Be Honest: Why are you Really Not Published Yet?

Once a week, I complete a flash fiction piece that sometimes gets added to the shelf of things to expand later when I get time. Once every other week I get a proper short story completed. I aim to increase that to one proper short story a week, which I'll revise after finishing then set aside for a week to revise again. Then I revise one more time and submit.

This week, though? It's been crazy good/productive despite a computer that is on its last legs and not being able to write anything beyond flash fiction since Monday. And now that I'm being forced to sit down and work on ideas with pen and paper, I have twenty-ish new ideas all lined up and ready to go. Which means, I should never gripe about not having anything to do ever again.

I've also submitted a piece, been rejected, fixed the piece and submitted it to a different market.

Finishing something is awesome. But the feeling I get when I submit something is even better. It's only then that I feel like a proper writer.

 

I hope to finish a complete novel by the end of 2014.

 

honestly the real reason im not published yet is because I am a raging perfectionist and also kind of get lazy. yes I admit it.

But as most of you know, I said that I was putting in the towel when it came to trying to get published, or at least was stepping away from awhile. And honestly I am so very glad I did. I wanted to be an author ever since I was a child and love to write but the constant pressure of being published felt overwhelming to me because I didn't have much time to write and nothing I really wrote I was very proud of. I kind of had a fear of rejection.

So now I have the mentality of, "I don't care if I get published or not." Might sound very odd but it has really helped me when it comes to writting. I don't feel as pressured to make sure every word and every letter is perfect and presentable (not to be misinterpreted to mean I have become sloppy) I write my myself. I am my own audience and I also share my work and ideas with my girlfriend who loves my stories.

When I said I was a perfectionist I really meant it. It took me well over 5 months to type 2 pages, only after deleting probably thousands of words (and time spent) and even after that I wasn't satisfied. I was writting with the mentality of trying to impress others. This might also sound kind of gloomy but I know i wont live on this Earth forever, so I felt like i was obsessing over this too much and was devoting way too much of my life to something that just simply wont last forever. Yes it might get published and yes it might be the best selling book in the world, but compare that second to eternity and it loses value. Again, not trying to sound insulting to those that spent lots of hard work on their books and novels, but as me being a Christian, I came to the realization that I was spending ever free second of my life stressing about my books which are just imagination after all. I realized that after I leave this world and move on, what are my stories going to matter? I know that might sound weird but oh well...

If I do ever publish anything it will probably be self publsihed but it is not a concern of mine to get published and get recognition for it. I just want to write because I enjoy it and have fun imagining things. What I was doing before was not fun and made me despise sitting down and writting. This new approach has brought great calmness to my mind and I feel like I can breathe when writting because I feel that now I am my only critic so I don't have to worry so much.

So yeah that was my 2:00am rant. Need to get to sleep now............

 

Im only half way through mine… I'm always halfway through… in a years time ill still be halfway through… the more i progress the more work needs to be done… I am unpublished but I will not try until I feel the book is ready. I feel it is another year away so I may have a different opinion then : )
Also a thought with writing as a laborious art form: its not like music or painting where you can release things more often… you have to spend a long, long time in studious solitude to get something done so its a lot of labor & in the end it could be fulfilling or go nowhere at all… who knows… ah, a writers life!

 

I have to agree....I am done but not finished....editing and changing until I feel the story meets my expectations. Now I know I am not writing a Pulitzer Prize work but where the market is saturated, I want it to stand out.

 

because I am so o.c.d nothing is ever good enough for me and I am always rewriting everything

 

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 (pretty much going to ignore the last part of this because I don't know the names of any places to which I would submit something yet...)

 

Really? Haha

ETA: I misinterpreted that like "before" rather than "by the end of." Sorry.

Oh, welcome to the forum!

 

This sounds good, same here.

It still has typos and needs technical fixes, punctuation etc.

Just finished the last chapter today and i have a beta reader 75% through... moving along..

Good thread by the way.

 

I'm struggling with taking scenes I like and making them truly original. That is my big problem, it's slowing down the writing process. Typically I've been writing non-specific scenes to get something to come out, then trying to plan a chapter or two ahead. I'm only at the fourth chapter in planning. It's just a case of good old sloth for me.

 

@ValkyrieMist, go to the Submission Grinder, which is 10 times better than Duotrope ever was, and 100 times better than the Writers market. If you're just starting out, search for the non-paying venues for the genre you're writing in and start reading those sites to see what you have to beat. I mention the non-paying because they are probably your best bet. One of them, 365Tomorrows, pubd my first SF story, and everyday the site puts up another good story, all flash fiction. Tons of great ideas, and the forums are worth reading and joining. A lot of places are kind enough to offer feedback too. And subscribe where you can so they can keep going.

As for perfection, screw it, and I say that as a perfectionist. Make a story the best you can and send it out. If it's rejected, use the distance time has created to consider how to revise it, do so, and send it out again. Don't stop. My rule is, after a rejection a story has to go out within 24 hours if it's not being retired or revised or if I'm not waiting for a market to open up. This will force you to plan ahead what markets you'll send a story too (have 3 lined up at a time), which will also force you to examine those markets to see what they publish as well as how your stuff stacks up.

I would also recommend reading the venues that are SFWA qualifiers so you know what you'll ultimately have to beat. For instance, I read the Daily Science Fiction story every day when I get on the train before I start writing during the rest of the trip.

We are in the golden age of flash fiction. Anyone can write a 750-1000 word short story in a week. Keep churning them out while you work on longer stuff, whether it's a novel or just a longer story. As Bradbury said, Write a story a week because over the course of a year that'll give you 52 stories, and no one can write 52 bad stories in a row.

 

I can't finish anything and I feel like I have all the time in the world.

I also don't know what kind of fantasy I want to write as all of them appeal to me in some way.

 

I haven't published yet because I didn't get serious about writing until last year. Then I met someone with the same interests as me and peer pressure led me to NaNo. Now I suppose you could say that I'm not published yet because I'm planning on finishing a trilogy, an epic story that's been gnawing at me for the last seven or so years.

I also never seemed finished anything...until I finished the first draft of my first book. Then I thought I might as well see this thing to the end since it's such a joy to work on.

 

I'm liking this thread. I like that it's about honesty, but that it's also about bringing us to our own goals - it's important to remember that being trad-published isn't necessarily what we need to be aiming for as writers (though it's what I'm aiming for).

I'm not published because (taking the feedback from agents here) my first novel isn't "breakout" material (doesn't hit enough high points, doesn't do enough or do it fast and exciting), and it has some thematic concerns (specifically, straying a little close to white-saviour). And I haven't finished a second yet, but I'm nearly there!

 

@gavintonks, do you have any resources for where you can find critters to submit to?

But the most important thing I would like to say here: READ THE WAR OF ART

http://philosophersnotes-samples.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/the-war-of-art.pdf

I read it and not only is it well written, it resonated with me. Its message is twofold: you need to work hard and everything that keeps you from doing that is a part of Resistance, which you need to conquer every day.

I know I'm still at the start of my journey, but this book, I think it's going to be gold for me for many years. I want to use its message to build myself up as a writer, as a professional. Because the book talks about being a professional extensively, about what it means and what it takes. And in the end:

 

The best way I can understand it, is that I tend to consider the act of submission a treat in itself. Even if (possibly for good reason) my work ends up rejected.

There are a lot of short stories I end up trunking, because as a perfectionist I find my work often not matching what I see in my head, compared to what's actually written. Because at that point I'm interpreting it differently, possibly how a reader would be interpreting it.

So like if I write twenty stories, I might only submit three.

 

I have been writing for five years straight now (that's freshman year of high school for me), and I've finished the third draft of my series' first book. I'm reading to print it off and start editing. I... really hope that the golden glow of the publishing process (which I only ever read and spoken about) is finally in range. I've been planning to publish this series unknowingly since I finished the first book in 2010. Now... I'm on the final stretch. I see the light, but I'm terrified of the rocks between me and it. I want to make sure everything is perfect.

That's why I'm not published yet. I know my children aren't ready yet. They just weren't ready for the big world. But now, one of them might be. Almost. This next year... 2015... It is so full of possibilities. I'm terrified of this unknown. But my natural instinct of a writer is curiosity. There is no way I could turn back and return to the Shire now. I'm going to walk into this mist and see what is to become of this journey. It's scary, but also exciting.

*deep breath* I'm ready.