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Posts from the ‘Writing Life’ Category

Sep 5

Changes that Add Up

Five days in to this challenge and I’m realizing how good of an idea this is. There is something satisfying about finishing a story and starting fresh. I’ve always liked that feeling. It’s always hard to finish, especially when you have such a long way to go in longer pieces, but the beauty of this challenge is that everyday I get to start fresh. The other story is done and now I have something new to look forward too.

So far I have finished 4 this month. Right now I decided to take a break and write this post before I finish the rest of story #5. It’s a longer short story that I saved especially for the weekend. Weeknights, after a long day at work, I don’t have the patience for a story over 3K. But on the weekends, I can space it out over the day. Some in the morning. Go out and run a few errands. Come home and write more. Do laundry. Write more. Write the blog post. Etc.

I can’t say all these stories will be good. But some will. Some will be fun and interesting. But I will have a lot. I will practice my craft. Create, create, create. I get that now. I understand that my stories will not be produced in a rush of brilliance. They will be mined after millions of words written. They will grow from the millions of stories I write.

I read a couple of interesting articles this week. (I’ll link them below.) One was about what I’ve already talked about with writing and practicing your craft (Rusch). She writes it much better than me, so I won’t summarize. But the other story I read this morning really hit home with me.

A British cyclist team decided to improve everything in their lives by 1%. Not only did they start winning, but they did it, not with radical changes, but small ones that added up over time. For me, it just hammers home the idea that small changes add up over time. Sort of like the old saying, if you write a page a day, you will have a novel by the end of the year.

I may not be able to write a story everyday for the rest of my life. Illness, travel, family issues, or just life in general will come along and throw off my schedule. But that one percent improvement, that will move me forward. That change will add up.

Business Musing Column by Kristine Kathryn Rusch= A great column I discovered a few months ago.
Productivity Article in the Entrepreneur

Aug 30

End of August 2015 – Up for the Challenge

Here we are at the end of August. The second half of the month moved much slower for me. Only two rejections came in, but I have noticed that right at the end of the month/beginning of the new month is when a lot of notices are sent out. So over the next day or so I may hear from a few places.

Numbers for August:

Submissions: 12
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 23

I think in the last post I counted a story twice, because all my stories are out now, but I still have one less than before. (That’s what I think happened, but not sure.) I don’t really do simultaneous submissions. Most places that I want don’t allow them, and I have gotten out of the habit. Maybe if I wrote more literary fiction I could do that, but the speculative fiction is a no go.

Anyway, there are now twelve unique stories out, and I hope to increase this over the next month. Last year, I did a personal challenge called “Short Story September.” I wanted to write a new story every week. This year, I’m going to bump it up and write one every day. No idea whether this is a good idea or not, but I want to break out of my rut. I’ve been working on this novella, but it is still unfinished. I like finishing stuff. Gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Some days I may write a flash piece and then get back to the novella. Others may be spent just on the new story. Either way, I’m going to get a few more new things written. Even if I don’t get thirty stories done, I’ll take any new stuff. My major clean out showed me a few pieces that I didn’t finish or only wrote the first paragraph. Because of school, I had to put a few things on the back burner and so now is the time to finish them up, while I’m still excited by them and want to finish.

The “wanting to finish” is important. Sometimes if the story is boring me, I know I shouldn’t continue to write it. If the enthusiasm is gone, I’m gone (and probably the reader too). Focus on the other that are still alive for me. Those are the ones I have to bring into the world.

Still continuing on my reading streak, although I only read four books this month (Gotta get back on track!). Next few months will have a flurry of new books coming out: Rushdie, Franzen, Galbraith (Rowling), Sanderson, Due, my favorite author Atwood, and quite a few more. So, lots to look forward to in the fall.

Aug 16

Mid-August Update 2015

Quite a first half for August. One of the places I sent a story to (way back in the winter) closed up shop and I didn’t notice until this month. Bummer, but the story went back out into the world and will hopefully find a good home. Also during the last update I mentioned there were a few that didn’t open until August 1. So three of those submissions happened quickly.

Ok. Let’s get to the numbers so far for this month.

Submission: 13
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 21

August has been both busy and dull. I find moments of incredible productivity when I’m writing and submitting. Then, I can spend two or three days tinkering through a scene and putting down only a few hundred words. It has been a while since I wrote anything close to a long piece, so I both remember this feeling and marvel a the newness of it. I’m hoping to finish by the end of the month.

I also did a summer clean out of my workspace. After school was done, I noticed that my apartment was drowning in paper, revision notes, and info. I had to organize. A couple of good hours a day sorting, tossing, and filing paper work worked wonders for my sanity. I don’t feel so disorganized anymore. (I even have a dining room table again!)

So I am feeling quite productive this month and hope to continue this pattern.

Jul 31

July 2015 – Refreshed and Writing

We’re 2/3 of the way through summer and this month I feel as if I have really got back on track. Not only have I been working on my novella (I think it is a novella, but that could change.), but I also managed to mail out more submissions!

And I even wrote a new short story.

Yes, I know. In my last post I said I was going to ditch the short stories this summer, but there were a couple of places I wanted to submit to and their deadlines are September 1. So I took a couple of days off and pounded out a new story. There is one more I need to write, but I will do that this weekend. So those will be off and submitted next month and then I can really concentrate on this longer piece. Also, I have two other stories that are ready to be submitted, but the journals don’t open until August 1, so those pieces are not included in this update. Here is my total so far:

Submissions: 8

Acceptances: 0

Rejections: 12

Still woefully low, but hey, if I’m going to fail at this, I’m going to fail. After all, the goal is to get myself submitting, writing, and (hopefully) published.

Also, can I say how wonderful reading is now that I am not in school anymore? One of the downsides to grad school is that I never seemed to have time to read for pleasure during the semester. I was either reading books for class, reading short stories for class, or reading my classmates work. It was only in those brief weeks during break that I could read for fun. This year between January and May (when I graduated) I read 3 books for fun.

However in July, I read 5(!!). FIVE books that have been sitting forever waiting for me to read them. Oh people, it is so nice to get back into the swing of things with my reading. Maybe in December I’ll do an end of the year post on all the books I read. But here are a few more that I’m working my way towards:

Stone Mattress – Margaret Atwood

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – NK Jemisin

The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson

Yep, this was a good month all the way around. I hope your July went well too. See ya in August!

 

Jul 5

3 Comments

Tiny June 2015 Update (that spilled over into July)

Ah , that is what happens when summer hits. You get all distracted by warm weather, vacations, and daylight lasting well into early evening.

Anyway, not much else has changed. Stats are still the same as the end of May, so I won’t repost them. The only big change is that I am considering dropping my short story aspirations for the year. Originally I wanted to write 2 new stories a month, but that has been an epic failure. I’ve barely written anything this year. The stuff I have written has been for my longer pieces (novel or novella, not sure yet).

So this summer I am ditching the short story and setting my goal to finish my longer piece. I can bring back Short Story September, if I feel the need. I have to see how I feel at the end of the summer. For now, I’m working on the long piece, reading the rest of the Mistborn series (the ones that have been out so far), and getting back to healthy. (I indulged in some stress eating during thesis.)

May 31

End of May 2015 — Back to the Real World

Ok, take two of this post. Don’t you just hate it when you write the whole thing, only to have the computer freak on you and then you lose all the writing???

Yeah, I hate it too.

It’s the end of May 2015 and the end of a busy month. It began with me graduating from school and getting my MA. After the celebrating died down, I’m back into the grind of everyday life before school. For the first time in three years, I actually have the summer off.

But it doesn’t feel like it.

I’m still writing, submitting, and trying to move my writing career forward. The high of graduating has worn off and now I’m back to the REAL work of a writer. The writing. Here’s where the challenge stands so far:

Submissions: 4
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 18

I submitted everything from my thesis (complete stories – I had one that was an excerpt.) Plus one story is a hold over from December. One story came back a few weeks ago and I am debating where to send it next. I’m in the process of looking over all my work and evaluating which I should keep submitting.

The writing of new material is slow. Last year I was able to finish quite a few, but I don’t know… Now I feel stuck. I start a new piece, but then I just loose interest. Finishing has always been tough for me and usually I can power through. Not the case this month. Maybe I need to put this concern aside. Finishing is good, but lots of writer have more than one story going at the same time. The story will be done when it is good and ready. Better to look at the total numbers at the end of the year.

Yikes, we’re coming up on the mid-point of the year and my rejection numbers are tiny! You can see why this summer is going to be a busy one for me. I have a lot to catch up on. June will be over before I know it.

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