A Week of Writing: 6/14/21 to 6/20/21

Three weeks of June gone by. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Anthony Trollope.

A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.

– Anthony Trollope

I like this quote because, well, it’s how I write. Now this is not to say it’s the only way to write or the best way, but I think what Anthony Trollope is getting at here is that if you can commit to 1,000 words a day or even 500 on your novel or story or whatever, it quickly adds up and removes the need (and maybe the stress) of blasting out huge chunks of prose at once. That said, if Herculean efforts work for you, who am I to argue? (Or Anthony Trollope, for that matter.) Anyway, I can pretty reliably get at least 1,000 words down on something most days. When I’m drafting a novel, that can creep up to 2,000 or even 3,000. Now those aren’t blow-your-socks of daily numbers, but if you keep at it, one day you’ll look up and realize you’ve written a 90,000-word first draft in under three months. That ain’t bad.

Short Story Submissions

Another solid week of submissions.

• Submissions Sent: 2
• Rejections: 1
• Acceptances: 0
• Publications: 0
• Shortlist: 0
• Pending: 6
• 2021 Total Subs: 51

I’m on a nice steady pace with submissions lately. Two more last week gave me 51 for the year, and I sent one yesterday that brings my total to 52. My goal is to end June with 54 submissions for an average of 9 per month. I only need to put out two more in the next 8 days to do that. I think I can manage it. I won’t lie, it’s been a disappointing year thus far for acceptances, especially compared to last year where I managed more than an acceptance per month. There are always a lot of factors that go into this, and a lot of it has to do with timing, which markets are currently accepting subs, and, of course, the stories I’ve been writing. Thing is, I certainly don’t think the quality of my work has declined. If anything, I’d say it’s improved over the last year. The number of markets that are looking for the kind of fiction I write, on the other hand, well, that might be a different story. 🙂

Media Tie-In

Last week I completed the contract for Privateer Press and sent of the invoice for the work. Always nice to put a big project like that to bed. Hopefully, there will be more opportunities to write in the Warcaster setting in the future. I really liked the epic thousand-world sci-fi combined with elements of steampunk fantasy. Good stuff.

The Novella

I had hoped to add 4,000 words to Effectively Wild last week, but I only managed 2,000. I did add another 1,000 yesterday, though, and the novella currently sits at 9,000 words. I think I’ve hit the halfway point, so my guess is  it’ll be somewhere in the 20,000-word range when all is said and done. I’d like to get over 12,000 words this week, then finish the first draft next week.

Night Walk

My flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths features 40 of my best stories. You can pick up a copy of your very own in print or eBook by clicking the cover below.

For an inside peek into the anthology and its stories, check out the Night Walk Wednesday feature right here on the blog. I’ll give you all the juicy rejectomancy stats on individual stories from the collection.

• NWW: The Big Picture
• NWW: Things That Grow
• NWW: Do Me a Favor
• NWW: When the Lights Go On
• NWW: Where They Belong
• NWW: The Night, Forever, and Us
• NWW: Time Waits for One Man
• NWW: Small Evil
• NWW: Far Shores and Ancient Graves
• NWW: The Rarest Cut

Goals

Work on the novella, and send out more submissions.

That was my week. How was yours?