Rejection and NEW STUFF (Accountabilibuddies)

Fuchsia Groan

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What slows me down is that every month or so (maybe 2) I end up pulled away from that book to tweak the first one. This has been happening for ages, and I'm just so ready to *concentrate on one book* for more than a couple months in one go. But. . .we'll be on submission, so who knows?

This is pretty much my situation. For the past nearly two years, I've been writing Book 3 in between new drafts of Book 2, which is effectively on exclusive sub now. So, FINALLY, I'm drafting the end of Book 3. I have no illusions about being "done," but I'm so happy just to get the ideas on paper at last.

Re: being on sub, even though Book 1 sold fast, I had a long wait before we started edits — enough time to write another book (I did write, but sadly it was more like pieces of other nonfunctional books). I know someone who had to start edits right after their sale, so I guess it varies, but more waiting seems pretty common.

I don't do word count goals, not sure why. I give myself daily tasks, like drafting a particular chapter or revising to page x. Maybe because YA books are short, and chopping words can be as hard as adding them.
 

ShouldBeWriting

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Twitter writing party sounds like another cool thing I have no idea about. :) Maybe I’ll add my twitter signature and actually start tweeting tomorrow... after I reach my daily goal of course. I did just follow you, though.
 

ShouldBeWriting

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Closed out August with 12,616 words, which averages only 407 words a day... so if I’m going to meet my goal I’m going to need to step it up in September. But at least that’s 12,616 words of a novel I hadn’t started back at the end of July. Let the new (productive) month begin!
 

Isobel

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Starting actually plotting new book today! Which for me usually means writing different snippets of dialogue before I figure out how they fit together. My goal is to spend an hour a day on this new book -- and less time obsessively editing the previous one. Thanks for doing this Polishmuse -- having a formal goal helps.
 

polishmuse

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Yay Isobel!

I've written both days this month so far, at least 500 words. I'm a few hundred words shy of 10k on this MS (1/2 of that was old, 1/2 from the last few weeks), so I'm hoping to keep chugging along. I'm starting to get excited about it and thinking about it when I'm away from the work, so that's the best sign.
 

RaggyCat

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Yay, Isobel! That's not a way I've come across of starting before, so that's really interesting to hear.

You're doing really well, Polish, putting those short bursts of time to good use!

My plan: by the end of tomorrow I want to have finished my revisions on old MS. This should be possible as I only have RaggyKitten #2 tomorrow as Toddler is in nursery. After that, I want to plan this new book properly (it's partially planned already) and then perhaps join you on getting words down by the end of the week.
 

januarycomet

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I'm so impressed by you guys!!! go go!

I'm coming for you, don't worry. I just worked 55 hours last week and while most people have a nice 3-day weekend here I only had a 1 day weekend. My brain is totally fried. Hoping to bounce back this week though!
 

ShouldBeWriting

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I'm so impressed by you guys!!! go go!

I'm coming for you, don't worry. I just worked 55 hours last week and while most people have a nice 3-day weekend here I only had a 1 day weekend. My brain is totally fried. Hoping to bounce back this week though!

Super impressed you get any writing done at all! I had one of those jobs and two tiny kids, which is why there was a 10-year gap between my three trunked novels and the last one. Having older kids now and a more traditional working schedule is the only reason I’ve been able to find any time at all to write. So all of you who find time to squeeze it in between crazy work hours or baby naps have my complete admiration!!

Amazing job everyone! And thanks again for this thread. It’s the whole reason I carved out writing time yesterday in an otherwise hectic day.
 

ShouldBeWriting

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Made myself go into my office at 11:30 pm last night to write for 30 minutes. Eked out only 215 words, but I kept the streak alive. Plus even if you write only 200 words a day, that’s 6,000 a month. Persistence, right?
 

polishmuse

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Made myself go into my office at 11:30 pm last night to write for 30 minutes. Eked out only 215 words, but I kept the streak alive. Plus even if you write only 200 words a day, that’s 6,000 a month. Persistence, right?

You inspired me to sit down for 30 minutes tonight. I'm about to start at the top of the hour. I'm SO exhausted, but you're right. Thank you for pushing me!
 

ShouldBeWriting

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You inspired me to sit down for 30 minutes tonight. I'm about to start at the top of the hour. I'm SO exhausted, but you're right. Thank you for pushing me!

Thank YOU for starting this thread. :) I admit I had a zero words day yesterday. But I’m not even feeling guilty because I did other writing related stuff. (Ok, maybe a tad guilty.) Happy writing everyone!
 

RaggyCat

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Just looked at the spreadsheet and you guys are doing so well! It's super tough to claw time sometimes. I have had a tough week with the Raggy Kitten and the only real time I've had is in the evenings when, guess what, I'm tired... I think I need to break this revising down into chunks to make the best use of time otherwise it's just overwhelming. When I only get tiny, tired snatches I default to "THIS BOOK IS BAD" T_T rather than "I CAN FIX THIS!"
 

polishmuse

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Just looked at the spreadsheet and you guys are doing so well! It's super tough to claw time sometimes. I have had a tough week with the Raggy Kitten and the only real time I've had is in the evenings when, guess what, I'm tired... "
I feel this in my bones. This week was so hard between little muse stuff and day job. I'm going to claw some words out today come hell or high water (and somehow before my folks come into town). Let's do this thing, friends.
 

Jeneral

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I'm going to do my best to get some words down this weekend!
 

ShouldBeWriting

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My agent told me today it’s going to be a couple more weeks until he gets to reread my book... so I wrote 1,366 words. Got to do something with that nervous energy. Of course, that follows two days of nada. But we all know writing is a long game, right? ... a really, really loooong game. Here’s a round of applause for all of us. :applause:
 

Jeneral

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It's the longest of long games. At least you got a timeframe as to when he'll get to it? It always helps me to at least have some idea of when I might hear back.
 

Atlantic12

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Round of applause to everyone writing today. I'm taking the day off to shovel the kid's rooms and get other stuff done I neglect when I'm editing. Back to work tomorrow...

I was just thinking, shouldn't this thread be called "On submission and new stuff" instead of Rejection...? Just a shift in focus.
 

RaggyCat

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I feel this in my bones. This week was so hard between little muse stuff and day job. I'm going to claw some words out today come hell or high water (and somehow before my folks come into town). Let's do this thing, friends.

Power to you! *thumbs up* You've been doing really well to claw the words out despite everything. It all mounts up. And even if they are not great words, you can edit the hell out of them later.

I was just thinking, shouldn't this thread be called "On submission and new stuff" instead of Rejection...? Just a shift in focus.

Probably not, as this isn't exclusively for those on sub - I'm not, for instance.
 

polishmuse

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Not everyone's on sub, but we're all getting kicked down by rejection of one flavor or another. Ain't that the writing life in a nutshell? Ironically, I think I'll get more writing done this week than I can on weekends. This one was fun with the fam, but looking forward to getting everyone OUT of my personal space for a few hours tomorrow.
 

Jjanejayne

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Finally got some encouragement. I did pitmad at twitter last week. Got several requests for a synopsis and the first ten pages. Doing another pitchfest this week. Hoping for more requests. Just having some bonafide agents say they like my concept, has been extremely gratifying. I'm feeling much better about the whole thing, now.
 

RaggyCat

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Not everyone's on sub, but we're all getting kicked down by rejection of one flavor or another. Ain't that the writing life in a nutshell? Ironically, I think I'll get more writing done this week than I can on weekends. This one was fun with the fam, but looking forward to getting everyone OUT of my personal space for a few hours tomorrow.

Yeah, weekends are hit and miss with me too - I did plenty of useful stuff this weekend but it was of the life necessity variety rather than writing. I don't feel bad though. Friday was a pretty good day so made up for it, and tomorrow ought to be good too. Really hoping I can finish these edits then.
 

Atlantic12

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Finally got some encouragement. I did pitmad at twitter last week. Got several requests for a synopsis and the first ten pages. Doing another pitchfest this week. Hoping for more requests. Just having some bonafide agents say they like my concept, has been extremely gratifying. I'm feeling much better about the whole thing, now.

Very encouraging! It's really exciting when your story can pique agents' interest. It's so hard to get your foot in the door, but it sounds like you're doing it.
 

polishmuse

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Wooo! Should be getting notes on my finished project back from editor friend tomorrow to polish up for agent by the end of the month, so I'll be switching my goal to some hard and fast revision! I really do want to get it finalized this month, so (rolls up sleeves)