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Be Honest: Why are you Really Not Published Yet?

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I'm in, sorta.

1. I will finish my novel.

That's all I can promise, though. I'm not sure I want to even submit it to publishers. Even if it is good enough, I still think it takes a lot of luck to even get it read, and, if they read it and love it, they still may not have space to publish it. Let's say they do publish it. I'm probably looking at a $5000 advance. I don't think it's worth the effort. I may go straight to self publishing.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Ouroboros, so THAT'S what you're x/52 is all about.

I thought you had 52 enemies and were gradually hunting them down and dropkicking them into oblivion.


When I lived in Hong Kong, I had an idea for a story. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I gave myself a year to write it. In addition, I promised to have people I know beta-read at certain milestones. (I hadn't looked into writers' forums at the time.) But most importantly, to me, was that I promised myself I would ENJOY every scene.

I felt like that was important... that the journey had to be more important than the destination, or I'd never get there. I finished it in a year and five days (not too shabby only being five days late, considering my first child was born and I moved back to the U.S. that year!), but the story's too damn long (155,000+ words) and full of newbie-ness. So I'm only claiming to be successful at finishing something. Nothing more.

(Oh... and there was that one guy at the New York Comic Con who was carrying around my book. Yay me?)

So far, that and a children's book are the only things I've submitted (and received rejection letters for).


Now I'm starting to have the shiny, new project syndrome which I didn't have before... so, I'll start with this for now:

I'll figure out which shiny, new project to stick to and start writing while school's out.


Admittedly, that's more of a fingernail-clipping-pact. But I'd like to see how that goes before making a virtual-blood-pact.

I take pacts seriously, gosh darnit! (Ugh... why did I ever make a pact to stop swearing on Tuesday evenings?)
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
(Ugh... why did I ever make a pact to stop swearing on Tuesday evenings?)

Because the wife threatened to take a meat cleaver to certain parts of your anatomy?

Sorry, but you walked right into that one.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
No, no... she made that threat because I got her pregnant again. She made that threat on a Tuesday evening, so my natural reaction was to say, "Holy ****, that would ****ing hurt!" I quickly made the no-swearing-on-Tuesday-evenings pact to get her to put the meat cleaver away.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I think it would be nifty if we could have a place to report on our progress, to cheer each other on, and encourage each other when it just doesn't seem to be working.

I wonder if we could have a place on Mythic Scribes, or if we would like to create a group especially for it, or something similar. Or if we just wanted to then use this thread?


I think for now just using this thread would be good. I may decide to make a separate thread later on (as I'm not sure how often people visit the group pages.) I would encourage others to possibly seek out critique partners if they wish, or just encourage each other in general when we feel like giving up.

For instance, "Having a lot of trouble with a chapter today. Help!"

We could offer words of encouragement, suggestions, whatever is wanted. I don't want to peg this down to certain kind of "thing." It can just be whatever it is to whoever wants to be part of it.

I'm currently critiquing some other work (which I'm dreadfully behind on, sorry!) but I do plan to get one of my novels finished and polished up so that it might possibly get submitted in the near future, certainly by 2014. I may even use this Camp NaNo session to beef it up to 100,000 words, although that may be too long?
 

Ghost

Inkling
I thought you had 52 enemies and were gradually hunting them down and dropkicking them into oblivion.

Well...ahem...I do have to avenge my family. Villains burned down my village, killed my father, kidnapped my sister, etc etc. It was a stereotypical Fantasyland upbringing. Would it be cheating if I made my 52 stories about the 52 enemies I'll slay? And do I have to make them sign release forms before I kill them, in case I get published?

I may even use this Camp NaNo session to beef it up to 100,000 words, although that may be too long?

It does sound like an awful lot, but I think it's fine to use Camp NaNo to boost your productivity. Something about the energy and encouragement of NaNo months really helps.
 
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Ireth

Myth Weaver
Would it be breaking the pact if I kept working on the sequel to the novel I just queried an agent about while I wait for a response? I really want to be making more progress with that one.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I say go for it, Phil. Let's make our own Nano challenge.

Phil looks down at his feet, his eyes scrutinizing the small bit of cloth. "Is that... a baby sock?"

Ani shrugs. "I didn't have a gauntlet on me."
 

Jon_Chong

Scribe
Count me in and may the world tremble at our feet.

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. Changing this one as I plan on submitting my manuscript to uh... a lot of people. And while doing so, I plan on writing something new.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Would it be breaking the pact if I kept working on the sequel to the novel I just queried an agent about while I wait for a response? I really want to be making more progress with that one.
That's exactly what you SHOULD be doing!

Keep it up, Ireth!
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Yes! Once you send it out, forget about it and start working on something else.

Ireth is now officially our Blood Pact Model Member. :)
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
As to word counts, there is some interesting information given in the presentation here: Smashwords: Can Ebook Data Reveal New Viral Catalysts to Spur Reader Word-of-Mouth?.

As to publishing, I'm a bit outside the boundaries of the current question, due to the fact that I have decided to self-publish. Thus, I am published, though likely not quite in the manner that this thread concerns itself with.

However, I would like to point out that much of the 'problem' presented here is not about being published, but about finishing work. This is, indeed, one of the greatest problems of would-be authors: they never finish "their novel." They edit forever. They start new projects, etc etc.

Whether you intend to pursue traditional publishing or indie publishing, that problem is the real one. You must finish the story, and get it to a state that you would be willing - preferably proud - to hold up to the world and scream "This is mine!"

To the eternal editors, I beg you remember the words of some anonymous artist (attributed to too many people to count):

"A work of art is never finished, only abandoned."

This is doubly true for novels, methinks. Write it. Edit it. Start the next one. Don't let those stories build up inside your head - get them out and into the world.

In the spirit of camaraderie, I too will take this pledge. I've finished one novel already, but now I intend to get serious about this whole 'writing' gig. I pledge to finish my second novel before the end of the year.

I have held my work up before the world and I intend to continue doing so.
 
I'm not published (by any "real" publisher, let's say) yet, because I've only been doing this about 10 months. I'm about to finish my first novel, which took longer than I thought it would.

In fact, what the hell am I doing here? I should be writing!
 
Phil, I have a very similar problem. That being said, I started writing pretty recently, so that can be at least a small excuse. I want to do this, but I'll have to alter my pledge al bit.

1. I will finish something. (Hopefully a full novel, though I'd be glad if I ever got the hang of short story writing.)

2. I will submit a piece to be published by 2015. (I'm going to college soon, so I'll be really busy. Plus, in 2015 I'll only be 21, so it seems pretty reasonable to me.)

3. Even if this is not realistic I will still try.

4. I'm really tired of being lazy and struggling to write.

5. I will submit it somewhere. No idea where that might be.

I'm working on three different stories right now, and I won't promise to completely put two down right now, so I'll have to leave out the not working on anything else part for now.

Thanks for the motivation, Phil!
 

KellyB

Minstrel
Well, I would just like to get a book written, let alone sending it to publishers.

I have had about 3 or 4 false starts over the last year or so. So, in December, I gave myself a goal of getting a first draft completely written by the end of this year. I don't know at this point in the year if I will reach that goal, as I haven't actually started writing it yet. But I think I finally have an idea I can work with, and I have started planning. So, I'm going to try my hardest to get something written this year.

As someone else in the thread said, I would like to stop saying "I want to be a writer" and say "I am a writer."
 

kennyc

Inkling
I'm having a "finishing" problem at the moment myself and I am working to get it under control. As you may or may not know I recently left my captive corporate computer job and am writing full time with the intent of making a living at this (at least enough to put food in the cat bowl) by next year. I'm pursuing a number of avenues to do that including self-publishing on Amazon. I will also be working to get my poetry, fiction, essays and articles published in the traditional media. My work ranges from mainstream to fantasy, poetry to novels, but my love is short stories and that is where I'm focusing my main attention at the moment.

Many ideas and partially finished stories in both mainstream and SFF which I'm working on. I've been very non-productive the last few days so this is a great thread to re-commit myself.

Now, my issue with the pledge. I really don't think one can "pledge" to get something published, that is completely out of your control. The best a writer can do is to continue to submit and keep writing and yes FINISH the pieces you are working on.

My current goal -- which as I said fell apart a bit this week is to complete one store each week. Maybe that is unrealistic (#3) but I don't think so.

also (#4) failing is such a negative thing, I would say in the vein of #1 it should be I will continue to write, to finish, to market my work, if I am doing that I am not failing. :)

So in that vein I will pledge to

#1 Finish something (story article poem essay) each week

#2 I will submit finished works to publishers or self-publish as appropriate

#3 I will continue to create new ideas and stories, to write, finish, and submit my work

#4 I will not fail if I do 1-3 and I will continue this process each day, each week, each month


Thank you Phil for starting this thread!

(p.s. my unstated goal is to produce about 2500 words (draft) a day which is pretty high and I've yet to actually hit it since starting this journey two months ago. I've has a couple of 1000 word days so I'm getting there or will revise the plan)
 

SeverinR

Vala
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.
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* I have not looked into publishers yet, so I will have to find one to commit too, then an alternate. I guess I should also decide which route- Publisher vs agent. (Isn't the stats: 90% of books published are through an agent?)

I am leaning towards agent, huge publishing house versus individual agent. Which seems moe likely to help the fledgling writer?

*Critters? Will have to look into that.
 
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