Weeks of Writing: 2/21/22 to 3/6/22
Another couple weeks of catch-up here. Let’s see how I did.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote comes from novelist Mercedes Lackey.
I always work from an outline, so I know all the of the broad events and some of the finer details before I begin writing the book.
―
Mercedes lackey and I are kindred souls in this regard. I am a definite plotter, and my thirty-chapter outlines hit all the major events in the novel. Chapter is a bit of a misnomer, though, as what I really do is outline story beats. They often end up at chapter-length, but sometimes they’re a bit shorter or they may comprise two or more chapters. Where Mercedes Lackey and I differ is the finer details. I don’t generally put those into an outline. I kind of like to “pants” those. It’s a discovery process for me. I definitely want to have the big pivotal events figured out ahead of time and a roadmap for how I get from the beginning of the novel to the end, but the little things I like to figure out along the way. Now, of course, there isn’t a right way to outline. The right way, of course, is the way that gets you a completed novel, and that’s gonna differ for just about every author.
Short Story Submissions
I’ve been pretty active with subs in the last two weeks.
- Submissions Sent: 7
- Rejections: 5
- Acceptances: 0
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist/Hold: 0
- Withdrawn: 0
- Pending: 14
- 2022 Total Subs: 21
A combination of finishing up some new pieces and getting others back via rejections resulted in a fairly active two weeks. Seven more submissions gives me 21 for the year, and I need to be somewhere around 27 to stay on pace for 100. There’s plenty of days left in March to get out six more subs, and I’m finishing up two =new pieces that should put me over the hump. Five rejections, all of the form variety, also came in in the last couple of weeks. Other than that, not much else to report. I have hopes for some of the stories that are pending, but don’t I always? 🙂
Novel
So, in the last two weeks, I have read through the 35,000 words of Hell’s Aquarium, the novel I set aside in 2016. I don’t usually say this about my own work, but I think this is good book (my critique partners agree). I still have to write acts two and three, though. There are some things I’m going to need to revise, however. I wrote this portion of the novel back in 2016, and, well, the world has changed a lot since then. Let’s just say that certain events in my my book currently hit a little too close to home for readers in 2022, so I’ll need to make a few changes. They’re not major changes, but they are necessary. Anyway, I’m reworking the outline at the moment, and I think I’ll actually start adding new words to the manuscript next week.
The Rejectonomicon
Once more, let me draw your attention to my new Q&A column, THE REJECTONOMICON, over at Dark Matter Magazine and invite you to submit questions about submissions, rejections, and writing in general.
The first article went up a few weeks ago, and the next will go up later this month. Check out that first article by clicking the link in the banner below.
So, how do you submit questions to me? Easy. Here are the submission guidelines.
- Email your question to questions@rejectomancy.com.
- Put REJECTONOMICON in the subject line of the email.
- Write your question in the body of the email. Try to keep it relatively brief. Around a paragraph.
- Please let me know if you’d like your first name published along with your question or if you’d like to remain anonymous.
- Please restrict your questions to the subjects of writing, submissions, and rejections. Those are pretty broad categories, though, and I’d be happy to field questions about my past career as a TTRPG game designer/editor and media tie-in writer.
- I might make very slight edits to your questions but only to fix obvious typos and whatnot.
- If I choose your question for an installment of THE REJECTONOMICON, I’ll respond via email and let you know.
Got it? Then send me those questions! 🙂
Goals
Goals this week are finish up short stories, send submissions, and keep working on revising the outline for Hell’s Aquarium..
That was my week. How was yours?
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Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 