This will probably get annoying quickly, but I really wanted to do something different this month.
S is for September, the ninth month of the year. It is also the month that both I and my wife celebrate our birthdays. A few other family members have birthdays in September, so my weekends were booked up with hosting and attending parties. Which leads to . . .
S is for Soirées, of which there were many. It was hard to find free time on the weekends to focus and write. I squeezed some time in, and of course I always have my trusty notebook with me. But my weekday productivity changed as well because . . .
S is for School, that resumed this month. Returning to my routine – albeit with a commute which suddenly is a source of aggravation – and seeing students again. It’s nice to be back, but it also means that my free time comes in bursts, often when I am not expecting it. So I travel prepared, no matter where I’m headed, and try to make progress in anything I am working on.
S is for Stubborn, which (as many can attest) I am. Despite not achieving as much in the two summer months as I wanted, I still believe that I can reach some of my goals. Setbacks will happen and I have learned to keep moving forward. I am still sending out queries to agents, always keeping five active. I’ve gotten an assortment of form rejections and I have a feeling none of them are actually reading my sample because I know it is good. I am working on plan B for that goal. But I have other objectives for this year . . .
S is for Submissions, of which I sent three. I’ve been staring at goal number 5 all year, and though I tried a couple of long-shot submissions (which were rejected) I have not put much effort into getting that goal crossed off. So I sat down, made some decisions, and fired off a trio of submissions. One is for an anthology, one is an online magazine, and one is a very story-oriented magazine with illustrations and a “story of the month” subscription (which is free, by the way). More on that when I hear back from those publishers. Fingers crossed!
S is for Substantial, which describes my writing this month. Yes, I actually got a lot accomplished. To summarize: I whipped up a first draft of my entry for We Suck at Comics Volume 3. Tentatively titled Just One More Thing, its a funny story that weighs a little over eight thousand words. I want to get that number down in editing. I also wrote a short story for my writing group that I am really happy with. It is based on a (supposedly) true story of a photographer, an anonymous visitor, and the question of a hoax. A Simple Photograph is one I am proud of, and in the future I may look for a home for that one. And I really got on a roll with book 2. I finished the longest section and I am closing in on the climax. Still 7 chapters to go and I just hit the 100K mark, so substantial editing is in order. But I feel really good about where I am now, plus I have a massive chunk of dialogue written, and I am just getting to the climactic events with that. So I still think I will achieve that goal. Which leads to . . .
S is for Summary, which is just below. S is also for Sorry, because I made you deal with my crazy idea. Have a great month.
1 – I want finish editing book one of my YA series to the point that I consider it good enough for publication (it probably won’t be, but I want to get it as far as I can take it). Even though I am sending this out into the world now, I am still working on tweaking this book and trimming it down a little.
2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. Rejection sucks, but I continue to hold out hope that one agent will see something promising in my query and give me a shot.
3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. Approaching the home stretch on book 2. I may not have time to do a full round of edits, but I will try.
4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. I have a list of things to research and prep and a firm grip on the story. I am feeling good about this one.
5 – I want to have at least two short stories accepted for publication. See “S is for Submissions” above.