Update – other than subbing to a publisher’s open call, last week was pretty slow. I spent most of my time doing paid work and worrying about a scheduled tooth extraction, more over the cost than over the operation itself. Everything went well, by the way. By next week I’ll be able to eat crunchy junk food again. In the meantime, I’ve been surviving mainly on bananas and apple sauce and probably losing weight. There’s an upside to everything.
I started going through my old files for flashes and snippets I can use to either write stories for subbing or collect as is for a self-published humor anthology. The one file dates back ten years. So far, I haven’t found anything useful in it. All the entries pretty much all suck. I picked up one of my more recent longhand flash notebooks and I’m having much better luck. There’s the start of a whole novel in there that I began and may go back to, along with a bit that would fit the anthology. And that’s just in the first five pages. I might have considered the flash bit for expansion, except Stephen King used a similar idea for one of his earlier stories, so probably not. Even though mine would be totally different—I can even think of a romance angle—somebody on the internet would be bound to complain because the internet complains about everything. This is why I avoid social media.
My goal for this month is to get off my butt and get serious. I managed to make a sub in April; I need to do a lot more of that if I want to pay off my bills. I’ll be skimming those notebooks for story prompts on a nightly basis, and hopefully longhand some future subs. I also want to get this blog back on schedule. This update is supposed to cover April 21-27, and here we are in May already, a full week behind. So I’m going to aim to post again on Monday or Tuesday, then settle into my original post day of Sunday once I’m caught up. Hopefully that will get me back on track.
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So here we are at the start of May, almost halfway through the year. So far, not so good. I have yet to write a book (first draft) in a month. I have yet to finish either of the two books I started the year with. At least I had enough of the one book in good enough shape that I was able to make up a submission package for that publisher. Now I just have to finish the second draft, do some hands-on research to make sure everything’s good, do a spot-check third draft to iron out the wrinkles and I’ll be prepped and ready for a possible acceptance call. I’ve got a year to do all this. Can I make it? I dunno. See the opening lines of this paragraph.
Setting goals is the easy part. Seeing them through takes determination, hard work and faith in your own abilities, plus rock-solid belief that yes, things will come out in your favor. I’ve been falling short in all of these, all at once and in various combinations. A lifetime of bad luck and bad job experiences will do that to your confidence. Also, being fast and prolific helps the modern writer, and I’m neither. That’s something else that’ll have to be fixed if I’m going to succeed at this.
Because that’s the trouble with goals. They don’t achieve themselves; you have to work your ass off on a number of levels just to give yourself a fighting chance. Yes, luck helps, but you can’t count on that. Luck only works if you do. Like that open call. I’d been thinking of subbing to that publisher after the book was done, but the opportunity arose and I was ready. I had three edited opening chapters. I had a completed manuscript so I could do a detailed synopsis. I’m a member on a writing site where I learned about the open call and the fact they were taking partials and not complete manuscripts. All that is opportunity. None of it would have meant squat if I hadn’t taken action and sent my entry in.
But it’s not over yet. Now I’m on the clock. I have roughly a year to complete and polish the book. If I’m lucky, it’ll land on the right editor’s desk at the right time. If I did my job right with the partial, crafted an interesting story with original characters and just enough hook to snag attention and make Marketing think, “We can sell this,” then there should be several “right” editors.
And while I’m waiting, I can continue to work on other projects, like short stories and self-publishing and churning out romance novels. The romance books I’m 95% sure will be accepted. But how will they sell? Depends on how hard I work to meet my goals—not just in writing, but in research and sales techniques. The harder I work at the right things, the better my odds become. Then when the sales happen and the money starts trickling (pouring would be better, but I’m staying cautious) in, I can brag to everybody about how “lucky” I was.
None of which will happen if I don’t send things out. I won’t have anything to sub unless I write it first. Maybe my first goal of the month should be, “Establish a viable work schedule and stick to it.” Wait, I tried that last month. The only reason it didn’t work was because I didn’t. Back to my original goal for May: “Get off your lazy ass.” After all, I’ve got hundreds of Asian bots relying on me for weekly content, not to mention the viewer in Switzerland. I can’t just let them down. See y’all next week.
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