The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

Checking in. The month's target will not quite be met. I reckon I've another week of editing on the novel. After that I'll start q3. It's roughly plotted already. 

Then it's time to learn how to write the dreaded novel synopsis. 

I currently have 14 stories out doing the rounds. 2 on hold.  

I'm a grandad now, I'm allowed to slow down  

@ease 

So as I haven't done this accountability thread before, how does it work? Am I supposed to just out myself as a failure? ? Or will I get called out?

My goals for April:

1. finish outlining Q3 submisson: FAILED (I wrote a draft of the first half)

2. Send out some queries on the novel: FAILED (I looked at agent names and started making a list but didn't send any fresh queries)

I did file my taxes (finally), I did put my house on the market, and I did take my two boys on a weeks vacation.

Writing wise my achievements which were not my goals included: submitting 17 pieces to different markets, including Resnick, Baen, Parsec, some top rung magazines, and some anthologies. 

@pdblake you're definitely allowed to slow down! Enjoy these early days with your grandson ? and good luck writing the novel synopsis. I did one for Dave Farland the week before he passed, and it was one of the worst writing experiences I've ever had... Though not the worst. (RIP Dave).

What are your goals for May? 

@gideonpsmith - use this thread however will best motivate you to write. No one's going to chant "Shame! Shame!" (unless you want us to ?). Honestly, that sounds like a butt-load of adulting. I'm not surprised you missed your goals. But that's a fantastic record of submissions! Great stuff! Bring those April goals over to May and I'm sure you'll smash them.

Posted by: @jeschleicher

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I'm at a crossroads re: Q3 goals, in flux as to where to concentrate my efforts. I'm itching to start a novel, but also getting much out of my continued focus on short stories. A lot will depend on whether I get into a workshop. 

Looks like you got into a workshop Even if it wasn't the one you were thinking of as you wrote this message. I assume you'll be switching to novel writing?

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @writhmic, @annax, @kz_richards, @toddjones, @joel-c-scoberg, @storysinger, @physa, @pegeen, @kent,  @sconn, how did your Aprils go?

Come boast your successes! No need to mention any failures, just acknowledge them yourself and, if you want, have a think about what prevented you from turning them into successes. A tight feedback loop is the secret to improvement.

I don't recall my April goals. I believe I was going to take it easy after a tough March. Work was brutal (featuring a 25.5 hour shift and a 95 hour week) but I happily wrote and submitted a story to an anthology, and edited an old piece ("not much work" I thought, until I went to submit and realized the word limit was 8000 and my story 9800) and submitted it to Baen with 17 minutes to spare.

My goal for May is simple. Finish my Q3 draft. I have two very different ideas, so I'm hoping to finish both and give myself the choice of which to improve over June.

We still have two months until Q3 deadline!

That said, I've recently been part of a lot of discussion about submitting late vs early. Long story short, the earlier the better. When given more time to consider a story, an editor will do just that. If you're part of the massive wave at the end, the editor is obliged to look for any excuse to return your story to you. If possible, get in early! 

Now back to your keyboards!

@ease 

April accomplishments:

1000 word flash written and submitted to a contest

KYD masterclass and first KYD

Outlined and wrote half of Q3

Read Super Secrets Illustrated workbook and most of volume 39

Now I need to focus on getting some submissions out. 

Posted by: @ease

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When given more time to consider a story, an editor will do just that. If you're part of the massive wave at the end, the editor is obliged to look for any excuse to return your story to you.

Good point! And it often decreases the time the story's considered at the market, so at large, you can knock on more market doors in a shorter time period.

Posted by: @ease

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I assume you'll be switching to novel writing?

Perhaps, but I'm still torn at what makes both craft and business sense. Do I try to turn out as many short stories as I can in the next year to try to build my readership and short story cred, or do I have enough of a CV for any agents to take notice once I start querying said hypothetical novel? I'm still waiting on Odyssey. That may alter my decision. On my chances, I take the same mindset as I do with my story submissions to markets. I expect an R but have hope for a yes. 

Posted by: @ease

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Work was brutal (featuring a 25.5 hour shift and a 95 hour week) but I happily wrote and submitted a story to an anthology, and edited an old piece ("not much work" I thought, until I went to submit and realized the word limit was 8000 and my story 9800) and submitted it to Baen with 17 minutes to spare.

Dude, all that with that schedule? Well done!!! I hope work eases up for you, the pun not intended until after I reread what I typed. 

Posted by: @kz_richards

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Now I need to focus on getting some submissions out. 

Productive April! Get them Krakens a home!

I’ve been feeling unproductive since I haven’t finished a draft for Q3 yet. It’s been difficult to find a new place to write since moving. But I did refurbish a YA story and sub’d it to a new contest.

Also, got up the nerve to submit to my first set of SFF magazines. Have to pat myself on the back for overcoming imposter syndrome. Wonder if that ever goes away! 

Posted by: @toddjones

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April's goal is to work on my horror novel, "Danse des Morts."

I haven't touched it in nearly a year. I left off at the roughly 67K word mark, after cutting about 20k words and moving them to book 2. My more specific goal for the month is to go through what I have and apply what I've learned from writing short stories over the last year. That should give me a better understanding of what the story is lacking so I can formulate a game plan to finish the story.

April goal update: Worked through some good edits of my first chapter for my horror novel. Flows better, although needs a bit of smoothing out.

Started on Q3 WotF story.

May goal: Continue horror novel to edit next couple chapters and get a full draft of Q3 for reading/editing.

Posted by: @sconn

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Also, got up the nerve to submit to my first set of SFF magazines. Have to pat myself on the back for overcoming imposter syndrome. Wonder if that ever goes away!

Well done! Pat your back indeed! As for whether imposter syndrome ever goes away, I'm sure it's particular to each person. For me, I always find a way to twist reality, so it stays on me and haunts me. But I've learned to overcome it keeping me from putting myself out there. 

Posted by: @sconn

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I’ve been feeling unproductive since I haven’t finished a draft for Q3 yet. It’s been difficult to find a new place to write since moving. But I did refurbish a YA story and sub’d it to a new contest.

Also, got up the nerve to submit to my first set of SFF magazines. Have to pat myself on the back for overcoming imposter syndrome. Wonder if that ever goes away! 

If you are a writer, you are a writer. You can’t be an imposter when writing fulfills who you are. 

@wulfmoon i may need to get the tattoo of this ?

@wulfmoon eloquently put! I'll remember this when I am having doubts myself!

Posted by: @sconn

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I’ve been feeling unproductive since I haven’t finished a draft for Q3 yet. It’s been difficult to find a new place to write since moving. But I did refurbish a YA story and sub’d it to a new contest.

Also, got up the nerve to submit to my first set of SFF magazines. Have to pat myself on the back for overcoming imposter syndrome. Wonder if that ever goes away!

well done! As with WotF, you can't win if you don't submit. I've been through a few patches of inactivity and, when writing, feeling pretty unproductive. This thread has helped me by encouraging me to set goals and to check in. Hopefully submitting to SFF magazines and working on your YA story is the change of action that, for me, sometimes gives me a kick to get back to the keyboard and write.

Posted by: @ease

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Work was brutal (featuring a 25.5 hour shift and a 95 hour week) but I happily wrote and submitted a story to an anthology, and edited an old piece ("not much work" I thought, until I went to submit and realized the word limit was 8000 and my story 9800) and submitted it to Baen with 17 minutes to spare.

Congrats on getting the submission in! And with 17 whole minutes to spare too,plenty of time

Posted by: @ease

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That said, I've recently been part of a lot of discussion about submitting late vs early. Long story short, the earlier the better. When given more time to consider a story, an editor will do just that. If you're part of the massive wave at the end, the editor is obliged to look for any excuse to return your story to you. If possible, get in early! 

This is great advice too

@ease 

Last month was a "progress" month, rather than an achievement month. I started amending my HM from Q1, while also working on my new entry for Q3. I reckon both should be ready before Q3 closes so I hope to have a choice of two to submit. My goal this month is to get both drafts finished.

I also finished reading Vol 38 at last. I thought I had read all the competition stories months ago, but somehow missed "Lilt of a Lark" as I checked back through, which was excellent.

@ease This month's goal is simply to finish editing that novel and get q3 out of the way, a first draft at least.

After great critiques on my fantasy story I submitted it to the Jim Baen contest on the last day.

I learned how to reciprocate on critiquing, finally. 

I did an inordinate amount of research(reading). Over 2,000 pages.

Now I'm devoting May to getting a story crafted for WotF.  

Posted by: @storysinger

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After great critiques on my fantasy story I submitted it to the Jim Baen contest on the last day.

Awesome! Best of luck to you! Fingers crossed that a forumite gets crowned a winner! 

Posted by: @storysinger

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After great critiques on my fantasy story I submitted it to the Jim Baen contest on the last day.

Nice work, and best of luck with your entry!

The novel is finally edited. Synopsis next, then queries. 

First Q3, which finally all came together while I was lying in the bath. Now it's shouting at me. Hopefully I'll get it down sometime over the next couple of weeks. 

Daughter is moving house this weekend though and I've got a lot to do on the allotment (vegetables, like time, don't wait).

Thankfully there's a long weekend that might help things along. God bless the King and his timing.  

https://contest.scifidea.org/

The Dyson Sphere is next on the agenda after the contest deadline. Even if you don't enter it is a concept worth learning about.

@storysinger too hard sci-fi for me. Unless it's really just a posh vacuum cleaner. I could probably do that.

@storysinger I do enjoy researching and I've read a fair amount on this just today, but boy this one looks a lot of work. Then I do like a challenge.

Posted by: @storysinger

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https://contest.scifidea.org/

The Dyson Sphere is next on the agenda after the contest deadline. Even if you don't enter it is a concept worth learning about.

$20,000 for each of TEN winners! And $2000 for each short-listed submission? That's loco!

Posted by: @ease

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Posted by: @storysinger

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https://contest.scifidea.org/

The Dyson Sphere is next on the agenda after the contest deadline. Even if you don't enter it is a concept worth learning about.

$20,000 for each of TEN winners! And $2000 for each short-listed submission? That's loco!

 

We're talking novella to novel length, so I speculate that if you put in the work, you won't be judged against very many competitors as many will see that as too big of a barrier to enter. 

@jeschleicher it's long, but it still works out at 20c-66c a word! Man, I'm tempted. Would likely mean missing the next two quarters though...