Rejection and NEW STUFF (Accountabilibuddies)

When I first started submitting my writing in January 2017, I had a goal to make five short story sales, acceptances, or contest wins, and then I would work on one of my three novels to whip it into shape and start sending it out to agents. Well, I'm pleased to say I've made my fifth short story sale! To the last anthology of a three-anthology series that also featured many big-name SF/Fantasy writers like David Brin, Vonda McIntyre, and Jane Yolen. I am chuffed!

Wow, that's AWESOME!! Go you!!

Cobalt, that's exceptional! You should be nothing but chuffed! Congratulations!

Hey, everyone, is there still a spreadsheet available for this thread? The two links I checked from earlier in the thread didn't appear updated, but I could've missed something. I'd like to set myself some goals.

Hi guys! This thread has gone a little dead of late... But who is up for reviving the Accountabilibuddies? I'm now at the stage in my new MS where I'd find this genuinely useful to keep me on track. I think it's a shared spreadsheet, so I should be able to update it. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do some goal logging!

I’m up for it!

Welcome back Polish and ShouldBe! I'm doing rubbish this week so far, though Tuesday was OK. Having said that, I think this week and next are likely to be unusually non-productive ones writingwise due to it being the festive season, so I'm not gonna beat myself up. My MS is very much in my head, at least.

Right, I'm getting on this writing thing again! I did my hour yesterday and hopefully I can carry on with that today. I'm not finding writing the new book amazingly satisfying so far - I've written 22,000 words (or thereabouts) but most of that is different versions of chapters 1 and 2. I think I'm confident enough of my plot, and what this book actually is, but the problem I have right now is with the MC. She's just not coming across as very interesting, and kind of gets lost in an action-packed start. Bleurgh. Anyone have any tips on sorting this out?

polishmuse said:

Nice Raggy!
For me, I work out the "interesting" stuff in draft two. I slog through the plot for draft one without editing AT ALL, then go back and actually get to really know my character. By then, I know more about where she's heading, so I know what kinds of quirks would be a challenge or benefit for her.

Click to expand...

You know what, for the way I prefer to write (splurge, worry about editing later) I actually think that's great advice. I know what I want my MC to be like *in theory* but she's not translating to the page well right now, probably because she's not a big personality like the other characters.

I turned in my edits last weekend, then took some time to read, rest my brain and catch up on my to-do list. But I’m jumping back into the WIP today or tomorrow. Since I haven’t even looked at it since mid-November, I know it’s going to be jarring going from polished seventh draft to really rough first. Wish me luck.

Good stuff, ShouldBe! And yep, jumping from polished to first draft is rough, but the gap you've had will be really useful when it comes to improving what you've got.

I tried to jump in with writing a couple of days ago and I was like “What the heck is happening here?!” So I need to skim the first 40,000 words and resist the urge to edit any of those. Must. Stay. Strong. This thread helps with that.

Must. Stay. Strong! I'm sure you're up for it, ShouldBe. If you've 40k down I bet the quality gets better in the second half. The start is always the most wobbly bit, and the creator of plotholes/problems.

I've had a really good day writing so far, actually - now I'm on chapter 4/5 I'm enjoying writing far more. I tried a weird trick I read about on Twitter - changing my font to Comic Sans! Apparently there's a theory it helps productivity. Seems to be working so far.

Stay strong, ShouldBe! Though there's nothing wrong with making notes on that draft while you're reading it, so you'll have a head start when it's time to go back and edit for real.

I've heard about the Comic Sans thing, and it makes sense. I think for the same reason that sometimes I can write forever in Google Docs instead of in the "real" MS... I think taking that pressure off and tricking the brain that it's not the "real" writing can loosen things up.

As for me, I'll be jumping back into the WIP this weekend. So far behind, so much to write!

Raggycat, you’re right... I read the whole thing in one sitting last night, and the writing does get better. The plotting on the other hand...

I’m making today a structure day. I’ve always had the first half and last fifth or so firmly in my head, and it hasn’t deviated much from the outline. (My last book, in contrast, had a mind of its own.) I think once I nail down an important complication involving backstory, the rest will flow. Kinda like unclogging a sink.

Jeneral, good luck on jumping back in. Here’s hoping everyone has a productive weekend, whatever that looks like. (For me, I’ll just be glad if I settle on that complication.)

I know that Comic Sans was developed to be friendly to people who struggled with reading so perhaps that's part of it. I agree that it doesn't feel like "proper" writing when it's in Comic Sans. Anything that helps trick the mind is good, says I!

Good luck on your WIP, Jeneral. I bet by the end of the weekend you'll have it nicely back in your head again.

ShouldBe, I'm a structure person, and by far the most helpful thing I've found is to plot out with Post-It notes, writing plot points I know need to happen, and then filling in the gaps as I go. Somehow, being able to see an overview all in one place rather than mapping it out on a screen really helps me.

Somehow I've splurged out 5k today :-D

That’s amazing!!! I think I’ve had maybe one writing day ever where I wrote that many words.

Thank you! I don't claim they're good words (they aren't) but it's always easier when you have words there you can then play about with.

Wrote a few hundred of the most painful words I’ve ever written yesterday, and it took two hours. But this morning, it was a little easier. Just have to stick with it until it’s not such a slog, right? Hope everyone had a productive weekend.

Well done for getting those words down, ShouldBe! It will gradually get easier until you're enjoying yourself again and are in full flow.

I did nothing on Saturday but had good runs on Sunday and Monday. I'm stockpiling words at the moment so I can get a better feeling for the book and I'm enjoying it. The quality of the writing is shocking but I'm not going to worry about that at the moment. Uninteresting MC is becoming clearer in my mind, too.

Well done for bashing the words out, Polish! It's not easy when you feel so poorly, and so tempting to cave in and do nothing. I hope you get better soon!

I had a good day writing, but not as good as I'd have liked, given the toddler was in nursery all day. There's a point I'm aiming to get to and then have a pause and go back and iron out the writing a little before writing the rest. I'm hoping to get to that point quite soon, and then I'll show the beginning to my mum, who is excellent at giving early feedback.