Procrasti-planning is a thing. Spend all your time planning and never write.
I got the rights back. I emailed the publisher directly, even after I got the email saying it was being taken off the market and that rights would revert back to me. So I've got in writing a couple of times over.(All of this is presuming you got your rights back) Agents probably not but there are small presses that do reprints - Rowan Prose Publishing is the one I know for sure but there are a handful out there. You can also self publish it. I hope you find a home for it!
I did a couple of tweaks to my fantasy novel, just two lines to add some depth and close a loop, but then I spent three hours doing comics for Unhinged Pit, which was way too fun and probably not a great use of my time. But it was FUN.
I can't decide how much worldbuilding I should do before I start writing (scifi). I've known myself to get bogged in worldbuilding in the past, but I feel almost like I'm overcorrecting this time, shying away from it. I am not without ideas and some loose notes about it, but I have trouble doing things halfway, and so keep backing off from dedicating time to actually lay some stuff down concretely.
Looking for suggestions on the matter has been a mixed bag, too. Most seem geared towards a very all-in approach.
Not quite a space opera, no. Something a little humbler in scope. Is spacefaring, though, and potentially interplanetary, thus the hiccup.No, go all out. Pick one or two world/universe-shaping technologies, and then just create a setting that makes sense for them. If you need more worldbuilding, you could add it afterward. It's also a good test for how much worldbuilding you actually need.
Although if you're writing an epic space opera, that might be a lot of afterward stuff. So don't write one of those. Well, unless somebody is holding a raygun to your head. Or blaster, depending on your worldbuilding.
I just doodled them for the contest.I would love to write comics! Do you write webcomics? For a monthly series? Tell me about this Unhinged Pit, pplease.
Either way, writing starts by Sept 1, come hell or high water.
Realistically, I need a little more percolating on the character front. The set date is just a bulwark against prep becoming prepcrastination. Oh, and character names. Desperately need those.Meaning you could start tonight?
I look through the wrong lens way too often, without realising it. Good that you can see that might be a reason! I'm working with character development as well where Agent 2 took an unexpected turn into being reasonable in the sequel, so now adjusting the first book so the change isn't too jarring...I've been thinking about my FMC's development over the course of the story. I think I messed it up. She does change, but not in a way I expected or wanted. I like it when characters take on a life of their own, but in this case I'm not sure how much of how she changes is organic with the character and how much is me lazily slipping back into old habits.
It's been a bad couple of days, so I may be looking at it through the lens of "I can't write, I'm a terrible writer, everything's useless, I never learn." Or maybe it's a valid observation that I'm blowing out of proportion.
I need to rewrite a scene and I'm afraid. The scene has bothered me from the start, so I think it's good, but it's daunting, because I don't know if the new idea will work when it's on paper, or how to solve the next scene once this is done...
Darn, did you have to go and be all reasonable?Well, there is only one way to find out. And if it doesn't work at first, at least you'll have it on paper and can figure out from there how/whether you can make it work. And if it ultimately doesn't work at all, at least you'll know and can move on to the next idea with what you've learned. The only way you can really fail to learn anything/make progress at this point is by not trying.
A common problem, I understand. Also for artists, I've read about painters who spend weeks adding a little bit here and covering a little bit there. Maybe it's a learnable skill: How to say "good enough" and let it go. What's the cliche? Don't let perfect be the enemy of good?I can't. Stop. Touching my ms.
I've got everything ready to send queries out today. I'm reading over the pages that will go out with them to make sure there isn't anything stupid lurking in there. And I keep seeing places where I can tweak, improve, this sentence could be clearer, oops I used the word "herself" twice in a paragraph, if I moved this action beat down to the next line of dialogue it flows better, and there's a stupid typo that crept in during my last round of edits.
(The latter is especially mortifying as the ms is already in the hands of one agent-friend. I know there are more in there. At least sending the queries out will buy me a little time to find and fix the rest of them before any requests might come.)
You guys. This is dumb.
![]()
This is how I feel about a big chunk of my book! But if there's something that's been bothering you for so long, there's usually a good reason, and rewriting -- even if it doesn't solve it entirely -- will likely spark some new thoughts.I need to rewrite a scene and I'm afraid. The scene has bothered me from the start, so I think it's good, but it's daunting, because I don't know if the new idea will work when it's on paper, or how to solve the next scene once this is done...
Yeah, I feel that way too - and considering how I sat and angsted about it last night, staring at the text, I think I'm also freaking myself out way more than the rewrite deserves...This is how I feel about a big chunk of my book! But if there's something that's been bothering you for so long, there's usually a good reason, and rewriting -- even if it doesn't solve it entirely -- will likely spark some new thoughts.
It's always daunting but seeing the eventual improvement will be worth it!
It's perfectly normal and honestly never stops! When you find yourself making only a few tweaks, or when the changes are getting really small and inconsequential, it's time to let it go.I can't. Stop. Touching my ms.
I've got everything ready to send queries out today. I'm reading over the pages that will go out with them to make sure there isn't anything stupid lurking in there. And I keep seeing places where I can tweak, improve, this sentence could be clearer, oops I used the word "herself" twice in a paragraph, if I moved this action beat down to the next line of dialogue it flows better, and there's a stupid typo that crept in during my last round of edits.
(The latter is especially mortifying as the ms is already in the hands of one agent-friend. I know there are more in there. At least sending the queries out will buy me a little time to find and fix the rest of them before any requests might come.)
You guys. This is dumb.
![]()
True story: I keep my main manuscript (written in 1st person) on Scrivener, but I was experimenting with 3rd person in a separate word doc. The other day, I was about to send the opening chapter in both voices to my agent. I wrote the email, and before I clicked send, I decided to relook at my pages again. I decided to move a certain line to a new paragraph in my 1st person pages. So I added a paragraph break, and then I compiled the file again (for those who don't use Scrivener, that means exporting into a word doc). And in doing so, I STUPIDLY SAVED IT OVER MY OTHER WORD DOC -- the one written in 3rd person, which I stupidly never backed up because it was an experiment file.I could do the same thing indefinitely. Move this line farther down the paragraph, put it back, change someone's eye color, change someone's name...
oops I used the word "herself" twice in a paragraph,
there's a stupid typo that crept in during my last round of edits.
If it is, then nearly every writer I know is dumb.You guys. This is dumb.
![]()