A Week of Writing: 3/18/19 to 3/24/19

Back on track with the weekly writing updates. Here’s the week that was.

Words to Write By

The quote this week comes from the incomparable Ray Bradbury. 

“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”

– Ray Bradbury

I touched on this a bit last week, but I think it’s worth talking about again. Obviously, if you want to make it as a writer (at any level), you have to learn to accept rejection. That’s a given, but what might Mr. Bradbury mean by “rejecting acceptance?” I think what he’s not saying is don’t enjoy acceptance or success. Those little (or even big) victories are important to celebrate (though, admittedly, I suck at it). What I take away from this quote is you can’t rest on your laurels or believe an acceptance, even to a prestigious market, means you no longer need to work on your craft. I think it’s about an attitude of stopping for a moment to revel in success, but always with a mind to what’s next? What can I improve? How can I get better?

The Novel

I’ve finished with my chapter summary spreadsheet, and it has been an enlightening process. I was really able to pinpoint where I need to do the most work and how best to incorporate my agent’s feedback. This week I’m going to plot out the new material, add it into the spreadsheet, make notes of changes it’ll create downstream, and then start writing. I think my mid-April goal is still a possibility, but I don’t want to rush the process. I’d rather take a bit longer and do it right than give in to the urge to finish, finish, FINISH! 🙂

Short Stories

Not exactly burning it up this week.

• Submissions Sent: 1
• Rejections: 0
• Acceptances: 0
• Publications: 0
• Shortlist: 0

Yep, just one submission, but it’s a story I’ve been working on and revising for–I shit you not–seven years. So getting it to the point where it’s ready for submission felt like a victory. Still time in March for me to send a few more submissions and hit my numbers toward the goal of 100 submissions.

The Blog

Three blog posts last week.

3/18/19: Weeks of Writing: 2/25/19 to 3/17/19

Catching up on the weeks I missed.

3/20/19: Why I’m Not Writing: Procrastination

This post deals with the ever-present bane of deadlines and finished manuscripts: procrastination.

3/22/19: Submission Top Ten: Longest Waits

In this post I took a look at the longest I’ve had to wait for a response to a submission and how it turned out.

Goals

Broken record time: continue with revisions to Late Risers and send out more short stories.

Very Short Stories

Had a pretty good crop of microfiction last week. Here are the top three, in my humble opinion.

March 20th – Prompt: Pseudonym

He does his job under a pseudonym. Sometimes he goes by cancer, or stroke, or heart attack; other times he’s car accident, killed in action, or simply victim. No matter what he calls himself today, his true name is writ large and bold across each of our frail bodies.

March 21st – Prompt: Magnify

A demon walked into Lucifer’s office with an idea.
“I’ve invented a way to magnify human evil so it’s easier for them to be terrible to each other,” the demon said.
“Wonderful! What’s it called?”
“That’s the best part. It sounds harmless. I call it ‘social media.'”

March 23rd – Prompt: Assassins (theme not word)

He began his career with a gun. When it got too easy, he used a knife. After that, he just strangled his hits, and we thought we’d seen the pinnacle of the hitman’s art. Then they found Jimmy Moretti, eyes wide, mouth open, not a mark on him, literally scared to death.

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How was your writing week? Tell me about it in the comments.