June 28, 2015

Stay Focused, Be Accountable

Issue #16 July 2015

Accountability

Last quarter I discussed the importance of monitoring and adjusting our activities according to their value in accomplishing our goals. Remember those goals must be SPECIFIC and MEASUREABLE. Well, ACCOUNTABILITY is another aspect of achieving goals. That’s one of the reasons being part of a writers’ group is so important. As working authors just starting out, we need to be accountable for our production to someone else. We will frequently let ourselves down, feeling like we’re the only one who knows. After all, family responsibilities come first. Right? You’re aging mother needs to have a shopping outing or needs help setting up for the neighborhood yard sale. Your niece’s baby is having his first birthday party out of town. All of these are truly more important than writing. Yet it’s what we do with the time in between these acts of loving kindness and the 8-hour job that can make the difference. How much time do we spent watching television when we could have been writing? Each of us CHOOSES how to spend our down time and, even accounting for those times we’re exhausted, there are still many hours of the day we waste on trivial activities when we should be reading good stories and writing them. That’s one of the reasons I write this blog. I am accountable to my readers. It makes me FOCUS on the goals I’ve achieved, as well as those I’ve missed.
With that in mind, I report my accomplishments and my lack thereof to you, as well as to myself. There are some goals I’ve achieved in this past quarter and some I haven’t. I write them down and add them up to help me focus on them and report them to you to keep me accountable. Here’s what I’ve accomplished since the April edition of Prodigal Writer:
NEW STORIES
      No new stories written, but TWO STORIES SUBMITTED in April to The Three Penny Review and AE SciFi, plus I applied for a blogging position to this magazine.
NOVELS
Long Winters Night
     Edit Chapters – I spent 42.5 hours in June editing and I’ve completed a thorough editing of this novel
     Book Cover Drafts
     Synopsis (as per editing)
     Find Agent
Icy Deeds at Dawn
     Write 2,000 words
     Edit
MARKETING
     Facebook Entries Weekly
     Website (get-rebuild)
     Research & Learning
     Local Contacts Acquired
BLOGS
     The Prodigal Writer (2,000) - Wrote the July issue and uploaded it
     Writers Group (500)
     Must Read (500-1000)
          Read – reading Shift in the Silo Series by Hugh Howey in May and June
          Write Review - wrote and submitted a review for Wool – Casting Off by Hugh Howey in June
As you can see, I’ve missed several of my goals over the last quarter, but I’ve also accomplished some large goals. My focus was on getting my rewrite and editing finished for A Long Winter’s Night. I’ve investigated several editorial services and learned that the cost for a professional editor is out of my price range for now. So for the upcoming quarter I’ll be focusing on 1) creating a better book cover, 2) launching the book, 3) writing the second novel in the series, Icy Deeds at Dawn, 4) searching for an agent and 5) getting my website rebuilt. Since my budget is limited, I will probably need to go a more traditional publishing route. I just need to get an agent’s attention with a proven track record. Since I am ACCOUNTABLE to you, as well as myself, I’ll report my progress in the next issue.
I’d love to hear from you, too. Tell me your writing goals and accomplishments so we can be ACCOUNTABLE to one another, keep each other motivated and celebrate each other’s successes. Speaking of which, I hope you accepted last quarter’s writing challenge and are ready to accept the next challenge below.

Writing Challenge #16: Dialogue Delight

I was looking over some of the upcoming writing contest and realized that one of the most interesting is the Bartleby Snopes Contest (listed below). It’s quite a challenge, so let’s take it on! I have only read a story composed entirely of dialogue once. I remember that you could only tell who the characters were by what they said. No “he said, she said” tags can come into play. It is a challenge to create characters, make the plot move and not confuse your reader all at once. Write you story and share it with the writers’ group via email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. Let us help you edit it before the September 15th deadline.


Venues for Writing

I haven’t gotten this list on Google Docs yet. I’ll let you know when I do.


Contests

BARTLEBY SNOPES CONTEST

From Funds for Writers June 12, 2015 Issue

 
Magazines

AE SCIFI
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count:  500-3,000
Compensation: $0.07 per word
Deadline:
Special Instructions:  E-mail submissions only; Subject Line:  “INT Sub: ‘Story Title’ (word count, words); Cover Letter; Include your name, byline (if different); Brief Bio (50 words)

AE welcomes submissions from both established and emerging authors. We publish exclusively science fiction, though our interpretation of the genre can be quite inclusive. We are not soliciting poetry or screenplays at this time.
THE THREEPENNY REVIEW
Genre:
Critical Article
Stories or Memoirs
Table Talk
Poetry
Word Count:
1,200-2,500
4,000 or less
1,000
100 lines or less
Compensation:
$400
$400
$200
$200
Deadline:
Open Reading January through June
NOTE:
No submissions are read or accepted between July and December.
No simultaneous submissions. No previously published submissions.
Submit ONLY one story or article or five poems.
Responds within two months.
The Threepenny Review is a quarterly, international magazine which buys first serial rights in our print and digital editions, and the copyright then reverts to the author immediately upon publication.



Since my website, www.skepticalreader.com, is still down, you can still receive feedback on your work from our writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner by submitting your story within the body of an email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this causes you.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

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