March Madness! (Your monthly kick in the a$$)

[SteveW]

I'm not going to post a long winded speech here. You need to quit wasting time reading this and get back to writing your master piece.

If you haven't followed the January or February threads, now is a great time to jump in. Set your self a goal for the month, and report back here whenever the mood strikes you to update your progress or to find your gumption.


Edit.
I knew I'd screw up the title. Should have waited till I was done my coffee.

Stolen from Red Mage and the February thread:

Google Docs

Write Track

750 Words

[RedMage]

Wohoo! Thanks SteveW! I'm in for 25,000 words this month.

[Cononomous]

I'm not going to post a long winded speech here. You need to quit wasting time reading this and get back to writing your master piece.

If you haven't followed the January or February threads, now is a great time to jump in. Set your self a goal for the month, and report back here whenever the mood strikes you to update your progress or to find your gumption.


Edit.
I knew I'd screw up the title. Should have waited till I was done my coffee.

Thanks Steve!

Going to shoot for 15k new words and 15k edited words.

[SteveW]

I think 12 000 is probably a realistic goal to set for myself this month, but I am going to leave the bar at 15 000. I have a clear outline for the next section of my book, a couple short story ideas, and no wife and kid for 4 days over the march break week. So I think I can hit 15 000.

I really need to continue building this into a solid habit. I have my second child landing at the start of May. If he/she is anything like her sister, the first 3 months will be hell and I don't want it to completely side track what I have started here. (thanks to these threads).

Good luck everyone.

[Cononomous]

I think 12 000 is probably a realistic goal to set for myself this month, but I am going to leave the bar at 15 000. I have a clear outline for the next section of my book, a couple short story ideas, and no wife and kid for 4 days over the march break week. So I think I can hit 15 000.

I really need to continue building this into a solid habit. I have my second child landing at the start of May. If he/she is anything like her sister, the first 3 months will be hell and I don't want it to completely side track what I have started here. (thanks to these threads).

Good luck everyone.

Just get it finished before the child comes. Then you can rip your hair out when you have a child in the background, screaming, and your starting re-writes. Your sanity will last weeks!

All the best to everyone this month!

[PeteMC]

I'm aiming to get another 20k of first draft done this month.

[Holbrook]

I have a novel to finish in first draft. Goodness knows how many words that will be, but it must be done by the end of the month.

I have a number of days holiday to use up (mine goes from April to March.) So I am tagging them on to a couple of weekends. Hopefully I will get this done.

[PeteMC]

Of course you'll get it done Sue - pah, sleep, who needs it

[Wulfen]

Aiming for 20,000 words again this month, I was a measly 1,000 short for February since I spent the last week doing heavy edits.

So goals for the month:

• 20,000 words
• Write 3-4 new website serial entries
• Resume novel work, overview of plot and outline
• Finish edits on two short stories and submit them by the end of the month

[SteveW]

Wulfen, how many stories do you have out for submission? You are the one person who always seems to have something up for sub. Nice work.

Anyone else actually at the submission stage yet? That's a big part of my goal for this year, to actually start submitting pieces.

[Wulfen]

Wulfen, how many stories do you have out for submission? You are the one person who always seems to have something up for sub. Nice work.

Anyone else actually at the submission stage yet? That's a big part of my goal for this year, to actually start submitting pieces.

Right now I only have one out, a science-fiction short story that's been edited and resent to a different market. I've got two left to submit this month, and then after March I'll likely slow down on submissions, as I want to really concentrate on my novel. I've discovered that I'm a long fiction writer at heart, and while I write decent shorts, it's not what I want to spend the bulk of my writing time on.

Submit away, I say. Write the best story you can, edit/trim the crap out of it, have other writers (here, workshop, local, whatever) tear it apart, pick up the pieces, finish it and get it out there!

[NilsDesperandum]

I'm aiming at my pre-set measly 6000 per month, which I've topped by a few thousand both months so far. I also need to get to grips with the disjointed start of my WIP which will take time and effort but won't really contribute much to the word count. It must be done though!

Same situation for myself re subbing, Steve. Without appearing lazy, does anyone (i.e. you, Wulfen) have some pointers for which publications/sites I could be targeting? I haven't had anything published on line for about a year, as the online SFFH magazine that I submitted to mysteriously disappeared

[Wulfen]

Well, I do have a subscription to Duotrope, which certainly helps. I've submitted to Lore, Penumbra, Blood Bound, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. I'm planning on possible submissions to Angelic Knight Press, who does regular calls for anthologies, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, which takes weird west and mixed genre fiction.

It really depends on your style, the story's genre and what sort of rate you're looking for. I probably shouldn't, but I'm only targeting magazines or presses with pro rates. There are several that have semi-pro rates (anywhere from $.01-.05 per word), but I honestly haven't looked very hard at them. I'm aiming for the stars.

[PeteMC]

Right now I only have one out, a science-fiction short story

Didn't you sub that horror short I read for you in the end? Damnit man, I liked that one!

I've got one horror short out on sub at the moment, and a novel that's been doing the round of agents for <cough> a while now <cough>, which Nils is very kindly reading for me now.

I ought to get more shorts out there really but I do struggle with that word range - I find anything in between flash and a full-on novel very difficult for some reason.

[Wulfen]

Didn't you sub that horror short I read for you in the end? Damnit man, I liked that one!

I've got one horror short out on sub at the moment, and a novel that's been doing the round of agents for <cough> a while now <cough>, which Nils is very kindly reading for me now.

I ought to get more shorts out there really but I do struggle with that word range - I find anything in between flash and a full-on novel very difficult for some reason.

Rejected last week, my friend. They liked it, I guess, but not enough.

Is that the same as you sent me, or something different? I have the same problem, too. I find that the story, once it gets past 3,000 words, just demands that it keep going. I've had several submissions push the outer word limit, and that is supposedly a pretty big no-no unless you've already got a name for yourself. Decidedly not me.