The W1S1 Check-in and Chill Lounge and Bar

Lost in SYW

Hi!

It seems a lot of questions are asked here, a lounge setting. I'm new in SYW area. What I first want to do is for find the area where the stories or excerpts are posted, and hopefully they are in order of genre. What I've found so far is a sea of different threads that relate to writing etc. and a few threads of writers posting their works for crit, yet no organized area. I want to read and comment on some of the submissions as was advised best to do first at the Newbie thread. It was a thread dated in 2007 I later noticed! Any input is appreciated.

With Kindest Regards,
Winfred

I'm thinking probably, that even though the site says "inquire after 30 days," if some of those days were over the holidays, I should give them about a week's grace?

At The Grinder, now:

"Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."

BUT HOW. WILL I OBSESS. ABOUT MY SUBMISSIONS.

zanzjan said:

Yeah. In my experience, December is pretty much a dead zone in much of the publishing world.

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All of December? Wow. Yeah, I'll definitely hold off for now, though today is the 30th day for that sub.

Ty Schalter said:

At The Grinder, now:

"Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."

BUT HOW. WILL I OBSESS. ABOUT MY SUBMISSIONS.

Click to expand...

It was down for a while yesterday too. I hope everything's okay...

Though it seems to be back up for now.

W1S1 has been pretty quiet lately. How is everybody going?

I have really failed on the writing and the subbing this year so far. Only have one piece out currently, at lakeside circus at 55 days.

DarkSong:

I've been working on a novel. Got 62.5% of it drafted (going by scene count) and am trying to wrap up the draft by the end of the month. I am currently living in Asia, and the 4-day weekend for Chinese New Year is approaching, so I should have some time then.

As for shorts, I've drafted one and hope to finish another by month's end. Currently have 8 out on submission to various venues. Also recently had an acceptance to 'Schoolbooks & Sorcery', an anthology.

Finished and subbed my first short of the year!

Nice work AC! Good luck!

I'm getting back into the swing after a very slow year for writing in 2014. I have a few more free hours in my week now.

I'm aiming for 6 stories per school term, 4 flash stories and 2 longer. I've already first-drafted 2 flash stories in the past 2 weeks (at markedly different levels of first-draft quality :/). At some point later in the term, I'll revise and submit (depending on relevant deadlines) with the aim of having all 6 stories on submission by the end of the term.

I'm done (for now) on dithering about the best approach to my writing career. For now, I really just need to get back to writing!!

I'm back into it, too, now that the football offseason's here...

My original plan was to W1S1 hardcore all summer, submission-grind while writing a novel, finish the novel during NaNoWriMo, revise in December and January, and be an active SFWA member with a novel to query.

One year later I've completed seven stories, two novel chapters, and an Old Country Buffet's worth of crow and humble pie.

I've gotten asymptotically closer to making that first pro sale (including a "you got as close as you could get" from Flash Fiction Online), and currently have a piece 82 days post-bump at Apex. I've got a new story I'm working on right now, as well as the novel.

I keep feeling like I've got to make a sale soon or I won't have the motivation to keep going, but somehow I keep going. As always, high hopes.

Peace
Ty

I just got a notice from G0ldfish Gr1mm that I was not rejected, but they're giving my submission back because multiple staff members are having personal issues that are preventing them from editing.

Well, shit.

Hapax Legomenon said:

I just got a notice from G0ldfish Gr1mm that I was not rejected, but they're giving my submission back because multiple staff members are having personal issues that are preventing them from editing.

Well, shit.

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It's good they've managed to do this though. If they didn't return the MS you could be waiting on a no-reply for months/years (depending on how much you wanted the sale).

Hey, hope it's okay to just jump right in?!

I'm going to be trying to do W1S1 but every other month, to end up with 6 submissions by the end of it. I've never submitted anything before, so this is a more realistic goal for me.

Working on a magical realism short story at the moment that I'm hoping will be a good fit at Fireside or ASIM.

Ty Schalter said:

I've gotten asymptotically closer to making that first pro sale (including a "you got as close as you could get" from Flash Fiction Online), and currently have a piece 82 days post-bump at Apex. I've got a new story I'm working on right now, as well as the novel.

I keep feeling like I've got to make a sale soon or I won't have the motivation to keep going, but somehow I keep going. As always, high hopes.

Click to expand...

Hope it starts looking up for you, and you hear positive news back from Apex! Let us know, either way.

Hapax Legomenon said:

I just got a notice from G0ldfish Gr1mm that I was not rejected, but they're giving my submission back because multiple staff members are having personal issues that are preventing them from editing.

Well, shit.

Click to expand...

Sounds frustrating, but I guess at least you know they really liked your work, and it isn't a straight out rejection. I'm sure there are other places that'll take it, in any case.

Yeah, Sara, jump on in! And thanks, will of course keep you guys posted.

Peace
Ty

I'm jumping in too. Was obsessed with trying to do a novel for years. Finally bailed out of that flaming plane crash of a goal. Shorts are much more fun. My goal is to write and sub one every other week. I tried to make up for starting a little late by writing and subbing 3 yesterday.

Can I ask you guys about process? I know the idea behind W1/S1 is consistency, and it used to work well for me when I was starting out. Now, though, I find my stories taking longer and longer. The last two I sold took ages to write: one was more than a year old, and had gone through many many transforming revisions, and the other had been written, abandoned, and then pretty completely revised six months later. The one I'm finishing this week was drafted & abandoned more than a year ago, and it's only now that I've figured out what it's about.

When you guys are W1/S1ing, do you really write an entirely new story in two weeks (or whatever)? Or are you just making sure you finish a story and sub it?

I don't always wind up subbing the thing I've just written. When I was on the weekly schedule I usually wrote one story, edited the one from the previous week and subbed that. But it depends on the story. Some take a long time to get polished the way I like, others come out just the way I want them.

The important thing is to figure out what works for you. And understand that may change over time.

ETA: Some of this depends on the length of the story too. I tend to write mostly novelettes (or bigger) so writing and editing and subbing all in the same week is more challenging. For flash fiction it's easier to got through all the steps in just a few days.

Thanks for the insight into your process, Aggie B. and zanzjan. I think I'm going to commit to one new one out every two months, since that's what I'm on track with already. They'll probably have been first drafted in 2014, but if that's how you write, it's how you write...

I resubbed a story today. Slowly getting back on the horse, I guess.

Hapax Legomenon said:

I resubbed a story today. Slowly getting back on the horse, I guess.

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That's the way to go Hapax, Good luck!



I told myself I'd write a new piece this week, or re-start on an old one, but have failed to do anything.

DarkSongofErrin said:

I told myself I'd write a new piece this week, or re-start on an old one, but have failed to do anything.

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The week is not over yet.

Finished my 2nd story of the month and subbed!