Argh! The agony of waiting! But more about that in a later post.*

As of today I'm back to my previously successful writing regimen. Get up, shower, dress, drive my lovely and talented wife to work. Return home. (Stopping at the grocery store for a few items is optional.) Exercise--today I went for a 30 minute power walk instead of running, but at least I got out and got some exercise. I'll get back to running anon.

Then I write for an hour. (Set the timer, start writing. When the timer dings, check my word count.)
Get up, move around, exercise, get a drink.
Write for another timed hour.
Spend some time working out possible story ideas--plots, characters, backgrounds, whatever. This is the non-writing portion of my writing. Prep work for future writing.
I also did some more writing this afternoon. End result: 3,877 words.

*I was going to explain that...but I've changed my mind. You'll know more when I know more.

Words Written Today: 3,877
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 81,377
Stores in Circulation: 8
Rejections: 4
Stories Accepted: TBD

I've written about 6,600 words since Monday. Not nearly as much as I'd hoped, and most of it in a sort of "just get some words down on paper" fashion. Nothing that looks like the seed of a finished story at this point.

I feel rather like a centipede trying to watch itself walk. Over the last couple of months I wrote a number of stories, but the last couple of weeks...not so much. Part of it was being sick for a while. But this week it's purely a matter of flailing around trying to write differently. I've been reading and trying to follow the prescriptions in various books on writing--plotting and story design and whatnot.

And I've been getting nowhere fast. My lovely and talented wife suggested that I get back to my previous approach since that seems to have been working for me. I think she's right. I still want to try to put more deliberation into my writing, but I think I should also just keep on with what I was doing. While I haven't sold anything yet, at least I was producing stuff to send out. The last couple of weeks I haven't even done that.

Maybe I'll do better if I simply write the way I did before and then try to impose some story structure on what results. (And at least one of the books on writing suggests doing just that. Write, write about whatever interests you--and then go back and ruthlessly edit the result later so it conforms to the strictures of story instead of being just an incident or a character study or what have you.)

So there's that. I do still believe I could profit greatly from learning to put more focus on plotting--scenes and sequels, character goals, conflict and disasters (or victory in the end). So I will continue to work on that. But I need to get back to writing and finishing things on a regular basis.

The thought of which fills me with dread as that obnoxious voice in the back of my brain tells me I can't do this, that I will run out of ideas for stories, things to say, etc. It's full of crap, of course. But sometimes it's hard to remember that when I'm stuck spinning my wheels. Grrrr. Back to the grindstone for me.

Words Written Today since Monday: 6,616
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 77,500
Stores in Circulation: 8
Rejections: 4
Stories Accepted: 0

I use Imeem. I have an account on Pandora but I haven't used it in many months. Pandora won't let you play the song you want to hear. You can hear songs "like" it (and teach the system by giving thumbs up or thumbs down to songs it selects), but that's not it. If I want to hear "Werewolves of London" I want to hear Werewolves of London, not something allegedly similar.

On Imeem I can search out the exact songs I want from playlists others have uploaded, and then add them to MY playlists. Sometimes you can only get a 30 second clip of a song...but there's almost always another uploaded copy that has the full recording.

I received another rejection today. "Man-Ape" got kicked by Strange Horizons after about five weeks. This is the second rejection for that story. It was first rejected by Fantasy Magazine (another online publication). I turned right around and sent it out to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Where it will probably get rejected again. But that's not my decision to make--it's theirs. So I didn't hesitate to send it out again.

And speaking stories in circulation, my lovely and talented wife thought it would be interesting to see what I've got out and how long they've been out. So, here goes:

"Clean Up Detail" is on its second submission; rejected once, has been out for just over a month.
"Hotel Party" is likewise on its second go round; rejected once, has been out for just over a month.
"Man-Ape" just went out for its third attempt at scaling the walls of published status.
"Watching Jennifer" is still awaiting a reply on its first submission. Going on six weeks now.
"Home Invasion" is on its first submission. It's been out for exactly a month.
"Making Friends" went out on June 1st. Still no word.
"Surprise Party" went out June 4th to a UK publication. Still no word.
"Flying High" went out on June 22nd. Less than a week at this point.

So there you have it. I just discovered (via Duotrope's Digest, a search engine for publications to which one may submit fiction) that there's a new anthology looking for stories about wizards, sorcerors, and so forth. I think I'll have to write something for that.

I also attend my first meeting as a potential member of said writers' group. Three members were there in person; the fourth participated by Skype from the far side of the planet. We're living in the 21st Century, people!

Had my story "Clean Up Detail" critiqued by the four current members. Oh the pain! Uh, I mean, "Thank you, sir! May I have another?" Nah. It wasn't that bad. I intend to go back and assuming I get my magic decoder ring, I'll be critiquing or being critiqued every three weeks or so. We also discussed writing, both of novels and of short stories. I'm planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, though I may well start writing a novel before then.

The regular group members announced their goals for the coming month. As a wannabe, I didn't. But I have my own goals. I've been trying to produce a story a week for the last couple of months. I have eight stories out, as is obvious above, but two of them were written in April, so I've missed a couple of weeks. So I'm going to renew my efforts to do so this coming month. So that means FIVE short stories in July. Any work on starting a novel will be IN ADDITION TO rather than instead of.

Wish me luck!

Words Written Today: 0 (so far)
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 70,884
Stores in Circulation: 8
Rejections: 4
Stories Accepted: 0

Because I feel the need to share this concept with you all:

Just catching up on my totals. More later.

Words Written Today thru Friday: 4,741
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 70,884
Stores in Circulation: 8
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Didn't write a damn thing yesterday. Bad, bad Sinanju! No biscuit!

I wrote exactly 2800 words today. Such a nice round number seems suspiciously, well, round. But that's what it came out to. I was as surprised as you are.

I'm not sure how much good it did me, though. I didn't write on anything in particular. Just two separate "sit down and write and see what you end up with" sessions. I saved them, of course. I always save them. Sometime in the future I'll open them up again and quite possibly find something of value in them that I can lift for another story. Sometimes I find a story in them after all. Sometimes I can lift a scene and work it into another story somehow. (The story I sent out Sunday evening was just such a thing. Two originally unrelated scenes that I massaged into a coherent* whole and used as the seed of a finished story.)

I feel like I've temporarily stalled out on the stories I've been thinking about. Probably the negative voices in my head getting in my way. It doesn't feel like that, but it never does, does it? So I guess tomorrow I need to just pick one and get to work on it.

I also feel like I'm still flailing when it comes to plotting. I've read Story (by McKee), I'm reading Plot (by Dibell). I'm getting some better ideas about how to do it, but I'm still feeling my way along. And thinking about trying to outline some stories. I've never outlined. I've always written by the seat of my pants. So outlining would probably be a good idea, if only to try something new and learn from the experience. I've been toying with a couple of ideas for novels. Well, they could be. But...

The thing is, the ideas I keep coming back to? They aren't science fiction. Or Fantasy. Or mystery. Or, they are--but they're not only those things. Or even mostly. They're...romance stories.

(Cue the sound of chirping crickets and raised eyebrows.)

Yeah. Exactly. And not just romance. Erotic romances, or stories with lots of sex in them. Not exactly what I ever intended to be writing. I don't even know why! It's not like I read the damn things.

Except that, you know, now that I think about it--I do, sorta. I read a lot of the current crop of contemporary urban fantasy (also known in some circles as paranormal romance). Werewolves, vampires, witches, sorcerors, demons, mysteries, magic, and lots of heroes and heroines who are hot and horny when they're not trying not to get killed. Throw in some more explicit sex and you're halfway there already!

So maybe I should give it a whirl. Except that I'm conflicted. I'm maybe joining a writer's group. I'm having a story critiqued by them this Friday, and then I'll get a story (or stories to critique) and then if I mesh with the group and their style, I'm in. But it's mostly a genre (and by genre I mean SF/fantasy) oriented group. And smutty romance is not what I'm interested in showing them. Not what I remotely intended to write.

And that right there--"smutty"--is probably part of the problem. Why am I embarrassed about that? Why should I be? If I can write it and sell it, what's the problem? I've been cruising some of the online ebook publishers' sites for this stuff and some of the excerpts I've read.... Some of it's pretty good. And some of it? I don't doubt that I can do better.

But is that it? Am I considering this because it seems easier than writing something else? I don't know, but it's a possibility I can't dismiss just yet. I'm still mulling it over. Further announcements as events warrant....

*At least, I like to think it's coherent. Editors may disagree. We'll see.

Words Written Today: 2,800
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 66,143
Stores in Circulation: 8
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

It's funny because it's true...


http://basicinstructions.net/?p=1104#comments

It's here:
http://blip.tv/file/2261825/


I'm late to the party, I know. I've seen links to this all over my friends' Livejournals. But if you haven't watched it yet, you really should. It's great. Edward's stalkerish behavior, Buffy's self-confident disinterest in him ("You know being stalked isn't a big turn-on for girls, right?")--it's a wonderful piece of editing.

Friday
Words Written Today: 1,632
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 61,740
Streak (500+ words/day): 1 Day (My current record: 26 days) I'm retiring this line now
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Saturday I did a lot of line editing on the current story but didn't write much of anything new.

Sunday
Words Written Today: 1,603
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 63,343
Stores in Circulation: 8 (yes, eight--another one sent out moments ago)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Tonight I finally got the story hammered into shape, wrote up the cover letter in email and zapped it off to the publisher. This one went out to an online publisher of erotica. We'll see how it flies.

Tomorrow is a new day, and the start of a new week. Time to start thinking about what I'll write for the coming week.

I didn't write anything new yesterday (bad sinanju--no biscuit!), but I did work on revisions to a story. Today I continued revising said story, and added a little over 1500 words of new material. It's not done yet, but it's coming along.

In other (role-playing) news, the Crazy & Crazy Detective Agency (don't ask, it's a long story) failed to retrieve two of three mutant plants from the sociopathic blood mage and his sociopathic underlings in our climactic battle in their volcanic lair. We did retrieve one, along with the man they'd kidnapped to tend the plants. And my character's parents, who'd been kidnapped and brainwashed to aid the sociopathic mages.

Alas, we failed to prevent the head bad guy from becoming More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine. Which, on the bright side, means it is now out of our hands. It's up to the world's other mages to grapple with him and prevent him from bringing on the immediate apocalypse. On the dark side, that just means that we can now turn our full attention to thwarting the slightly less imminent alien invasion we've been worrying about. Like Buffy, we have to worry about the plural of apocolypse.


Words Written Today: 1,588
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 60,108
Streak (500+ words/day): 1 Day (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Wrote the opening and a couple of possible scenes for a new story. We'll see if it goes anywhere.*

Words Written Today: 2,895
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 58,520
Streak (500+ words/day): 1 Day (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

*Besides The Vault, the file where I keep all my incomplete stories. You never know when they'll come in handy. For instance, I also worked on combining two earlier partial starts into the bones of a finished story. With a little luck and some revision, I'll have something workable carved from it by the end of the week.

Wrote. Plotted a little.

Words Written Today: 2,765
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 55,625
Streak (500+ words/day): 1 Day (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Gacked from Gryphonrhi on LiveJournal, who doesn't do OTPs ... Name 10 OTCs and ask people to see what trends they notice about your characters. Try to pick different fandoms*.

1. George Lass (Dead Like Me)
2. Michele Webster (Highlander)**
3. Benny Carbasa (Highlander)***
4. Chloe Sullivan (Smallville)
5. Ash Williams (Evil Dead)
6. Richie Ryan (Highlander)
7. Cordelia Chase (Buffy/Angel)
8. Xavier St. Cloud (Highlander)
9. Daisy Adair (Dead Like Me)
10. Amanda Darrieux (Highlander)

*Not that I'm writing any fanfic these days, but these are the characters I find most interesting in their respective fandoms. I haven't written in all that many fandoms, either, so my choices are limited.

**Michele Webster and Benny Carbasa each appeared in only one episode but I found them fascinating.

I haven't written a damn word today. Haven't done much of anything, really. My lovely and talented wife has been very good about reminding me that I'm still sick. Which helps. I did manage to write a considerable number of words all this previous week despite being sick, but today I am teh slacker grande.

I slept til the crack of 11:30 this morning, then got up, showered, drove to the bakery and bought sandwiches for the three of us for lunch. Then I came home and, when I wasn't napping--which I did--I alternated between sitting at my PC netsurfing or sitting on the sofa watching television and reading. Oh, and I took cough medicine every few hours. It was decadently lazy.

And it was rather nice to give myself permission today not to worry about writing. I wasn't entirely successful, mind you. I still thought about it some. But I didn't worry--too much--about not actually doing any. Nonetheless, I got two good ideas while showering this morning; one for a story opening I'd been groping around for, and the other was some good background info for my zombie revenant Western.

Words Written Today: 0 (None, nada, zip, bupkis, goose egg, etc)
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 52,860
Streak (500+ words/day): 0 Days (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Just enough to satisfy my minimum for keeping my streak going. I spent time today working on plotting, and doing some reading--short stories and flash fiction. I've been thinking that I don't really have much in the way of workable ideas for science fiction stories, but I think that's because I have too narrow a definition of what qualifies. I need to Expand My Mind on this front.

On the other hand, I have several other story ideas percolating. I've also been reading my way through Story by Robert McKee, and it's been very instructional. I see some overlap with other books I think are worthwhile instructions on writing, and that's always a good sign. I need to continue stretching my plotting muscles. I'm definitely weak there, but working on it.

Went out to the mall today, mostly just to get out of the house after being housebound most of the week with this cold. Ate lunch at the food court and did some plotting and character notes in a notebook I brought with me. It was a good outing. It left me tired, though. I felt pretty good today, but I was tired again this evening.

Words Written Today: 644
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 52,860
Streak (500+ words/day): 5 Days (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I'm considerably better than I was earlier this week. Of course, I'm dosed up on cough syrup to keep the coughing down to a minimum. It helps, but nonetheless my chest muscles are getting a little sore from all the unusual effort. Still, the dry scratchy throat has gone away. Got a head full of mucus, but that's draining slowly (and uncomfortably).

Of course, Twoson has it now, as does my lovely and talented wife. Crap. But that's one of the unavoidable side effects of sharing living space.

Wrote some again today, though I may not get anything finished this week. There's still hope that I might bang something together by the end of the weekend, but if not, well. Occasionally that's going to happen. I'll just keep plugging away next week.

Words Written Today: 1,755
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 50,461 = 52,216
Streak (500+ words/day): 4 Days (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Time for bed now.

Words Written Today: 1,693
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 50,461
Streak (500+ words/day): 3 Days (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Didn't write a damn thing this morning, but put in some time this afternoon and got some writing done. Scratchy throat, sinus pressure, headache...it sucks. Holing up in the bedroom with the humidifier, drinking Throat Coat tea and popping Sudafed and advil help. So I spent the afternoon there, writing on the laptop.

Been researching my zombie western story. There are no native american or western pioneer tales of the walking dead that I can find in my (admittedly cursory) searches. Which doesn't mean it won't work, but it does mean I need to figure out how the situation came to be. Always assuming, of course, that in the course of researching and plotting this tale I don't change it entirely.

This is purely speculation, mind you, but I'm feeling hopeful about one of the stories I have out. The editor who rejected a story with a personal note mentioned in the note that she had another story of mine on her desk but hadn't looked at it yet, but would let me know about it when she got a chance to read it. That was three weeks ago and I haven't heard one way or the other.

Perhaps she's simply so busy she hasn't looked at it yet. But I'm hoping that she has and that it made the first cut and is awaiting a closer look. Pure speculation, as I said, but I like to think so. We'll see.

Words Written Today: 2,196
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 48,768
Streak (500+ words/day): 2 Days (My current record: 26 days)
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I've got a dry, scratchy throat and general malaise. Didn't do a damn thing this morning but lay around in bed with the humidifier running--which seemed to help--and gargle/drink Throat Coat Tea, which also helped. Plus take advil.

Had lunch, then buckled down and wrote for a couple, three hours. Did pretty well, too, so I don't feel bad about lazing about this morning.

I'm still reading through Story by Robert McKee. I'm also working my way through a couple of books from the library about the westward expansion in the 1800s as research for my zombie western story idea, and possibly another story as well. (Why waste perfectly good research by only writing one story when I can write more, even if one may turn out to be a romance? If the money is good, I'm willing to write pretty much any genre I can.)

Words Written Today: 2,903
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 46,572
Streak (500+ words/day): 1 Day (didn't write Sunday, alas) My current record: 26 days
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I didn't write a word today until this afternoon. This morning I ran (yay!), then showered and sat down at the computer and...nothing. I just couldn't do it. I read a lot of old dribs and drabs of things I've written before (some more than 15 years ago--I've saved all those files through several new PCs). Nothing....

Went to lunch with my lovely and talented wife snippy Then cruised through Powell's City of Books and picked up a copy of Story by Robert McKee, on a recommendation from kzmiller. It's a book on screenwriting primarily, but it goes into the principles of plotting and story and I already think it will be a very useful resource.

After that I returned home and sat down in front of my computer, opened a blank file, started the timer and began writing. Because dammit! I'm going to write today!

I'd just finished reading "Resolution", a western by Robert B. Parker, so I decided to play with a western motif and see where it took me. I started with a couple of characters riding over a ridge to see that their home had burned; the house, the barn, all of it. They investigated. It wasn't an accident. One of the characters checked the well.

What was he checking for? I wasn't sure. To see if it had been poisoned. Maybe a body had been thrown in to pollute the water. Or...maybe a zombie was in the well. A zombie? Yeah, a zombie. So the character probed the well as best he could to see if any zombie were lurking beneath the surface.

At which point I realized I wasn't writing a western. Or not a straight western. Western horror, maybe. And probably most or all of what I wrote today won't actually work in the final version of this story. I can see lots of changes I might want to make in it. But I have an idea for a story now that I didn't have when I sat down to write this afternoon.

I'll count that as a win.

Words Written Today: 2,023
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 43,026
Streak (500+ words/day): 25 Days
Stories in Circulation: 7
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

A pretty good day today. I wrote, I banged a story into final shape for submission (to a magazine in the UK, as it happens). Probably won't hear anything for a couple of months, but that's okay. After all, my job is to get a story out every week. So that's taken care of for this week. Tomorrow's word count is gravy for this week; I can try to get a jump on next week.

The timed writing intervals continue to enable me to produce fiction even when I'm not feeling confident in my ability to do so, or motivated. That's good to know. I don't plan to write a lot this weekend--but I want to try to hammer out some short story plots, for the practice if nothing else. If they actually turn into finished stories eventually, even better.


Words Written Today: 2,733
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 41,003
Streak (500+ words/day): 24 Days
Stories in Circulation: 7 (another electronic submission today--yay!)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Tuesday I wrote only a little over 1600 words. I put in a couple of hours yesterday morning, then headed out to a friend's house for Self-Employed/Unemployed Game Day. I spent all afternoon there playing Settlers of Cataan, Race For The Galaxy and Power Grid. It was also a potluck barbecue. We drank soft drinks and munched snacks until about 4, then they fired up the grill for vegetable and veggie-and-chicken skewers. Tasty. It was a lot of fun.

Settlers was the only game I'd played before, but I've played it many times before. It's been a long time, though, so I had to refresh myself on the rules. Race for the Galaxy wasn't much fun. Complex but not terribly interesting--to me, at least. Power Grid, on the other hand, was an enjoyable game. I'd play that one again.

Tuesday, June 2nd
Words Written Today: 1,609
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 38,270
Streak (500+ words/day): 23 Days
Stories in Circulation: 6
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I had real trouble starting today. The first hour I only bled slightly over 650 words onto the page. Took an early lunch break, then sat down and write for another, doing 1400 words--much better. Took off to run some errands: picked up prescriptions at the drug store, used a gift certificate to buy chocolate at See's candy, and bought a couple of magazines and books (research!). Then came home and wrote for another hour and another 800 words or so for a total of 2841 words today.

After dinner I walked up Hawthorne to turn in a couple of rented videos, then on up to Powell's, where I perused the books on writing. One in particular, Book In A Month was interesting. It's a workbook for producing a novel in 30 days. I didn't buy it, but I paged through it and got some useful advice. In particular, the suggestion to Write As If was very helpful.

What the author meant by that is that when you start writing, if you decide partway through the process that you need to change a character's backstory (or any other change, really), you a) make a note in a separate story tracking document explaining what you need to change and why when you revise the story, b) and you continue writing from that point on as if you already had made the change. Once you've finished the novel you can go back and edit, but not until then. The same goes for changes to the plot (I should add a fight between Bob and Allen in chapter two, with outcomes X, Y and Z)--put that note in the tracking document and then proceed with the novel as if it had been written. Add the scene later. Ditto for subplots you want to include--make a note and keep writing, add it later, during revisions.

One thing I've learned over the last month or so about my writing is that I have real trouble establishing a clear, sharp plot. I've spent years writing in games with other people. I think I do well with dialogue and action and characterization...all things I've been practicing all along. But when you're "jamming" with other people in a role-playing game, riffing off of what they throw into the mix...plot is not a priority. You're not heading toward a particular final goal.

So I need to exercise my plot muscles. They're weak and flabby at the moment. Correcting that's going to take time and skull sweat. On the other hand, at least I've been able to figure this out. I'm learning.

Wednesday, June 3rd
Words Written Today: 2,841
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 41,111
Streak (500+ words/day): 23 Days
Stories in Circulation: 6
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

...is harder some days than others. Today, for instance. I'm having trouble coming up with story ideas to use as "seeds" for stories. I reject a lot of them as dull, boring, unworkable or otherwise unsuitable.* So I dithered a little before I sat down today with nothing in the pipeline to start from.

But I opened the folder that contains half a dozen previous openings that never went anywhere. I picked one and started the clock. And started writing. Wrote this morning, had lunch, then wrote more this afternoon. And managed to produce 2800 words.

Do I think what I've written is saleable? No. Not as it stands. Do I think it's interesting? Yeah, maybe. But it's not a story at this point--and not just because it isn't complete. Will I be able to turn it into a story? I don't know. But at the very least, I've accomplished this: I wrote more than my minimum words for the day despite having nothing on tap when I sat down to the keyboard. That's good. Good fodder for programming my subconscious with the belief that I CAN do this, and good discipline. Sit. Write. Write more. Quit only when you've reached your goal for the day (or even better, exceeded it).

*Perhaps I should look into advice on brainstorming. I know it's out there. Perhaps I'm being too critical of my ideas when they're still only a figurative gleam in my eye. Perhaps if I'm not so quick to dismiss an idea and instead try to nurture it, it'll bloom into an actual story.

Anyhow. Having done my day's writing, I felt the mood to clean fall upon me. So I just finished washing all the dishes in the kitchen, and clearing away some clutter, and scrubbing the counters and the stovetop, and sweeping the floor. The floor really needs to be mopped as well, but...not today. But it'll be a nice surprise for my lovely and talented wife when she gets home tonight.


Words Written Today: 2,849
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 36,661
Streak (500+ words/day): 22 Days
Stories in Circulation: 6 (another one in the mail today)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I wrote enough to keep my streak going this weekend, but not a lot more. Read a lot, thought about what I might write this coming week, and have a story ready to print out and mail tomorrow. That is all.

Went to see Up with the wife and son tonight. It was a wonderful film, and I think potentially a classic. Very moving in places, and frequently hysterically funny. The 3D effects were excellent, but not as blatant as those in Aliens vs Monsters. I recommend this film.

Words Written Today: 1,466
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 33,812
Streak (500+ words/day): 21 Days
Stories in Circulation: 5
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Somehow I just couldn't get motivated to write today like I have all week. Which isn't to say that I didn't write anything. I did--more than 1500 words. Which ain't chopped liver. In fact, it's more than my daily goal for this week.

It seems insuffient because it's nowhere near what I've done most of this week. And it took me hours more than usual. On the other hand, it IS over my daily goal, so I should remember that I succeeded. And I've got a story finished--part of why it took so long is that I was bashing the story into final shape for sending out.

What is it? It's erotica. Or smut, if you like. But hey--if they'll pay me for it, I'll write it!


Words Written Today: 1,602
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 32,346
Streak (500+ words/day): 19 Days
Stories in Circulation: 5
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

My timed writing approach continues to work well. Only three days in so far, but I am consistently getting more words done in a day than I was before I tried this approach. Better still, while I toyed with some story ideas last night, I didn't come up with any that I really felt moved to work on.

So this morning I didn't have a story cued up. I fell back on the 1,200 word opening of a story I'd started but abandoned. "Better than nothing," I figured. So I started the timer and started writing. And managed to write quite a lot. I am (as usual) not sure that the story is going anywhere, or that it's worthwhile, but it's growing. That's something.

And being able to just sit down and start writing even when I don't feel inspired is a valuable experience. Essential, in fact. For one thing, every time I manage to write two or three thousand words even when I'm not sure I can manage it is another instance of success my subconscious has to accept. See!? I can do this! I can create stories on demand!

For another, writing for money is a job like any other. I like writing--but it isn't always going to be fun. Hammering that lesson into my subconscious doesn't hurt either.

Anyhow, done writing for today. Off to retrieve my wife from work, eat a quick dinner and then jet off to fight supervillains. Or get killed by supervillains, as happened to me last week. (Don't worry, I got superb magical medical care and I'm good as new now.)


Words Written Today: 2,793
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 30,744 (Woo! An average of slightly over 1,000 words a day for May)
Streak (500+ words/day): 18 Days
Stories in Circulation: 5
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Today's new fiction total: 3,102 words. New daily word count record! (Cue the tickertape parade....)

I may just be on to something with this new approach. On the other hand, I see that if I'm going to be producing this kind of volume on a regular basis, I'm going to have to have a lot more story ideas lined up ready to go. I only had a couple of story concepts written down for this week. At my previous average daily output, that would have been enough for the week.

Both of them are now mostly finished. A little tweaking and they should be done and ready to send out. Which means I have nothing in the pipeline for tomorrow or Friday. So I guess tonight I'll have to rough out some concepts for more stories.


Words Written Today: 3,102
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 27,951 (Woo! An average of slightly over 1,000 words a day for May)
Streak (500+ words/day): 17 Days
Stories in Circulation: 5
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I da man! Not quote 2800 words today! Woohoo!

This new approach may work very well. Or maybe the story I'm writing today is just coming to me easily. I guess we'll see...

In addition to having a story concept in mind before I start, I tried another approach today. I set a kitchen timer for one hour and wrote. When the alarm sounded. I stopped, did a little exercise, threw some laundry in the washer, drank some water. Then I set it for another hour and wrote. Then I had a one hour lunch, worked on laundry, and watched an episode of BONES on DVD from the rental store (I'm watching the first season over again).

After lunch, another hour. Then exercise, laundry, etc. Then the final hour of writing. It's only one data point, but if this pattern holds up, that's a real good approach it seems.


Words Written Today: 2,791
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 24,849
Streak (500+ words/day): 16 Days
Stories in Circulation: 5 ("Home Invasion" mailed out today)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I've got a fifth story ready to send out. By which I mean, as ready as its gonna be. Doesn't mean it's ready for primetime, but that's for editors to tell me. It'll go into the mail tomorrow.

Tonight I'll be trying to pin down the basics of at least two or three stories I can work on this week. The idea is that instead of sitting down to a blank page with absolutely NO idea what I'm going to write about, much less what words I'm going to write...I'll only have to worry about coming up with the specifics. I'll already have an idea of what the subject of the story will be. The essential story question, the opening scene...something.

I'm hoping that will enable me to write more and/or faster. I've decided that I need to be more productive. Which means a) more time writing and b) faster writing. I need a stretch goal. Something I can make if I push myself a little, but not so high as to be unreachable and therefore demotivating. How to determine what that might be? Trial and error.

So for this week, my goal is 1500 words every day. Not necessarily on a single story; just total words written on any and all stories. If that turns out to be unachievable, I'll scale it back. If it turns out to be easier than I expect, I'll increase it.

Stay tuned, sports fans.


Words Written Today yesterday & today: 2,336
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 22,058
Streak (500+ words/day): 15 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Which doesn't mean quite as much when I no longer have an office job to go to during the week.

I wrote some this afternoon, and this evening and may do more, though to be honest probably not. Finished the first pass at "Home Invasion" and currently think it's crap*. But I've come to accept that that's par for the course. Tomorrow I'll clean it up a bit, spell check it, and let my lovely and talented wife take a look at it. Then submit it somewhere to let an honest to god editor tell me it's crap that it doesn't suit their current needs.

Trust the process.

*And by "it's crap" I mean that I have doubts about the story as a whole. There are definitely parts I like, scenes or descriptions or bits of dialogue and so forth. But I always wonder if the whole thing works. On the other hand, I got a "close but not quite right" rejection yesterday, so I'm not writing complete crap, no matter how it feels sometimes.

Trust the process

"The Process" as defined by Robert Heinlein.

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must not rewrite except to editorial order.
4. You must submit your story to an editor who will pay you.
5. You must keep your story in circulation until it sells.

I am following these rules so far. I must trust that ultimately the process will work for me. I got two rejections yesterday. Today I resubmitted both stories to new markets. Go me! And now, the long awaited scorecard for today:

Words Written Today: 1,095
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 19,722
Streak (500+ words/day): 13 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4 (2 rejected stories resubmitted electroncially)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

Didn't get around to writing until tonight. Not a good plan. I'm tired, but I did write. Not a whole lot more to say tonight, except that I'll be resubmitting the two stories I got rejections for today, probably not until Tuesday unless I do it electronically.

Words Written Today: 1,140
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 18,627
Streak (500+ words/day): 12 Days
Stories in Circulation: 2 (2 rejected today, will be resubmitted)
Rejections: 3
Stories Accepted: 0

I believe it exists. I don't believe it's for everyone.

I got a story rejection by email this morning. The first paragraph reads as follows:

I’m writing regarding your April submission to [Magazine], "Story Title.” Unfortunately, this isn’t something that I can use in [Magazine], but you’re definitely on the right track as far as voice, style and category focus.

The second paragraph goes on to explain exactly why the story didn't work for her. So now I know how to tweak future stories to get a better shot at selling them. That's good.

I'm disappointed, of course, that I didn't hit the mark. But not terribly surprised. On the other hand this was a personal response, so in that sense I'm very pleased. The editor took the time to write me and explain why she couldn't use the story. That's a very good sign. I'm jazzed!

Lots of (non-writing) chores to do today. I'm gonna try to get some writing done, but...we'll see.

UPDATE! In the time it took me to post this and then go change into my running clothes, I received another rejection by snail mail. This one was from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Not so personal. But also, not a big surprise.

So I have two stories to resubmit somewhere. Off to run.

I'm pleased with my progress on the current story--more than 1500 words today. Still, I wonder if I ought to be shooting for more words per day. Perhaps. It bears thinking about.

The writing went well, I think, because I tried to make it fun. Instead of thinking about story questions and scene questions and where it was going, I just wrote the scenes out as they occurred to me. I'll worry about those things later. But that kind of "seat of the pants" writing isn't going to work in the long run if I don't have a sufficient grasp of the skills involved. I definitely need to spend some time concentrating on those things, sharpening my skills in those areas. Once that's done, I can let my subconscious guide me.

Which thought reminds of the late hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. When asked once by psychologists studying his success how he knew what to say to patients to achieve the phenomenal results he so often did, said "You just let your subconscious guide you." As the psychologists remarked afterward, "that's great advice if you have Milton Erickson's subconscious." Most of us don't, of course.

Think of it as playing scales, like a musician. I think I'll try to plot attention-grabbing openings, and also try to plot out some scenes with explicit conflicts (scene questions), just for the practice. This will have to be, of course, in addition to my daily writing goals.

But right now--time for bed. I'm exhausted.

Words Written Today: 1,576
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 17,486
Streak (500+ words/day): 11 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4
Stories Rejected: 1
Stories Accepted: 0

I da man! I've met my word quota for today. Yay! I'd say that I might write more later, but history for the last couple, three weeks suggests otherwise. But I made my quota for today, so that's okay too.

The story (working title* "Home Invasion") is looking more like something for Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock's magazines than a science fiction market. And that's fine. I'm more than willing to sell to any market that will buy my stuff. SF, fantasy, mystery, thrillers, romance, erotica--whatever.

Which is good, because this "sit down and start writing, maybe with a title in mind and maybe not" approach means I never know what sort of story it'll be until it's under way.

*And by "working title" I mean a file name to save the story under once I've started typing words into my "New Story" manuscript template. Creating interesting and lyrical titles is not a skill I have. I can learn it, of course, but currently my stories all have very pedestrian titles.

Words Written Today: 1,261
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 15,910
Streak (500+ words/day): 10 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4
Stories Rejected: 1
Stories Accepted: 0

This entry was originally posted at http://sinanju.dreamwidth.org/162623.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

The full text of the rejection I got reads as follows: Thank you for your story to our magazine, but unfortunately it isn't quite right for Fantasy. We hope that you continue trying, however, and look forward to many more submissions.

Rumor has it that any rejection letter that says they'd like to see more from you is a good sign. I intend to take it that way.

In other news, didn't get a lot of words in today. Enough to meet my MDA (minimum daily allowance), but not my goal of 1250. But there will be days like that. On the other hand, I sat down and wrote out my writing dreams for ten and five years ("dreams" because they're not entirely within my control; i.e., getting publishing isn't only up to me, but submitting short stories and novels to publishers is), as well as my goals for the year, the coming month and each week.

And just to put myself on the spot: My goal for the year (i.e., by end of April 2010, since I began in earnest this month) is to have 50 stories in circulation. Which means at least 50 stories written over the next year, or about one per week. My goal for June is to get four stories written and circulating. Also a story this week and another next week.

It's entirely possible that I'll miss that goal a number of times. I'm going to try very hard to make it every week, but there's no guarantee. If do miss a week now and then, that doesn't mean I've failed entirely. It means, at worst, that I didn't make my goal that week. Nothing more. And on the following week, I have to sit down and start over--just as I would if I'd made it.

I may or may not start on a novel in the next few months. That was my intent (though not a formal goal) initially, but I think that sticking to short stories at first may be a better idea. Steven Barnes, another writers whose advice I strongly consider, says you can learn more from writing a lot of short stories at first than from jumping into a novel; a short story has everything a novel has except length, and you get a lot more practice doing a bunch of stories than just one or two or four.

I think there's something to that. So my official goal is to keep churning out short stories. I may eventually try to start writing a novel as well, but...not immediately.

In still other other news, I'm finding myself less inclined to do a lot of netsurfing or get involved in my online games the last couple of weeks. Even if I don't feel like I've written a lot, clearly I'm using up a lot of my creativity in the process. I don't want to give them up entirely, but I'm clearly not going to be as invested in them as I once was now that I'm focusing my efforts on something else.

Words Written Today: 668
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 14,649
Streak (500+ words/day): 9 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4
Stories Rejected: 1
Stories Accepted: 0

This entry was originally posted at http://sinanju.dreamwidth.org/162311.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

My first short story rejection.* I submitted it electronically yesterday afternoon or evening--and had a rejection email in my in-box this morning. The site says they manage most responses with 36 hours, but this was even faster. Undeterred, I found another market (via the Duotrope market search engine, courtesy of Kami Miller's helpful pointer) and submitted it again (again, electronically).

*Okay, not truly my first. Today I found a spreadsheet in which I was tracking story submissions way back in 1997, during my first brief flirtation with writing for publication. That was only a flirtation; this, however, is the real thing. I have goals. I have a plan. I have a process. If I follow it long enough I will succeed. So it's the first of what will probably be many more rejections before I start selling.

Words Written Today: 1,250
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 13,981
Streak (500+ words/day): 8 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4
Stories Rejected: 1
Stories Accepted: 0 (no responses of any kind as yet)

This entry was originally posted at http://sinanju.dreamwidth.org/162118.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Today was a busy day. Lots of household chores and running errands. I...

* stripped the bed and washed all the bed linens (included the previous weeks' dirty bedding)
* remade the bed
* did two loads of laundry
* ran two loads of dishes through the dishwasher
* filled a yellow recycling container with crushed soda cans (for drainage) and then nice, rich soil so my wife could plant some melons to grow this summer
* drove to the library to pick up a couple of books while my wife went into the drugstore next door to pick up a prescription, then
* drove with her to the fabric store and read while she shopped
* unbolted a hanging storage rack from a wall on the kitchen and rebolted it elsewhere so I could
* move the refrigerator a few inches to the right, so I could
* clear off a table beside the fridge and a large standing shelf (blocking a kitchen window)
* cleaned them both, and swapped their locations
* then sorted the junk they'd held into a) stuff we'd keep in the kitchen, b) stuff to box up and store in the basement, and c) stuff to throw away
* swept the kitchen floor of all the crud produced by doing the above chores
* did some research for tomorrow's chore list (places to investigate, things to do)
* emailed an editor for a magazine inquiring about submission guidelines (which I cannot find on their website)
* put away the food my wife cooked (she made several dishes to provide lunches during the week)
* and last, but not least, wrote 500+ words just now to fulfill my daily quota.

I had help for a lot of this, but not all of it. And the wife was equally busy, mostly on different projects. As I say, it was a busy day.

Words Written Today: 574
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 12,731
Streak (500+ words/day): 7 Days
Stories in Circulation: 4--I submitted another story today electronically. Go me!
Stories Rejected: 0 (no responses of any kind as yet)
Stories Accepted: 0 (no responses of any kind as yet)

This entry was originally posted at http://sinanju.dreamwidth.org/161860.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Short word count today* but that's okay because I finished this week's story. Tomorrow I'll look it over again to do some tweaking, and then it'll be OUT THE DOOR. Well, after I decide which market to submit to first.

As usual, I seesawed between "it's pretty damn good!" and "oh man, this blows chunks!" throughout the writing of this story. Which is why I'm teaching myself to Trust the Process and simply keep chugging away until the story is done. My feelings about the quality of the story are irrelevant.

On the other hand, my considered judgment does matter. Which is why I did revise the story somewhat midway through, and rearranged some scenes. Nonetheless, I did not allow that to substitute for getting my daily word count down. Writing is writing; editing is not writing. I can do both, but not at the same time, and editing does not substitute for writing.

Words Written Today: 819
Words Written YTD (since May 1): 12,157
Streak (500+ words/day): 6 Days
Stories in Circulation: 3
Stories Rejected: 0 (no responses of any kind as yet)
Stories Accepted: 0 (no responses of any kind as yet)

*The minimum for "streak" (consecutive days of new fiction written) purposes is 500 words each day. I'd much rather do at least 1,250, and preferably more.

This entry was originally posted at http://sinanju.dreamwidth.org/161605.html. Please comment there using OpenID.