So, how do you celebrate your successes?

I usually just take a day or two off, and possibly get myself something to eat over at a local Elmer's or Denny's.

One of these days I want to take my parents and some of my friends out to eat, but that will have to wait until I actually get an advance check in the mail.

Denny's?????

What do you do when you want to punish yourself, Ian?

You know what, I don't really celebrate when I finish something or sell something. I'm happy and I tell everyone I can, lol. Maybe I should, lol. That would make life a bit more fun.

Dinner out with a loved one does sound nice though. Buy yourself something you've been putting off for a while, if you can afford it. 9600 words is a good sized accomplishment! Good for you!

Congrats on your accomplishment!

I reward myself by starting something new. *snort*

I lean back, wipe sweat from the back of my neck. Just before losing consciousness I'll say, "next time, I'll make sure to be way ahead of deadline..."

I try not to play video games since they can be such a great time sink hole with little to show for it. However, when I hit a milestone, like a week's solid work on a story, several thousand words or more, I'll give myself a few hours to play a game of Civilization3.

Harmlessly decadent.

There must be something that qualifies for you.

Look into the mirror and gush, "Gosh darn it, I'm so worthy."

Chocolate and a trip to somewhere nice (Big Sur?). Or, I might go out and buy a bunch of novels I want to read and spend a day in bed reading.

greglondon said:

I'll give myself a few hours to play a game of Civilization3.

Click to expand...

I played that game. Started one evening, gave myself a few hours, when I next looked at the time it was 8 o'clock in the morning.


I don't celebrate. I will have a cup of tea and relax for a very short time.

Hell, yeah. I am a real party animal.

I'll celebrate when I get a book deal. When that happens, I'll resurrect this thread and let you know!

Well, I haven't sold anything, but when I finished one novel, I had a big glass of red wine. After another it was a cold beer. Hmmm...looks like I mark the end of a project with alcohol. Fitting, no?

Dunno how I'll celebrate a sale. Cartwheels across the room, maybe.

ShapeSphere said:

I played that game. Started one evening, gave myself a few hours, when I next looked at the time it was 8 o'clock in the morning.

Click to expand...

Yeah, default settings can do that. I've figured out a number of options you can select so that you can start and finish a game in maybe three hours. "Tiny" map (that's the name of the option), 80% oceans, PANGAE (one continuous piece of land), and then select "accelerated production" before you start the game. You should be able to win in a single evening.

I have one flash story finished, two short stories getting closer and closer to completion, and a novel that needs to complete the road to the climax. Once I have one story finished and revised, it will be my first official submission.

If I do manage sell a story in the near future, I will A) start babbling like an idiot and faint out of joy, B) laugh like a maniac if I managed to sell one of my quirkier stories to an editor who understands my warped sense of humor, C) cheer and write an entry in a little "Success" file that shows that I'm not completely hopeless, D) start wondering what I'll do with the damn check while asking whether they overestimated on the pay rate, or E) do a wild combination of the above, and hit my head while doing it.

Now as for the novel, if I somehow managed to get a cool agent who can find me a cool editor who loves my back and publisher who will take it, I might lose my mind.

I will reward myself when I get the novel finished, at least to the point where I have an ending and still need to revise.

chaostitan said:

Well, I haven't sold anything, but when I finished one novel, I had a big glass of red wine. After another it was a cold beer. Hmmm...looks like I mark the end of a project with alcohol. Fitting, no?

Dunno how I'll celebrate a sale. Cartwheels across the room, maybe.

Click to expand...

Really? *eyes the hallway and tiny living room dubiously

Well, let me know first so I can get the breakables out of the way. Maybe hide the cats and give the Rescue Squad a heads up...

Wine is good. I spent most of the evening after the first finish in a fog, not really believing the book was done.

I rest on my laurels. Lately, I like to treat myself to breakfast at my favorite coffeehouse (no, not THAT one) & let the nice young ladies wait on me while I either read or eavesdrop on everyone else, & then start my next story/chapter/whatever in longhand all in a comfy wing chair.

I look at the pile of Things Waiting To Be Written, I make myself a new pot of tea (I use the bathroom, which is a direct result of said pot of tea) and then I get back to work.

Celebrating is for the weak.

Barring that, it's for the more-caught-up...