Writing Update

The more I write, the more I discover how much I don’t know.

I thought I’d try something new with my blog by posting updates on my writing and what I’m up to more frequently. I’m hoping this will help me get more comfortable with blogging, hold me accountable for my writing, and give me more practice writing what is in my head. I haven’t decided on how frequently I’ll post, but I figure I need to start somewhere.

Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch offered a challenge of writing one short story per week for a year. I decided to join because I enjoy a challenge and wanted to practice some writing techniques I learned. Not to mention, I’d get a few more classes to learn more and short stories are a great spot to practice.

In addition to writing the short story each week, I added the challenge of sending each story off to market as a way to practice Heinlein’s rules. Robert J. Sawyer has a great post written which explains the rules well.

What I’ve found, besides the rejection count accumulates faster with more stories out, is that I’m getting used to the rejections. Yes, I feel disappointed, but I have the next possible market lined up and I send the story off as soon as I can.

Sending things off to market reminds me of cold calling when I worked in sales. Some days, I’d go through a list of 100 names and each person would say ‘no’. After a few calls, I’d shrug off the ‘no’ and dial the next number on my list. It was just business and how I had to make my living. Sometimes the list had so many yeses my appointment calendar filled quickly.

Writing, I’m discovering, shares many similarities to sales.

I’m having fun with the challenge. There are some stories I like and others I’m not a huge fan of, but I’ve sent them all out.

My second novel for the year is just about done. I’m at 65,000 words. My goal is to finish it up this week.

That’s where things stand at the moment.