The Race for the New Year

New Years Resolutions, blah, blah blah.  Almost everyone makes them and almost everyone forgets them.  And even those who don't forget them don't follow through with them.  Don't believe me?  What were your goals from last year?  The year before?

And how are you doing on them?

Ah, but I digress.

For the last two or three months I've been making writing goals, and for the most part achieving them.  (I'll probably fall short of the new 30,000 words for this month but there's an outside chance to make that goal if I can stop blogging about it.)

Making goals for next month is nothing new.  But, since it is a new year, let's make something worthwhile.  Something achievable.

I'm entering two races.

Dean Wesley Smith (I mention him a lot here) wrote a long time back about making goals.  Somewhere along the line the goal setting method became known as The Race.  I couldn't dig out the original post of his, but this website references it.
https://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/the-race-an-explanation/

It goes like this.  You get:

• 1 point for every short fiction piece you have submitted to paying markets
• 3 points for every novel synopsis + 3 chapters (to markets, agents don't count)
• 8 points for every complete novel submitted to paying markets (again, agents don't count. Only places that can but the novel)
• As soon as it sells the points come off.  Previously sold pieces that is in the market for other sales (anthologies and so on) count towards the tally

The idea, or one of them, is that the higher number you have, the more you sale.  This is due to two reasons.  1) More chances to sale and 2) The more work you produce, the more practice you get and thus, the better your work should become.

Writers with high numbers (50 and above) tend to make it.  Writers with lower numbers (Mine is currently at 11) tend to not make it.

So what about the e-publishing world?  Dean discussed that sometime back here (courtesy of Amanda McCarter and Annie Bellet):

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=2617

The eRace.  It's similar, but the points don't come off.  You get 

• 1 Point for every short story e-published
• 3 Points for every short story collection e-published (5 or more)
• 5 Points for every novel e-published

The points don't go off so it's possible to have a number in the 1000's.

Oh, and I just read this before publishing this post:

http://amandamccarter.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/race-scores-and-e-publishing/

So you have to get 5 sales in the epub world before it counts towards your eRace total.

One of my goals is to be a successful hybrid writer, publishing in both worlds.

So yeah.  I'd like to complete 2 novels this year and, say 30-50 short stories.  I keep playing with that number.

But how about something more lofty?  This year I will achieve the following:

A Race score of 60.

An eRace score of 40.

I'm not sure how lofty those goals are.  The 60 seems easier, as I haven't put any new e-works out there.  (I guess I currently have a score of 5 in the eRace.  You're welcome to go find and buy those stories, they're out there.  But I wrote them years ago and I'm not happy with them.  I can't bring myself to take them down yet, but eventually I will.  Probably.  I think.)

60 and 50?  Can it be done?  Stay tuned here to find out. I sure hope the answer is yes.

You're Probably Not a Writer

It started with a question on Brian Michael Bendis' tumblr:

The question?  "What advice do you have for someone who has had writer's block for the past 6 or 7 years?"

Think about that for a minute.  Seriously.  Assuming you're not Douglas Adams (and it's safe to assume you're not) then is it possible to be a writer and have writer's block for that long?

Bendis didn't think so.  He said, "this will sound harsh but you're probably not a writer.  writers write every day.  it's ok, not everyone is."  He went on to tell the poster that if he considered himself a writer, he needed to "get back to work!!"  He told him to write.  Fantastic advice.

It's just that easy.  And just that hard.

And tumblr blew up.

See for yourself:
http://brianmichaelbendis.tumblr.com/post/70724241561/what-advice-do-you-have-for-someone-that-has-had

I've been searching for the response that caught my attention and squeezed all the juice out of it.  I finally found a copy of the post at
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/12/23/writer-says-you-have-to-write-to-be-a-writer-tumblr-gets-upset

I wish I could attribute the writer, but I can't find the comment.  It's scary:

"Haven’t written in a year because I work 12s (during which I brainstorm) for 14 days shifts, and have two kids. But I can’t keep a schedule of writing up, and my brain is literally too exhausted to think at the end of my work day, and I’m chasing two kids during my two weeks off, have a house to maintain, and am trying to recover from my schedule.

But make no mistake. I don’t write it on paper or in a word processor every day, but I have whole finished stories written in my head."

Wow.  It's like looking into a cracked mirror where my head points inward on itself.  So many would be writers think like this.  I know that I used to, before I decided to take responsibility for my own success.

Like this response, I had so many great and wonderful stories in my head.  You know where they weren't?  On bookshelves.  Or on the computer.  Or an paper.  Because I wasn't writing, the stories didn't really exist.  And when I finally, FINALLY took the time to write stories, I discovered something.  First, I discovered how difficult it is to take something from the murky depths of a mind and have it resemble the same idea once it's on paper.

Because writing is craft.  I wish I'd asked a similar question and gotten an answer like this years ago.  Maybe I'd have realized, it's ridiculous to claim to be a writer when I don't write.

A few years ago I could have used Bendis' advice.  Or even, Ellis' harsher advice at http://warrenellis.tumblr.com/post/70741678830/what-advice-do-you-have-for-someone-that-has-had

Rejection Made Me Kill The Aunt

I received a very nice rejection letter just before Christmas for a story I'd written just over a month ago. Because of it I killed an aunt.

First things first.  What made the letter so nice?  Three things.  1) It was a personal letter.  2) It stated the reason the story wasn't accepted and 3) The editor was right.

I didn't see the problem when I wrote the story and sent it off.  Basically, the editor said the story didn't get started quickly enough.  The opening paragraph caught her attention, and then it stalled.  Eventually the story picks up, but by that point too many readers will have dropped out.

I follow Heinlein's Rules as much as possible.  Horribly paraphrased, Rule 3 is to not continue rewriting a piece except to editorial demand.  Now, this was a rejection so I can't resubmit the piece to this publisher.  But rather than just sending it elsewhere, I took a closer look.

I spent a good portion of the beginning writing about a character that I really liked.  She's the aunt of the protagonist with a kleptomania problem (but don't worry, she's taking something for it.)  She hates her nephew's uncle and I thought this would add tension to the story.

But she doesn't really do anything.  She's there.  She bickers.  She starts to steal something but is stopped.  Finally, I have her leave the scene she's in so the story can progress.

And that should have had bells going off in my head.  My klepto was stealing story time from everybody else.

This wasn't all that had to be fixed, but the delete key fixed the biggest issue.  And you know what?  I didn't have to write a single word to to explain anything.  Every reference to her, every line of dialogue, all of it worked without her being in it.

And I really liked her.  Maybe Stephen King was right.  "Kill your darlings."

All I Want for Christmas...

If I were to sit on the mall Santa's lap... well I'd be arrested.  Seriously.  I'm afraid the restraining order is pretty specific.

The next best thing is to hope Santa is a reader of this blog.  My readership is up, so I'm thinking there's an outside chance of it.

Here's my list, from 1 - 10, with 1 being "We can definitely make that happen" and 10 being "And I thought you were crazy when you said Santa might read your blog."

1. Continue to improve my writing daily.
2. Continue to increase my daily and weekly word counts.
3. Get a short story published.  Oh, and I mean in a paying market this time.
4. Finish the novel.
5. Finish a second novel .
6. Sell the novels.
7. Write a story that my wife loves.
8. Win a Hugo. (Or a Nebula.  I'm not particular.)
9. Have John Scalzi ask to write an introduction to my first short story collection.
10. Tell John Scalzi, "Sorry, but no.  Neil Gaiman already agreed to do it."

That should do it for now.  My birthday's coming up in just  few months though.

By Writers, For Writers

Some writing quotes, readily available in a google search near you, and why they help:

1. "I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o'clock every morning." William Faulkner

Put another way- the muse is a myth.  William (can I call him William?) reminds me that doing the work brings results.

2. "All through my career I've written 1,000 words a day--even if I've got a hangover. You've got to discipline yourself if you're professional. There's no other way." J.G. Ballard

Again, discipline, consistency and work ethic are the keys.

3. "The writer's duty is to keep on writing." William Styron

Write on!

4. “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow

This is true for any story I think, but especially the novel.  And it gives me hope.

5. "You have to finish things- that's what you learn from, you learn by finishing things." Neil Gaiman

This tidbit, along with the other similar quotes by Neil, is what propelled me to actually finishing the manuscripts that didn't seem to be working.  And, much to my surprise, doing so taught me how to finish stories.

6. Planning to write is not writing. Outlining--researching--talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." E. L. Doctorow

This one hurts.  It's where so many people fail though, or at least that's my perception.  I've spent so much time over the years thinking about it, reading about it, talking about it, even blogging about it and yet... hmm.  I'd better get back to actually doing it now.

Santa and Other Truths: 100 Word Story

Just in time for Christmas, here is another 100 word story I write a few years back.  I’m just egotistical enough to continue implying that the writing has improved since then.  This one still makes me smile though. I hope you enjoy.

Santa and other Truths

Dear Santa,

I didn’t do it.  Okay, I did but let me explain.  You’ll understand.

I pulled my sister’s hair and she cried.  That’s bad, even if she had it coming to her (which she did.)  She said the Tooth Fairy’s fake and that’s a lie.  I know Santa, cause I lost a tooth and she gave me a quarter.

Sister says you’re not real either, that Mommy and Daddy just trick us.  That’s when I punched her.  They wouldn’t lie.  I believe and I’ve been good.

Sincerely,

Billy

P.S.

I’ve got your back, even if you did kiss mommy.

100 word story: FUNeral

A few years ago when I thought I was a writer and hadn't yet figured out that one must write to hold that title, I became fascinated with what was termed flash fiction.  Or micro fiction.  Or any number of other terms.

Today flash fiction typically means a story of 0-100 or 0-500 or 0-1000 words depending on who you ask.  I believe the 1000 word threshold is the more common definition.  And it's far too long.

I had the great pleasure and disadvantage of reading an excellent 100 word story by someone.  I decided, "This is my niche."  By which I meant, "This is my shortcut."  I would write 100 word stories.  I wrote somewhere around 50 of them, which was 50 short of my goal.

I still love them, and when an author makes them work they marvel and astound.

The problem back then is, Of those 50 or so stories I wrote most of them weren't stories.  They may have been nice story ideas, but not a lot more.  Not saying they all stink, but they're not all great and you would have had a hard time convincing me of that back then.

All that to say this, I read through them mining for story ideas.  And I've decided to post some of them here.  Hope you like them.  Bear in mind, this is the writer of about 3 or 4 years ago.  Hopefully I've grown.

This was one of my favorites:

Nathan caused an uproar when he got out of the coffin in the middle of his funeral.  Specifically, he caused three screams and at least one emptied bladder.  We should have known better than to bury him on April Fools Day.

Nathan bowed and politely thanked us all for coming. We were so shocked that we listened as he gave his own eulogy.  Well, everyone listened except the Baptist minister who was still groggy from fainting.  

Nathan cracked himself up so much he started choking and essentially laughed himself to death.  We finished the ceremony closed casket.  Just in case.

Who Needs Sleep?

"Why do you stay up so late and write?"

I won't tell you who asked me that, but I live with her and she's married to me.  That's the only hint you get.

And it's an excellent question, with multiple answers.  I'll tell you the answer I gave her, but first here are some other valid responses:

• It's fun
  
• When it's working, creating stories is better than reading stories
  
• So I don't forget how to do it
  
• Because it's the only way to keep the voices at bay

All those and more would have had truth to them.  But here's the real answer, and the one I gave her:

"It's my job."

I work in Information Technology.  At best I figure I have forty years left before the technology passes me by, or the robots take over.  Without other marketable skills, where would that leave us?

I have to practice.  I have to improve.  I have to write.

In all seriousness, I love writing.  The goal is to be read, and earn enough that I can tell people "I'm a professional writer," without displaying that nervous facial tick I get when I lie.

And the dream?  To eventually make it my primary (only) source of income, and on my own terms.  (My own terms being that it's my decision and not that of the Robot Masters.  May they function forever.)

When It's Good To Wait

Typically, I have two writing projects going on at any given time: a novel and a short story.  For some reason, I tend to finish the shorts quicker than novels.

Here's the great thing about the pace of these 1500-5000 word stories.  I lose track of how many I've written, and where they are submitted.  (That's why God created spreadsheets after all.)

There is a magazine.  Never mind which one.  This particular magazine has a reputation for quick rejections.  A 10 - 30 minute rejection is not unheard of.  A couple of weeks I received a 20 minute rejection.  Yeah, it hurt.  I wept for minutes.  (Except that I didn't.)  So what do you do?  You keep writing and keep submitting.  (See Heinlein's Rules.)

A few days ago I finished a story that seemed to fit again, so I sent it off.  When I did, I discovered in my submission spreadsheet that I had another rejection I'd forgotten from the same magazine.  It lasted a week with them, and had a very nice rejection letter, complete with the specific reason it didn't make the cut.  (For those that don't write, a form rejection is the norm for most markets.)

I say all that to say this.  I checked to see where some of my current submissions were, and saw that this latest story has lasted four days with them.  That doesn't mean it will be accepted for sure, but it feels like I'm getting closer to the mark with this particular magazine.

Sometimes, it's good to wait.

Don't Panic!

I started reading Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman recently and it is a huge relief.  More on that later.

First off, how amazing is it to read a book by one of my favorite authors, about one of my favorite authors?  When I discovered this book existed I felt like I'd drunk a pan galactic gargle blaster.

There are few books I've read more times than all five books of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.  Yes, even "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."  These were the first books that made me want to write.  Douglas Adams made it look so easy, which is ironic in the extreme considering all the stories about his struggles with writer's block and deadlines.

Years ago I felt stunned to discover the books were based off of a television series.  I was more stunned to learn that the tv series was based off of a radio series.  This became my secret shame.

How could I, self professed mega fan, not like the tv series?  I just... didn't.  And if the tv series was that bad, how good could the radio show really be?  (For that matter, how big of a fan was I when I didn't know anything about Adams' involvement with Dr. Who, even brief as it was?)

And in the book, I've learned that Douglas Adams' involvement with the television series was limited.  Oh he was involved, but it wasn't quite his vision was it?

Even better.  I decided to listen to the radio broadcasts.  I'm only up to the Vogan ship scene in the first episode so far, but it is brilliant.  It's like the book only not.

Of course I shouldn't have panicked.  

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Don't+Panic/

If I could give my former self advice

This (paraphrased) question was asked in an online writing community:  If you could go back in time and write a note to yourself on the first day you took up writing, what advice would you give yourself?

Here's my answer, which is a combination of my own thoughts along with the advice from some professional writers that finally got through to me:

Stop looking for shortcuts.  Stop thinking that you are a good writer because of how much you have read.

Write.  Finish what you write.  Word on the things you struggle with.  If you can't figure out how to finish the story, then figure out the next line.  You'll get there.  

You learn to write by writing.  So write.  You learn to finish stories by finishing them.  So finish them.

You can write 250 words in 15 minutes.  To be safe call it 30 minutes.  So if you write for only 30 minutes a day, that's over 90,000 words in a year.  That's a good sized novel.  In some genre's that's a novel and a half.  So if you will write for 30 minutes a day instead of quitting you'd have written 10-15 novels by now.  

According to the law of averages, some of them would have even been good.

So write you fool.  

Work Ethic

There's something to be said for a work ethic when it comes to writing.  And that something is this, "You need one."

I'm tempted to season this post with tons of quotes from famous authors.  It's late though, and I'm about 150 words shy of my daily word count quota.

(Hmm.  What does it say that I'm blogging about work ethic at midnight, when I haven't finished my work yet?  Nothing I hope.  After all, I'm on a break.)

Sometimes I'm convinced that I'm breaking through the walls of creativity and good storytelling, that I'm arriving.  Other times I'm certain that I'm a hack with no future in writing beyond these self delusions.  Both of these attitudes overcome me several times daily.

The attitude I most need to confront is the first.  And I've found the cure for it is to write.  It's been a lousy weekend for writing.  No excuses here, I simply haven't written as much as I needed to.  When that happens, the negative feelings prevail.

So tonight I finally had a chance to get to work.  The temptation to watch something on Netflix, or read, or even sleep nearly won.  But I'd barely written anything today, and most of that was- never mind what most of it was actually.

So I wrote.  It felt good.  It felt right.  I became convinced that I had broken through the walls.. blah.. blah.. blah.

You get better by writing.  Are my short stories and novels getting better?  I hope so.  I think so.  But they never will if I don't have the work ethic.

So keep writing.

Arrow

Just realized an unintended consequence of all this writing. I am severely behind on watching Arrow.

I need to rethink my priorities.

Blank sheets are the writer's friend

Ideally, I'd write 100% on the computer.  It's quicker.  There's no need to transfer from paper.  And there's the internet fairies to keep me company if I get lonely.  Okay, maybe not that last part.

Alas, if I limited my writing time to when I can use a computer, that time would diminish.  Hence the notebooks I've been carrying around with me.  Get a spare 15 minutes?  That's 15 more minutes of writing.  I've wondered if the time saved is a wash or not, since I have to use the computer time later to type out.

But then something wonderful happened.

I read a book.

It's one of those "you have a book inside you and here's how you get it out books."  (I would be devastated to learn I have a book inside me.  I bet that would hurt.  And I plan to write way more than one.)

Here's some advice that I took from the book that's been revolutionary:

Write on large, blank, unlined pieces of paper.  I use a 9x12 sketchbook although the book suggests larger.
The extra space along with the blank canvas has helped me write faster.  And (dare I say it?) better.

There's a few ideas behind this, and I'm glossing over them.  The nuts and bolts of it are you relax and allow the right side of your brain to flow as you write.  I understand the idea behind writing quickly, though I was skeptical about using unlined paper.  Didn't want to.  It seemed a silly thing.  Not take a bath in jello silly, but silly nonetheless.

It works.  I've been doing it for four days now and I'm amazed.  I'm considering doing 90% or more of all my first drafts this way.

The book, by the way, is "The Call of the Writer's Craft" by Tom Bird.  I'm not ready to review it just yet.  Frankly, I'm not sure what I think of it.

But writing on blank sheets?  That's my new best friend

The Courage To Be Bad

I've been reading Dean Wesley's Writing in Public blog, and if you're interested in writing you should too. 

In this post, the comments section contains a great nugget of truth.  In fact when I chewed on the nugget it got caught between my teeth.  My wife said, "You've got something in your teeth.  Have you been reading Dean's blog again?"

I'll give her this, she knows me.

It seems every day I have to reeducate myself.

A question and Dean's response is posted here with his permission (with my added emphasis) :
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=10720

The Question:

Ian H says:November 8, 2013 at 7:02 amDean, like everyone else I want to say thanks for sharing with us for so long, it’s very encouraging … your persistence and work rate are amazing. A question which might be a bit tricky to ask when you are still in the middle of a novel, so maybe you might leave it until after you finish — in the last two novels, you seem to have come up against situations where (my interpretation) your normal method of turning off the conscious mind and writing the next sentence couldn’t get you all the way through. Apart from chats with Kris and twenty six (?) years of experience, do you know consciously how you figured things out, did you have a trick to sneak the solutions into the creative side of your mind without upsetting the flow?

The Answer:

dwsmith says:November 8, 2013 at 3:50 pmIan, the real base line key is not being afraid of failing. And having an inability to not finish a story. (Heinlein’s Rules #2) I very, very, very seldom not finish what I start writing. Sometimes I get side-tracked and forget, but if my focus is on finishing, I finish.And another baseline is the courage to be bad. Goes with the not being afraid to fail.99% of all reasons writers can’t finish a story is that their conscious brain comes in and convinces them it’s bad and that they shouldn’t type another sentence. I don’t care. Finished is far, far better than anything even if the story sucks.I would love to say that my ability in this comes from 38 years of writing, but it doesn’t. In 1982, when I finally dug myself out of the myths and found Heinlein’s Rules and started following them, and realized it took no courage at all to stop, only courage to finish and maybe fail, something snapped in my mind and I’ve never had the issue. I just flat said I was going to follow Heinlein’s Rules and they work and I have never looked back.One more point, realize your question assumes there is a “right” or “best” way to finish something. Nope. Finishing is all that matters. Who cares if the flow is upset? Whatever that is.Hope that helped.

Making a Living with Your Short Fiction by Dean Wesley Smith

I finally took the time to look up an article I read on Dean Wesley Smith's blog.  This is required reading for those interested in writing short fiction and considering indie publishing electronically.

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=9457

The blog discusses the need for:

• Work ethic
• Writing in multiple genres
• A love for Short Fiction

The math involved fascinates me.

1st Person, Present Tense

Something I intended to mention in last night's post:

The story I finished wasn't working.  I told it told in 1st person from a child's point of view, but the voice didn't ring true.  I read through the beginning trying to figure out the problem.  It occurred to me that present tense would bring the immediacy needed.

I rewrote, and fortunately most of the lines only needed minor changes.  From there the story finished itself in one writing session.

The part that amazes me is I usually don't like present tense, and I've never written in it before.  I've read some great stories written that way, but more often I find the present tense jarring and distracting.

It's not a technique I plan to employ much, but I'm glad I tried it

Side Note: It took three times reading through the manuscript to rid it of all the past tense verbs.  That doesn't include the initial change from past to present.

Having fun

Writing thrills me.  I smile more often these days too.

Still writing the novel, but as I've said before I want to write novels and short stories.  The shorts are just plain fun right now.

I finished and submitted a short story twice in the last two days.  I started both after beginning the novel.  While I planned to work on both types of stories, the output of the shorts far outpace the novel.  (The novel currently sits at about 3000 words so far.)

Frankly I'm not sure if I'm stalling or not with the larger piece.  What I do know is my short stories are improving and the word output is increasing the more I practice.  Tonight I had no idea how to finish the story, but I sat down with a goal of figuring that out.  1200 words later I had a completed story.

Fun.

Writing for money?

Great post by John Scalzi, the author of (among other things) Old Man's War.  Great novel.  Great blog post.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/01/25/a-quick-moment-of-financial-clarification/

Wow.  As it turns out, it's okay to write for money.  That's great news.

Word count goal

16,000 words written in November. I'm shooting for 32,000 this month