The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

Great to see so many people checking in regularly and looks like some serious productivity and progress.

I didn't set any September goals as such, but I did edit and submit three short stories (two rejections already). I'm currently trying to get my head around having a website, so I've been doing some research or, in other words, writing procrastination on that front.

October goals

• I have two novel ideas (narrowed down to these two), so my goal is to commit to one and start plotting and writing it (both are expansions of short stories, the short stories being my mental gateway into the worlds).
• Submit three short stories.

Posted by: @joel-c-scoberg

↑

I'm currently trying to get my head around having a website, so I've been doing some research or, in other words, writing procrastination on that front

I wasted so much time on a website at one point. Its an easy timesink. In the end I copied a restaurants page and instead of photos of seasonal specials I put the front covers of magazines I was in. The down side is, its fairly clunky, so any time I need to update it its a major hassle moving things around to have the formatting right. So my one rec (if I had the time/chance to do it over again) I would focus on ease to edit/add stuff as an important criteria so its quick to update

@adrian I think my other big favor I could do myself is to stop checking submission grinder. I see loads of rejections come out and just because I haven't got one and people who submitted after me have I start to get my hopes up (and I should know, having been on the other side, sometimes they just don't review in order). A few days pass. Sometimes just me and another person or two not listing results. By this time I'm already imagining my piece in the magazine. Thinking about my acceptance speech (jk) and imagining taking my family out to celebrate. And then my rejection comes in. I think if I paid less attention to when results should come from all venues/markets and didn't check SG, rejections would be softer as they won't have been built up as much.

@gideonpsmith I’m so glad I’m not the only one who does this.

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

↑

I think my other big favor I could do myself is to stop checking submission grinder. I see loads of rejections come out and just because I haven't got one and people who submitted after me have I start to get my hopes up (and I should know, having been on the other side, sometimes they just don't review in order). A few days pass. Sometimes just me and another person or two not listing results. By this time I'm already imagining my piece in the magazine. Thinking about my acceptance speech (jk) and imagining taking my family out to celebrate. And then my rejection comes in.

Haha, good advice @gideonpsmith!

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

↑

I wasted so much time on a website at one point. Its an easy timesink. In the end I copied a restaurants page and instead of photos of seasonal specials I put the front covers of magazines I was in. The down side is, its fairly clunky, so any time I need to update it its a major hassle moving things around to have the formatting right. So my one rec (if I had the time/chance to do it over again) I would focus on ease to edit/add stuff as an important criteria so its quick to update

This is really helpful advice, thank you.

And for what it's worth, I have visited your website and thought it looked good, one to aspire toward. 

There is no one way to win this contest. But the best thing to help (after writing a new story and submitting every quarter, of course) is beta reading the latest volume:

https://writersofthefuture.com/forum/postid/56347/

If you have the time, I cannot recommend doing this enough.

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @writhmic, @pdblake, @annax, @kz_richards, @toddjones, @storysinger, @physa, @pegeen, @kent, @sconn, @gideonpsmith, @ericstallsworth, @hannya, @tiinag, @olivia-ava, @abeona, @bon, @thewritingwolf, @mulch, @marius

Posted by: @ease

↑

There is no one way to win this contest. But the best thing to help (after writing a new story and submitting every quarter, of course) is beta reading the latest volume:

https://writersofthefuture.com/forum/postid/56347/

If you have the time, I cannot recommend doing this enough.

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @writhmic, @pdblake, @annax, @kz_richards, @toddjones, @storysinger, @physa, @pegeen, @kent, @sconn, @gideonpsmith, @ericstallsworth, @hannya, @tiinag, @olivia-ava, @abeona, @bon, @thewritingwolf, @mulch, @marius

Out of curiosity, what's involved and what kind of time commitment is it? (e.g. what time frame do you have to do what tasks) I assume it's looking more for reader reaction than critique-like suggestions.

(Edit: I see earlier in the topic you linked to, it suggests it's mostly looking for typos and copy edit items, which answers part of the question. But still curious about how whether it's all the stories or some, and what time frame you would have to do that amount of reading)

@ease you forgot to add "and it's fun" 😉

But it is also a time commitment searching for typos, grammar errors, homonyms etc so worth thinking about your balance before offering.

I will say, I am doing it, and they were kind enough not to just send me the entire book to do in one go! But then, I guess they are still deciding what's going to go in...

Posted by: @adrian

↑

 

Out of curiosity, what's involved and what kind of time commitment is it? (e.g. what time frame do you have to do what tasks) I assume it's looking more for reader reaction than critique-like suggestions.

 

@adrian

 As above, they want typos, spelling errors, grammar errors, homonyms, that kind of thing that can be easily missed. It's already accepted as pro-level and any crit I assume has been done, so they are not looking for that from you, but you're trying to pick up on errors that a line editor may have missed so it requires very careful slow-reading (at least for me, I can't pick up those kinds of things skimming)

My first batch was 5 stories plus bios. As you know, wotf stories are generally 10-12k but they can be shorter, or they can be up to 17k. So one batch is 5 times that or 50,000 words more or less to slow read for errors. 

I don't know if they will send me more when I get done with these, I assume so. The deadline for this batch was a little under 3 weeks.

Could be an interesting learning experience, but I'm already strapped for time I'm afraid. Also, I'm an ESL. Not a bad one, but I wouldn't feel comfortable being responsible for checking grammar and vocabulary

I think my calendar also doesn't allow for it, but it's cool to get a glimpse of the process. Thanks.

Previously they've sent the entire book in one go, and given you about a month to return your feedback. They don't crucify you if you don't manage to mark up every single story/bio. This year they sent me just the first five stories/bios, and again, gave about a month to return the feedback. I can't wait to dig into them.

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

↑

Okay, I have mulled....

 

October goals:

 

1. Write a flash piece

2. Do three writing exercises. I have to make this explicit as the temptation when I sit down is always to write a 'piece'. Doing a 'piece' is always alluring as then I have something concrete at the end rather than a, probably unusable, hanging paragraph or page or two. I want to consciously focus on some craft exercise though so I'm going to make that a goal so I do it.

3. I have a few older pieces that I now understand what went wrong. So I will take ONE and either edit it, or re-write it, using that knowledge, rather than let it die an idle death on my harddrive. I'm nervous about this goal. I don't much care for revising or revisiting. I usually prefer to waste my time on completely new adventures. But I am *told* this can sometimes be a useful learning exercise even if you still never use the piece. October seems like a good month to find that out.

Oh whoops! Just re-checked this thread to see if I had already accomplished my October goals yet (as I have done a lot but couldn't remember what the goals were specifically). Turns out I have achieved none of them yet   

So don't do as I do - instead, write your goals and then remember what you're working on so you have a chance of actually achieving them.

Ok, as for me, I'm putting these above my desk now 😉