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Posts tagged ‘writing’

May 10

Grown-Up Decision for 2016

At my last writing, I bemoaned my slow writing pace and that hasn’t changed much. I’m still squeezing it in when I can, trying to write every day. But other life things have sometimes pushed it to the back. Some I will discuss here. So if you just want to read about writing stuff, I’ll write about that first. And then get into the other pressing life stuff.

On the plus side, I have gotten some writing in and managed to submit a few more stories out into the world. On May 1st, I got my #50 rejection. Not bad. Not bad. I still wish I had more submitted, but I’m still trying.

I also finished a few books, so I’m reading too. I never understand why some writers aren’t reading books. It sounds crazy, like a musician that doesn’t listen to music, or  an actor that doesn’t watch TV, film, or plays.

Make time to read. Make time to write.

But sometimes life just has a way of wiping out those goals.

For me, it started last winter. I focused on writing, submitting, and getting my chapbook together. I renewed my lease on my apartment and didn’t think too much about it. After all, my rent only went up sixteen dollars. Not much. Not enough to worry about.

And then all of my other bills started to got up. Not huge amounts, but enough that I felt the squeeze. Twenty dollars here. Ten dollars there. I’ve always been a very careful, budget conscious person. Working in publishing will never net me riches, but I always did the best I could. I worked through grad school and did my best to be frugal.

But when I sat down and did the math, I was shocked. My rent and utilities were sixty-percent of my take home pay! No wonder I was feeling the squeeze.

I’m just one of the many people who are stuck in this economy. My salary has flat-lined, but my expenses keep going up and up. I decided that if I was paying this much in rent, I damn well better own something. I want to buy a house.

And the thought of owning a home scares me. It’s a big, grown-up, adult decision that I have managed to avoid. Renting allowed me to cut and run, if things got hard. Don’t like the neighbors? Move! Sick of the area? Move! Not so easy when you own the home. No leaving when things get hard. You have to stay and fix the problem (or I guess you could abandon the home, but that never ends well).

But I am also excited by this decision. For the first time, I will be in control of my living situation. All the decisions will be my own. I don’t have a husband, or family help (in terms of money) to make this purchase. I will be doing this all on my own. Already, I have met with a realtor and mortgage broker, seen my finances laid bare, and taken the plunge to -GASP- go to open houses.

(Side note: I find open houses weird. Some people I know love them, but I guess I’m not that curious about how others live. )

You know what? Buying a house is exhausting! I understand now why people say, “It took me a year to find a house.” or “I looked at a hundred houses.” You really do have to look at a HUGE amount of homes. For like months and months. I’ve only been doing this a month and already my weekends are booked up and I find myself watching Youtube videos entitled “House Hunting tips” and “5 Mistakes home buyers are making.” Are we in a housing bubble now? Should I buy in an established area, or up and coming? Condo or single family? Wishlist? Dealbreakers?

So yeah, I’m tired. I still have a day job to do, regular errands to finish, and find time to write, read, and look for a new home. That’s all. Simple, but never easy.

I hope I hit this 500K goal of writing for the year, but I can already tell that I’ll be lucky if I hit 100K. Not matter, what gets done, gets done. I’d take a baby step forward rather than stand in place. 2016 is going to have some major shifts for me, more than I thought.
Now excuse me while I search for some more videos on finding a dream home on a writer’s budget.

Mar 20

Happy Spring 2016!

Neighborhood Flowers 16

 

Happy Spring!

I spent today submitting and thinking of my spring plans. My word count is behind, but the year isn’t over yet. Still plenty of time to get lots done.

Also, I’ve been slow on reading. I realized that I had been reading a mystery story for the last few months. I would read a few chapters, take a break, and start something else, only to come back to the first book again. That prompted me to skip to the end of this never ending book, find out who the killer is, and move on from the book.

It is something that I find myself doing more in my writing. It’s okay to change your mind about the story. Sometimes I need to just set the old draft away, pull up a new document, and start again. The novel that I’m writing now is a restart. Letting go of the old draft saved the story. Of that I am sure.

So my advice to everyone out there is this – It’s spring, a fresh start. If your work (or anything else) is stale. Go back the the blank page and begin anew.

Feb 26

On Productivity and Getting Older

I am notorious for not being productive in the winter months. I don’t know why I am in denial, but here we are again in the winter and I’m not really writing. I see the pattern before me and it is always the same. I write a little bit in the first three months of the year and then sometime around April, I get me groove back and get productive again.

So right now I am woefully underwriting my goal for the year. I was supposed to be aiming for 500K, but so far I have finished 1 story at 1,114.

Ugh!

Right now I’m blaming my back. A week ago, I was jolted awake by my neighbor’s friend banging on their door around midnight. Apparently, her phone was dying and she was trying to wake the person up. Woke up everybody, but the actual neighbor. My back is paying the price for the jolt. I sit now in front on the computer propped up with pillows, drugged up on Advil, and periodically using my heating pad to relieve my strain.

It’s so clear now that I’m getting older.

I was never really in serious denial, but once in a while there is a moment where I realize that time really has passed. In my stories, I find myself writing about people older, wiser, not so fresh-faced. Even when I write about kids, I don’t make them typical. But it has been a while since I wrote mainly about a child.

My novel’s main character is 30 years old. I can’t picture her younger. It seems perfect. When I first started, she was older and had a different profession. But I tossed that beginning and started fresh. It feels much better, more exciting. For the first time in a long time, I can see myself finishing this novel (we will see if I actually do).

It makes sense that a lot of writers get their first novels published in their late 30’s/early 40’s. Yes, there are 20 somethings who get published. I know a few of them. But I’m glad I didn’t get my first story out until I was in my 30’s. There isn’t an ounce of me that wishes for things to be different. The writer that I am now is happier and better for it. The writer that I am now is grateful for it.

Well, the first two months of the year are a bust so far. Let’s see if I can turn things around in March. Heck, I can’t really move around anyway so… where’s my notebook. 🙂

Also just as an update, I’m still submitting my stories. I’m up to 43 rejections. So this weekend I’m going to have to search out some new places to submit.

 

Jan 1

Goals for 2016

Goal Pic

 

I started and stopped this post a couple of times. I tried to think of something clever and different to challenge myself this year. But the truth is that there is only one simple goal I have for 2016.

Write More.

I had four goals for 2015:
1) Complete 2 pieces a month
2) Write one long piece
3) One Year One Hundred Rejection Challenge
4) Design an E-book (cover and text)

Those first 2 I failed. I didn’t write nearly as much as I wanted too. The first half of the year I was working on my degree. Then I took a break. Then I worked on the longer story. I did complete a few stories, but no where near the 24. And my longer story? Still unfinished. I found myself running out of interest in the plot and not sure what comes next.

I don’t outline my stories, but I’m not a shoot in the dark writer either. I have a vague sense of where the story is going. But with this novella… I just lost the thread. As I’ve said before – It’s been a long time since I wrote a long story (say over 10k). Over ten years…maybe I am out of practice. Not writing, but trusting the process. Trusting myself as a storyteller.

Currently, I have 3 unfinished short stories, 1 unfinished novella, and 1 beginning of what I think is a novel. Lots of stuff started, not much done.

So my BIG goal for 2016 is very simple. Finish everything I start. I hope to have @500k in new words this year. (Yep, that’s right.)

Other goals:
1) Read at least 5 translated books. My reading habits need to expand, so reading outside of the native English speakers is good.
2) Read 50 books this year.
3) Go to 2 conferences this year. Either literary or something else. I want to keep learning.
4) Devote one day a week to the business of publishing.

I know I need to work on balance. I think devoting one day a week to working on my business (and you’d better believe it’s a business) will help keep me writing and submitting. Won’t be perfect. I may need to change and adapt as the months go on, but I adjusting to this new life out of school. Time to try new methods and fine what works best for me.

I’ve read a few blogs in the past few weeks with the same sentiments. It seems like a lot of writers are looking to write more and get back to their craft. I’m with them. I never want to lose sight of my devotion to storytelling. That needs to come first.

Here’s to 2016! And to all my fellow writers – I hope your year finds you working on your best work yet.

Oh, and about 2015 goal #4… Here’s a sneak peek:

Shhh... secret pic here...

Shhh… secret pic here…

But we’ll talk about that later…

Dec 18

Mid-December 2015 Update — The Challenge is Almost Done!

Well, my modem decided that this was the week to act up. After a long conversation with Verizon, I have a new modem and hopefully no more internet problems.

The year is winding down and I think this will be it for rejections. I have a lot of thoughts about this year that I will save for another post closer to the end of the month. But for now I will say that this challenge was one of the best I ever took on. Even though I got no where near 100 rejections, I pushed myself, submitted, and got work done. There were some other goals I had for this year that I also want to talk about, but again, later.

Here are the numbers so far (and these probably won’t change):
Submissions: 5
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 36

As I move into 2016, I will continue to submit, but I don’t think I will keep recording my rejections. (Although when I hit 100, I will definitely note it.) While it is good to keep track and have work out in the world for publication, my production goals are way down. I need to find balance between submitting and writing. Do I take a month off and work on my longer works and let the stories pile up? Or do I spend more time submitting what I have and take longer to finish my new work? I know there is a happy medium and I have to find it. I’m thinking I just have to devote one day (maybe Sunday) as “business of writing day” and the other 6 days are “writing” days.

Then there are blog posts and keeping up with all the industry news. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I love to retweet interesting essays.

Yes, I that is work.

And yes, I love it.

But still, sometimes I feel like I read more about writing, than actually write. And while I do think it is important to keep up with literary news, I also got to get my word count.

Balance.

That’s going to be a big goal in 2016. When I was at JHU, I was totally concentrated on one thing – finishing the class. Now there is no finish line. There is just the end of the story and on to the next. It’s wonderful and daunting at the same time.

Wonderful because I love stories and can’t wait to see what my brain wants to explore.

Daunting because it is never ending. Just when I think I won’t have another idea, I get three more…

LOL. Writer problems.

I’m on vacation until January 4th (Yay!), so over the next week or so, I’ll be posting my final thoughts on this challenge, my reading list for the year (and reading goals for 2016), goals for 2016, and any other new stuff I think about. Until then…

Happy Holidays!

And if you’re not religious –

Enjoy your time off and Happy Reading & Writing!

Dec 3

4 Comments

Dear Robot Blog Hop – #iamhuman

This blog post is part of a blog hop for the Dear Robot Anthology. Please click here for details on the editor, Kelly Ann Jacobson, inspiration for the anthology and to links to other contributor’s stories. There is also a Goodreads sponsored giveaway until December 10th.

You know you want to get this book! Who doesn’t want a free book?

Here’s the story behind the story –

The ticket that started it all.

One year ago, on a cold December night, a handful of fantasy authors and their supporters gathered together in a local writing center. The night was the book release for the anthology Magical. I came to support my fellow contributors with a couple of friends and my mom in tow. The reading was fun and after, when we all were chatting and swapping autographs, the editor, Kelly, let it slip she had thought about another anthology.

“I’m thinking some science fiction,” she said.
“Ooo,” I said. “That sounds interesting.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure yet. Anthologies are so much work. I’ll have to see.”

After that night, I didn’t think much about the antho. My final class for my MA was coming up and I had to shift my attention to my other stories. In no time spring came, my class was done, and I graduated. Kelly’s e-mail about her new anthology submission call came about a month later in June.

My first thought was, Epistolary Science Fiction????

Now that was new.

To be honest, my brain was fried in June. I was out of ideas and more focused on my brother’s up coming wedding rather than coming up with a brand new story. So I pushed it to the back of my mind. I had time. I would think of something.

In July, I felt more refreshed and ready to write. Sometime in the first week or so, a couple of odd things happened. First I went through some of my old papers, and by old I mean OVER 5 years. I found a few abandoned stories I never finished, but there was a story I wrote in 2005 or 2006 that I couldn’t find. I had thought maybe I would finish it.

Sadly, I think somewhere in the three household moves I’ve made in the last ten years the story got lost. Maybe tossed away in a stack of papers I thought were worthless. I was bummed because I loved the idea of that story, but I had never had a clear vision of how to finish it. I imaged an earth far in the future, where people had flexible genders, flexible sexuality, and flexible ethnicities. It was a daunting task to describe a world like this (mostly because I had to think about how this world would come into being in a realistic way) and keep it in the realm of short story. It was the kind of story I couldn’t write in my twenties, but could now in my thirties (or at least wanted to try).

So I stripped away the previous story (had to there were no reference points for me to refresh my memory) and instead focused on exploring the world’s origins. The pre-story, if you will. What would the early days of this new reality look like? Why would humans change themselves?

The second event was a late night idea I had of a teenage girl, who was getting surgery to get into college. I saw her clearly, red-hair, freckles, and reading a thick paperback waiting nervously for her doctor. Why was she there? I wanted to know more.

Combine those two ideas and my love of long form essays, and you have my story “#iamhuman.” I wrote it in a blistering three day focus, set it aside for a week, read it over, and sent it to Kelly.

A few weeks later, she accepted it.

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