Raising Hopes--and Goals.
Feb. 8th, 2009 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abracanabraIt's been a good week for my stories. (This is funny, because I've been too sick and at-work to do anything with them.)
1. Baen's Universe, a pro-level publication, has pulled "Salvaging Scottwell" out of the slush pile and will be bumping it up for the Editor-in-Chief to look at. Now commences the biting of nails and crossing of fingers.
2. The Edge of Propinquity has moved "The Radiator Burped" past the first round of cuts. Now, all this probably means is that they've decided it fits the theme and isn't actively badly written, but I do so want my difficult child to find a home.
Squeesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesquee!!!!!!!!
Ahem.
Setting that aside, because there's nothing I can do to influence the outcome (other than actually sending the rtf version in, which I plan on doing tomorrow, when I'm less tired and less likely to miss something).
Vicesteed. Now is really when I should be submitting Vicesteed, because steampunk's popularity is rocketing up and people are looking for good steampunk books, which I think I will have after I finish the editing. So I need to get that done, and right quickly, too. Having it done by Wiscon, or at least by 4th Street Fantasy, seems like a good plan. Then I will be able to gush at people about it, while batting my eyes in my best talented-and-professional-writer manner.
Wiscon is May 22. Fourth Street is June 19th. That's roughly 11 weeks to Wiscon, and 14 to Fourth Street. Vicesteed is 34 chapters long, and I've edited the first 6. This leaves 28 chapters to edit. So I would need to edit 3 chapters each week to have it done by Wiscon (whole numbers are easier to measure on a weekly basis), or at a minimum 2 chapters a week to have it done by Fourth Street. The Fourth Street goal doesn't include time for secondary edits or my read-through edit*, so the 3 chapters a week is closer to reality.
This...is doable. I can mark up a chapter in roughly six working hours. If I make this my top priority, right after the basics of life**, I think I can get this done. I hope that having a goal and a deadline will help me get this done. The times I've written stories for a submission deadline, I think it's worked out pretty well. I don't usually self-impose deadlines for writing projects. I don't know if this would be good and useful for me or not.
I guess there's only one way to find out.
* These are my basic editing steps: 1) a quick rough edit to spare my critiquers (didn't necessarily do this on all of Vicesteed. Sorry, eh?); 2) a very thorough edit using all the critiquing notes I've been able to wheedle out of people--I usually cut about 1/3 of the text at this stage; and 3) I read the whole thing aloud to fix flow and bad juxtapositions--reading it out loud makes it a lot less easy to skip over words that need to be fixed.
** The basics of life, in that order: food, sleep, hygiene, laundry, dishes, writing exercises, exercise. The day job is also necessary to pay the heating bill, though I don't want it to be a basic of life.
Writing Logs
Just to get the excuses out of the way--I'm sick, I was traveling, they've been making me work too much, blah blah blah.
01/25/2009 - Sunday, full+ work followed by a date night that meant I didn't get home until super-late and so got nothing done. But it was still a nice day, aside from the whole "working" thing.
* Posted writing log.
*![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
penthius freewriting, some meta-freewriting.
01/26/2009 - Monday, full work
There was a Monday?
01/27/2009 - Tuesday, full-ish work, though it started late there was sleeping in involved, so I didn't get extra writing time.
* Responded to Continuous Coast commentary on "The Old Woman By The Sea."
* Responded to and processed Vu's crit of Vicesteed Chapter 21.
* Read Writer's Digest newsletter.
*penthius freewriting.
01/28/2009 - Wednesday, full work
* Read FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters newsletters
- Made notes to update market list.
In Wisconsin from 01/29/2009, Thursday, through 02/04/2009, Tuesday, for 80th-birthday party and funeral.
02/05/2009 - Wednesday, no work - Mostly unpacking and cleaning.
* Superpowers, psychotic persistence, and success in writing - http://jaylake.livejournal.com/1714876.html
* Read WritersWeekly, WritersDigest, Critters newsletters
02/06/2009 - Thursday, full work
* Read Critters newsletter
*penthius freewriting about sickness. Because I'm sick.
02/06/2009 - Friday, full work
* Read FundsforWriters, FFWSmallMarkets, WritingWorld newsletters
*penthius freewriting, inspired by a creepy-cool Scientific American podcast about a butterfly larvae that emits the sound of a queen bee, persuading those bees to take it home and feed it, giving it preference even over their own children.
* Added books and camera lens purchases to expense spreadsheets
* Processed Gaea's crit of Vicesteed chs 25-27...at least until I ran out of printer ink. Drat. But then I had more ink on hand, so I finished! WICKTORY! Sent her off the rest of the story. Repeat after me, "Ooooo, aaaaaahhh."
02/07/2009 - Saturday, full work
*penthius freewriting, inspired by a Russian vodka bar.
* Updated Aswiebe's Market List from Ralan and Duotrope. Snarled a bit at the lack of useful information in Duotrope's newsletter. Their "what's new for the last 7 days" is much better, but it means I have to go to the website on time.
1. Baen's Universe, a pro-level publication, has pulled "Salvaging Scottwell" out of the slush pile and will be bumping it up for the Editor-in-Chief to look at. Now commences the biting of nails and crossing of fingers.
2. The Edge of Propinquity has moved "The Radiator Burped" past the first round of cuts. Now, all this probably means is that they've decided it fits the theme and isn't actively badly written, but I do so want my difficult child to find a home.
Squeesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesqueesquee!!!!!!!!
Ahem.
Setting that aside, because there's nothing I can do to influence the outcome (other than actually sending the rtf version in, which I plan on doing tomorrow, when I'm less tired and less likely to miss something).
Vicesteed. Now is really when I should be submitting Vicesteed, because steampunk's popularity is rocketing up and people are looking for good steampunk books, which I think I will have after I finish the editing. So I need to get that done, and right quickly, too. Having it done by Wiscon, or at least by 4th Street Fantasy, seems like a good plan. Then I will be able to gush at people about it, while batting my eyes in my best talented-and-professional-writer manner.
Wiscon is May 22. Fourth Street is June 19th. That's roughly 11 weeks to Wiscon, and 14 to Fourth Street. Vicesteed is 34 chapters long, and I've edited the first 6. This leaves 28 chapters to edit. So I would need to edit 3 chapters each week to have it done by Wiscon (whole numbers are easier to measure on a weekly basis), or at a minimum 2 chapters a week to have it done by Fourth Street. The Fourth Street goal doesn't include time for secondary edits or my read-through edit*, so the 3 chapters a week is closer to reality.
This...is doable. I can mark up a chapter in roughly six working hours. If I make this my top priority, right after the basics of life**, I think I can get this done. I hope that having a goal and a deadline will help me get this done. The times I've written stories for a submission deadline, I think it's worked out pretty well. I don't usually self-impose deadlines for writing projects. I don't know if this would be good and useful for me or not.
I guess there's only one way to find out.
* These are my basic editing steps: 1) a quick rough edit to spare my critiquers (didn't necessarily do this on all of Vicesteed. Sorry, eh?); 2) a very thorough edit using all the critiquing notes I've been able to wheedle out of people--I usually cut about 1/3 of the text at this stage; and 3) I read the whole thing aloud to fix flow and bad juxtapositions--reading it out loud makes it a lot less easy to skip over words that need to be fixed.
** The basics of life, in that order: food, sleep, hygiene, laundry, dishes, writing exercises, exercise. The day job is also necessary to pay the heating bill, though I don't want it to be a basic of life.
Writing Logs
Just to get the excuses out of the way--I'm sick, I was traveling, they've been making me work too much, blah blah blah.
01/25/2009 - Sunday, full+ work followed by a date night that meant I didn't get home until super-late and so got nothing done. But it was still a nice day, aside from the whole "working" thing.
* Posted writing log.
*
penthius freewriting, some meta-freewriting.01/26/2009 - Monday, full work
There was a Monday?
01/27/2009 - Tuesday, full-ish work, though it started late there was sleeping in involved, so I didn't get extra writing time.
* Responded to Continuous Coast commentary on "The Old Woman By The Sea."
* Responded to and processed Vu's crit of Vicesteed Chapter 21.
* Read Writer's Digest newsletter.
*
penthius freewriting.01/28/2009 - Wednesday, full work
* Read FFWSmallMarkets, FundsforWriters newsletters
- Made notes to update market list.
In Wisconsin from 01/29/2009, Thursday, through 02/04/2009, Tuesday, for 80th-birthday party and funeral.
02/05/2009 - Wednesday, no work - Mostly unpacking and cleaning.
* Superpowers, psychotic persistence, and success in writing - http://jaylake.livejournal.com/1714876.html
* Read WritersWeekly, WritersDigest, Critters newsletters
02/06/2009 - Thursday, full work
* Read Critters newsletter
*
penthius freewriting about sickness. Because I'm sick.02/06/2009 - Friday, full work
* Read FundsforWriters, FFWSmallMarkets, WritingWorld newsletters
*
penthius freewriting, inspired by a creepy-cool Scientific American podcast about a butterfly larvae that emits the sound of a queen bee, persuading those bees to take it home and feed it, giving it preference even over their own children.* Added books and camera lens purchases to expense spreadsheets
* Processed Gaea's crit of Vicesteed chs 25-27...at least until I ran out of printer ink. Drat. But then I had more ink on hand, so I finished! WICKTORY! Sent her off the rest of the story. Repeat after me, "Ooooo, aaaaaahhh."
02/07/2009 - Saturday, full work
*
penthius freewriting, inspired by a Russian vodka bar.* Updated Aswiebe's Market List from Ralan and Duotrope. Snarled a bit at the lack of useful information in Duotrope's newsletter. Their "what's new for the last 7 days" is much better, but it means I have to go to the website on time.