Be Honest: Why are you Really Not Published Yet?

[Phil the Drill]

I think this has to be a question most beginning writers sit down and ask themselves at some point: Why am I not published yet?

Have you tried? Have you been madly submitting with no results? Have you just decided it's not worth pursuing with so many self-publishing avenues available?

I'll add what I've been reading a lot recently that may seem like a "duh" answer: I don't finish anything.

With the exception of one novella and a handful of short stories, I've never actually really finished anything I write. I'll venture to say this is probably most everyone's problem here. We all know the publishing industry is selective and sometimes it takes years to get picked up. Some people probably never make it to a publisher of any kind. I can't see how that's possible if you have at least some talent, a unique vision, and a lot (I mean a lot) of time at the keyboard/pen and pad.

Is getting published really a Sisyphean climb? Or is the world too clouded with distractions to get something done? That's my problem. That's why I don't necessarily claim to be a novel writer since I haven't ever finished a novel.

I don't get writer's block. I just quit.

Do any of you have this problem? Do you want to do something about it?

Here's your chance.

Let's make a blood pact (digitally). Who wants to take up this challenge? Which of us will get published first by 2014?

I don't want to be a failed writer anymore. I don't want anymore aborted novels. I don't want to keep going on to a "shinier idea." I want to finish something. So at least then I'll have a chance.

So here in this thread. Make this oath:

1. I will finish something.

2. I will get it published by 2014.

3. Even if this isn't realistic, I will still try.

4. I'm tired of failing.

5. I will submit it to (insert publishing house here) and if they don't want it then I'll try (insert publishing house here) and then if that doesn't work (insert publishing house here). Then if those three don't want my novel, then, and only then, I'll start writing something else.

I hope this at least motivates someone else.

Let's tell our stories come hell or high water.

[Kelise]

1. I will finish something.

2. I will have it ready to send out by London WorldCon 2014.

3. Even if this isn't realistic, I will still try.

4. I'm tired of failing.

5. I will submit it to Gollancz London and if they don't want it then I'll try Harper Voyager Australia and then if that doesn't work Orbit, perhaps. Then if those three don't want my novel, then, and only then, I'll start writing something else.


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I changed mine slightly as I plan to have something ready to take along to WorldCon 2014 in London, as conventions are generally much more relaxed and I'm hoping, if I have something I honestly believe is ready, to convince someone to read the first page.

My problem until recently is I've been writing without much of a plan, without much of a world... just with a vague idea. I'm currently in a critique group of about 30 who are working alongside Brandon Sanderson lectures and I'm taking everything to heart. I've put aside my massive seven book series and I'm focusing on one book, with two POVs, in one (or two) countries with one shared goal.

I'm in with you, Phil. Let's get our novels finished!

(Until now I've only tried submitting two short stories, to the same person at the same small press for anthologies. I'm far too shy for anything else as of yet. As for how many books I've finished writing... I have no idea, which isn't a good sign. I've finished NaNo and Script Frenzy since 2004 and 2007, though I'm not sure which of those were finished works.)

[gavintonks]

I have finished but I am still working as I want to be 110% that its my best

[JCFarnham]

Don't have anything finished. Not going to rush and force it.

That's my problem. Well, I say problem, but I think its a valid "thing". There's nothing worse than forcing yourself to finish something when you know you don't have the inspiration or drive to make it something truly wonderful.

I think I probably will have something done by 2014. I mean, hell, that's like most of two years. Easy. Already got a first draft under my belt (admittedly that novel is being largely rewritten, so that draft doesn't count...)

I don't know who I'd submit to, I'd rather finish something first.

So there's my pledge

[Phil the Drill]

I think my attitude for a long time was not to rush anything. Well, not even that. Just to take my time. That's why I haven't finished anything. And by finished, I mean even a first draft. So having a sort of long-term goal doesn't hurt anyone. But not having any goal definitely hasn't worked for me. It just makes me keep delaying to actually try to do anything.

Not to say what I'm offering is a "rush job." It's just a call to arms to quit making excuses for those of us who haven't put our good foot forward yet. And I haven't. I can't say in the 10 something years I've been writing aborted novels that I've ever really, really tried to get something out there.

That's my inherent problem. "I'll do it later."

[Anders Ämting]

Writer's block. I have had a terrible tendency to run into a wall or get distracted once I reach the second chapter or so, and in recent years I haven't been actually writing much at all. It's sad but true.

[SeverinR]

Truthfully, my editing is not completed.
I finished writing three books, and have edited them alot.
I will make my first submission to a contest end of next month. (SS)

I won't submit my books until I know they are the best that I can do.
I wish I could focus on one, but like when I wrote them, I got tired of the one story, so I switched to another.
I think this will be the last edit for two of the three. (I have focuses on two, rather then all three)

I wish I could find a writer's group for crit. There is one in Dayton, but is not genre specific and twenty minutes from work, which is 45 minutes from home.(1hour 5 minutes to drive home)

[zizban]

For me, writing is my hobby. Publishing something that is secondary to me. That said, sometime this year I'll be published.

[gavintonks]

you can submit to critters if you wish to have your work read and critiqued, I have learnt a huge amount from the feedback saved me a lot of school fees

[Ireth]

I'm in the process of finding agents for my first finished novel, but I'll still definitely take the pledge.

1. I will finish something.

2. I will get it published by 2014.

3. Even if this isn't realistic, I will still try.

4. I'm tired of failing.

5. I will submit it to Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency, and if they don't want it then I'll try Nancy Yost and then if that doesn't work FinePrint Literary Management. Then if those three don't want my novel, then, and only then, I'll start writing something else.