A Week of Writing: 11/8/21 to 11/14/21

The second week of November is done and over with. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from historical fiction author Steven Pressfield. 

 “Start before you’re ready.”

― Steven Pressfield

This quote is short and sweet, but it carries a big message. The truth is I almost never feel ready to write. No matter what I’m writing, getting started is the hardest part. I think it’s that way for a lot of authors, and waiting around for inspiration or the right mood is often a recipe for not writing. If you’re like me, once you get past that first 500 words or so, writing becomes less arduous, less fear-inducing, and almost feels natural. Almost. 🙂

Short Story Submissions

As slow but momentous week in submission land.

• Submissions Sent: 1
• Rejections: 0
• Acceptances: 1
• Publications: 0
• Shortlist: 0
• Withdrawn: 0
• Pending: 16
• 2021 Total Subs: 100

I only sent one submission last week, but it was a big one, number 100 for the year. This is the second time I’ve accomplished this particular goal, and it represents a lot of work. If you’d like to a detailed breakdown of what those 100 submissions look like, check out this post from last week. The other good news last week was an acceptance. This one came from Metastellar for my story “Grave Concerns.” It’s been a slow year for acceptances, so it was definitely nice to get a pro-paying one on the board. Not much else to report, not even a rejection. I have a bunch of stories pending, though, and I expect to hear back on a number of them in the next few weeks.

Freelance Work

Last week, I completed the fourth of the seven stories I’m writing for Privateer Press’s Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika setting. This one needed a bit more revision than the others, but, in the end, it was still an easy fix. Getting started on the fifth story, and the goal is to finish that one and possibly the sixth story this week, then knock out the final story next week. I’m still way ahead of deadline, which is a nice, comfortable place to be. 🙂

Goals

Freelance work, submissions, write new stories. In that order.

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That was my week. How was yours?