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!