renovation last year.
"You're still unpacking?" gasped my bought-and-sold-many houses,
moved-way-too-many-times best friend over dinner late Sunday afternoon.
"I'm not you, Cheri." I deadpanned.
Our Amazing Friends, Cheri and Gary
Maggiano's Little Italy
Englewood, Colorado, USA
November 28, 2019
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
They had recently arrived from their winter home in Arizona to spend the summer
in their Colorado condo on the far side of town.
We get together as often as we can.
Cheri can pack up or unpack a house or condo in two or three days,
and she doesn't have to resort to Swedish Death Cleaning like I must now.
She does not get distracted like I do.
Guaranteed she wouldn't have come across the receipts for her wedding night
like I did while sorting through a stack of papers this week.
She'd have pitched those receipts after her wedding month.
And she wouldn't have been sidetracked like I was
by preserving them in my journal while enjoying a margarita. 😂
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
My distractibility, okay ADHD, also explains why I'm always racing to finish my IWSG post.
Despite all good my intentions, here I am again madly typing at the last minute.
Really, did our posting day have to land on the first day of the month?
So this month's question asks what I'd like to see changed,
added, and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry.
What I really want is a magic wand that I can wave over my manuscript mess
and transform it to a published best seller on the New York Times Best Seller List.
I'd be doing a book tour with the planning and financing handled by my publishing company
~ nice hotels and meals please, also a makeup artist and hairstylist to accompany me.
My publishing company would arrange for me to appear
on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, where the panel and I would discuss
my brilliant expose of Canada's treatment of Indigenous people in my memoir.
And ... well, that ain't going to happen.
So, since I, as a writer hoping to get my memoir published, have to do all the heavy lifting
of marketing ~ like defining my target audience, building an author's platform,
promoting my book online and in live venues, finding reviews, and selling my book,
so I, as a writer who frequently feels like Sisyphus,
want to own the rights to my book and higher royalties.
My Writing Mess
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
My Father's Students and Classroom
Photo by Donald Blair MacBeath
Lansdowne House, Northern Ontario, Canada
January 1961
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
But I'll worry more about these things when the time gets closer.
Meanwhile I'll keep plodding along on my manuscript and our house.
Happy Canada Day to all the Canadians celebrating today! 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 🇨🇦
Happy Independence Day to all the Americans celebrating on the 4th! 🇱🇷 🇱🇷 🇱🇷
May the US beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup today! ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
I'll be celebrating everything!
Canadian by Birth, American by Naturalization
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved
If you are also a member of our Facebook Group,
I invite you to visit and to provide a link to your IWSG post.
Facebook members are invited to answer our July question too.
Happy creating in July!
Take care!
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com
Copyright ©2026 – All rights reserved.
My next post will be Friday, July 10th 🤞
Just so you know, I monitor my comments before publishing them. This means your comment won't appear immediately. I will not publish mean spirited or commercial comments.
