Well it just got up and went
“The Internet is a telephone system that’s gotten uppity.” – Clifford Stoll
It figures that as soon as the holiday weekend is over, as soon as the family has left and all obligations have been met, as soon as I have a moment to work on my writing, that is the moment that the internet connection cuts out. I spent a half hour last night fiddling with the modem and wi-fi only to discover that it was a problem with our service provider. So, I have posts written but have been unable to post them as of yet. Hopefully, when I get home from work, our internet connection will have been restored and I can post my book review from yesterday as well as the various and other sundry writings that are currently trapped on my laptop.
If only there were a GPS for this
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” – Winston Churchill
National Novel Writing Month is already half over. I’ve come to the realization that I will not be able to complete the goals associated with NaNoWriMo because I can’t focus on just one novel at a time. I’ll probably have 50,000 words, but not on one piece.
Thinking about it more, it is unlikely I will ever finish NaNoWriMo. At least, not as long as they’re going to pick November. The Thanksgiving holidays and lead up to the Christmas season are enough pressure without the added self-assigned task of writing a novel. It’s one of the busiest months of the year for nearly everyone. Why wasn’t August chosen for NaNoWriMo? It’s one day longer and it’s a notoriously slow month with no major holidays. Maybe I’ll make August my own personal NaNoWriMo next year.
I will be posting some excerpts from the two novels I’ve been working on and I hope you will give me some feedback. What do you like about my writing style, the characters, does the plot (from what’s posted) flow and make sense, etc.? I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.
“Just sit there and try to look busy”
“Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.” – Paul Gauguin
After six days of NaNoWriMo, I have finally fallen a little behind and I hope to spend tomorrow catching up and getting ahead (because if I don’t get ahead, I’ll only fall further behind once the work week starts again). Even if I don’t get 50,000 words in 30 days, this has at least given me the motivation to work more on my current project which is half the battle (it has also given me something to do when work gets a little slow and for that I will be forever grateful). So with an extra hour given to us, courtesy of daylight savings time, I hope to write an extra thousand words, to be more productive instead of only giving the appearance of it (or maybe I’ll just catch up on sleep, it’s still a bit of a toss up).
NaNoWriMo word count thus far: 8,474 (though I’m supposed to be around 10,000)
National Novel Writing Month: Bring on the desperation
“I am one of those people who thrive on deadlines, nothing brings on inspiration more readily than desperation.” – Harry Shearer
Tomorrow kicks off the annual National Novel Writing Month and for the first time, I will participate. Or at least try. I had to cut back on my writing after starting my new job and planned to do a lot of writing on weekends. It hasn’t worked out as well as I had hoped (but then, the month I picked to start happened to be the month 2/3 of my family and friends were born in).
So now I’m using NaNoWriMo as an excuse to up my daily word counts. The goal is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in 30 days. It breaks down to an average of only 1,667 words per day which makes it feel much more doable. Even so, I’m working on a novel I started writing back in September (it will only give me a two day head start but it’s over 3,000 words closer to the finish line).
All I need now is a plan
“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein
After my first full week at my new job, I have come to the realization that I will need to revise my writing and posting schedule. I am determined to have my time to play so I will still be posting (just at odd hours and not as often as I would like). I will still be posting my book reviews on Sundays (I bought too many books at the library book sale last weekend not to). But as for everything else… there may be some changes coming. Actually, this is probably a good thing. My computer could use the rest (I’m getting there with my new computer fund; hopefully I’ll reach my goal before the one I’m using completely deteriorates).
When writers and their readers come together
“The fact is that all writers create their precursors. Their work modifies our conception of the past, just as it is bound to modify the future.” – Jorge Luis Borges
This past week I finally joined Goodreads.com. It wasn’t because of any friends recommending it to me (though they can have the credit if they really want it), but rather because of their Goodreads authors. Specifically, I was drawn in by the Q&A going on with Margaret Atwood. There’s something completely inspiring about having a chance to ask questions of someone you admire and who inspires you, someone you would almost never have the opportunity to me face-to-face, and to have that person take the time to answer your questions is amazing.
The Q&A with Margaret Atwood is the first that I’ve taken part in, but it isn’t the only Q&A featuring a writer on the site, so I definitely recommend looking into your favorite authors on the site. Check back tomorrow for my review of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood.
Twitter-pated
“Suddenly, it seems as though all the world’s a-twitter.” – Newsweek
Enough people have let me know about the problems they’ve been having finding me on Twitter so I finally signed myself up earlier this week. Thank you to those who find me interesting enough to wish to hear more from me. I hope I don’t let you down with my ineptitude for tweeting (though I hope it’ll get better with time). For those interested, you can follow me here http://twitter.com/laurynenosek.
Finding the right combination
“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” – Bo Bennett
I finally finished writing the short story I’ve been working on all summer. Now I have to finish typing and editing it so I can start sending it off along with the next round of manuscripts from my last story. On the plus side, I’ve started working on another novel (still suffering from writer’s block on the one I’ve been working on for a few years now). There’s nothing like the feeling of picking up a fresh notebook and getting started on something new.
This time, I’m trying to be less formal about my approach. It isn’t the kind of project where I feel the need to start at the beginning and end with the end. If I get an idea for a piece in the middle, instead of making a note for later reference, I’m letting myself jump in on it before I lose it. Hopefully this will result in a finished product. I find myself waking up with something I absolutely need to get down on paper and two hours later I remember I should have breakfast and take a shower before I get hypoglycemic and fall off my chair. It’s nice to feel myself getting so wrapped up in my excitement.
How would you like your rejection? Paper or digital?
“I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long.” – Louise Brown
I got my first rejection slip in the mail the other day. It’s not the first time that my work has been rejected for publication, but it is the first printed rejection slip I’ve received. In this digital age, most of what I’ve seen for rejections has been a short email or less. A simple change in the text for the online submission page from “In Progress” or “Received” to “Complete” with an asterisk explaining that if a piece is chosen for publication, the field would read, “Accepted.”
I’m not sure which technique I like better. The digital version is far more eco-friendly. At least the slip I got was small and not forced to take up a full sheet of paper. It would be nice if there were comments of constructive criticism, but I understand that there isn’t time for them to personalize each rejection. If they’re not going to personalize it, I’d rather there be no self-addressed stamped envelope. Still, I’m going to save this slip. I like that it’s tangible. But any future paper slips I’ll be recycling. I only need one. It’s a perfectly adequate physical stand-in for the rest.
What once was lost…
“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin
And sometimes lost data can never be retrieved again. Finally tracked down my old laptop to try and get the novel I wrote back in middle school onto my current computer (when I tried getting it off the CD I had backed it up on, it said that the files could not be read; so glad I went out of my way to make a back up copy). The next step is finding my old power cord so I can charge the thing enough to turn it on (it seems the battery life, even when turned off, is less than four years). If I can get it turned on, I think I should be able to find some way of converting the files into a Word document of some kind, maybe upload them through Google docs.
If all else fails, I have one hard copy that I could, in theory, retype. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
Motivated into starting good habits
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Rohn
A new month and a new round of submissions. There are still some publications I’m looking to submit to that won’t be accepting anything until August or September (my own fault for waiting until after school ended and graduation was over before looking at the submission dates for most of them).
The good news is I think I’m getting the hang of the process. I like the online submissions, though they tend to have processing fees. The American Express, Visa, and other credit card company gift cards are a great way to pay for those without giving up too much information (I also happened to receive a few as graduation gifts, so more family and friends are fueling my love for writing than even they may know).
I’m definitely going to keep track of what I spend on trying to get published so that, even after I get published (and who knows how long after), I will be able to mark the day that I became more than just a published writer, I can mark the day that I started making my living as a writer, though it’ll likely be years and years if ever that writing will completely support me. Hopefully it’ll at least pay for a nice vacation now and again.
Trying to get published = an exercise in patience
“Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.” – Paulo Coelho
Or acting and then waiting for the ripples of consequence to bounce back to you. At least that’s how it feels waiting to hear back about manuscripts and short story submissions. Still not likely to hear back from them until the end of August if not September. Once I settle into my new work schedule, I’ll be sending out another round of submissions. Writing is certainly not a vocation for those with no patience (at least not an easy one). Luckily, I have a little of it left, though if anyone knows where more can be purchased, that would be lovely.
For me, the best way to get through waiting is by killing time. It’s cathartic and, when done properly, can be productive. Writing exercises and self-imposed schedules are my current time-killer. Flash fiction is a good way to keep ideas flowing and make sure I’m writing every day (the Serial also helps make sure of that). I also find that alternating between reading and writing keeps my mind from locking down. I don’t know how anyone can marathon write; kudos to those who can. These simple changes of pace are breaks but I feel less guilty about taking them because I’m still being productive (at least, that’s what I tell myself).
Simultaneously inspired and terrified
“No one inspired me to write, but writer Harlan Ellison terrified me into getting published.” – Dan Simmons
I have to recommend Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market to anyone interested in trying to get published. As I mentioned a few days ago, I received it the other day as a gift for my college graduation. I am a very organized person and the research process for finding venues for publication has been overwhelming and daunting. It felt like I kept winding up at the same places no matter how many different approaches I used.
This book has organized a lot of that research for you and comes with a full year’s subscription to the corresponding website. The site even has a portion that helps you track which manuscripts you’ve submitted and to what publications (handy when doing simultaneous submissions at various publications).
Perhaps the best features are the various catalogues of publications with information about what they’re looking for, when their submission dates are, how to contact them, etc. all broken down based on what you’re writing (literary magazines, books, online markets, and a section for contests and awards). The lists include an easy to follow symbol system with a key at towards the beginning. I spent hours last night marking out which ones I felt would fit my writing subjects and style.
The book, published annually, also includes essays and advice in different areas and genres of writing from mystery and romance to comedy and satire as well as common questions about subjects such as grammar. I’m looking forward to reading it more in depth and putting it to use in the next week and a half before I go on vacation.
Thinking about writing flash fiction
“A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” – Eugene Ionesco
In my research into getting my short stories published I’ve run into a number of magazines for flash fiction which I hadn’t really heard of before (at least, not in that context). I find myself intrigued by the idea of flash fiction. To limit yourself so strictly, the challenge of working through an entire plot in less than 500 words. The shortest story I think I’ve ever written was “Bees” and even that one is almost 1500 words. In fact, I have a problem keeping things short (“A Mother’s Love” is almost 10,000 words, hardly a short story).
I’m going to try writing some flash fiction to see how it fits as a form. I’ve been enjoying writing my serial but even though I write it about 250 words at a time, there’s still a much larger overarching plot. As always, feedback on this endeavor is very much welcome.
Starting on the first one
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain
Today I submitted one of my short stories to a literary magazine to try to get it published. It isn’t the first time I’ve submitted a story for consideration but it has been a year or two and I feel I’m more prepared for the process as a whole.
My plan right now is to try submitting at least one story a week amongst various publications. The difficult part of the process is getting the right publications at the right times. Unfortunately, many don’t read submissions over summer break (which has always been the only time I’ve had to look into making submissions).
Then there are those that have reading fees. I understand that they need to have more income than simply the paid subscription fees provide and they receive more submissions than they have subscribers. Maybe when I have a more steady income I’ll be willing to submit to these kinds of publications but right now, I just can’t afford it.
Over all, I think my best bet is going to be looking into internships in publishing (I would love to become a reader or an editor myself). Once I learn the process better, I’ll be in a better position to navigate it myself. In the mean time, I’m going to make my submissions to the best of my knowledge and above all, keep writing.
