Deadlines

When I set my writing goals for this year, I thought finishing six drafts in a year wouldn’t be that hard for me. Even when I turned up a seventh draft I wanted to finish, it still seemed doable. Now it’s March, I’m starting to notice that I’m haven’t finished any of them.

Still looking ahead

Not much progress to report on the writing front. Two rejections came in this week. Both said something nice. Both said the story didn’t work for them. Sigh. All I can do is keep trying until I find the place where they do work.

Looking forward

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions. I’m always making plans for what I want to do and resolving to do better next week. But it’s a good time to consider my writing goals for the year. Which are:

Put up or shut up

There’s this conversation running around my head today. It goes something like this:

Call it a writerversery

September 4 is my writing anniversary. (Or is it September 3? Shows you how close attention I pay.) It’s now eight years (and running) since my resolve to write every day finally became consecutive. Not this blog, mind you, just trying to write down the stories that go running through my head. So how’s that […]

A response to my past self

When Previous Me posted that note telling Current Me not to take rejections personally, I did so because had a feeling that I was due. I was right. Three hit my inbox last week. Previous Me also thought it was silly to do so, because I thought I was already pretty good at not letting […]

A note to my future self

When you’re reading for critique, or being critiqued, you’re supposed to focus on the text. It’s about the story, not you. When a publication decides it doesn’t want what you offered, it’s about the story, not you. Really?

Four balls in the air

My story juggling hit a bit of a flurry since the Saturday of Readercon. I:

Slow motion juggling

I recently hit a milestone: a rejection that actually said something specific about the story. Which is nice, but the important thing about getting a rejection is it means I submitted a story. That was scary, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as finishing a story.

Enough talk, time to walk the walk

Time to fish or cut bait. Time to put up or shut up. Time to get up and do what needs to be done.