Tag: Aeryn Rudel

First Draft Finish Line: What’s Your Speed?

How long should it take you to write the first draft of a novel? There’s no right answer, really, but as both a writer of novels and a former editor of authors who write novels, I’ve identified three categories that most writers fall into… Continue Reading “First Draft Finish Line: What’s Your Speed?”

Weeks of Writing: 4/25/22 to 5/15/22

Well, I am more than a little behind here, so let’s catch up. Three weeks of writerly doings all at once. Words to Write By Today’s quote is from author James Lee Burke “Every rejection is an incremental payment on your dues that in… Continue Reading “Weeks of Writing: 4/25/22 to 5/15/22”

Submission Statement: April 2022

Not gonna lie, April was a tough month. Read all the gory details below. 🙂 April 2022 Report Card Submissions Sent: 9 Rejections: 10 Acceptances: 0 Publications: 0 Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0 Any month where the number of rejections eclipses the number of submissions is… Continue Reading “Submission Statement: April 2022”

Good, but Not Good Enough

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is talent. Specifically, writing talent (obvs). A lot of this comes down to my specific version of impostor syndrome, which says, “Yeah, you’re good, but you’re not good enough.” Impostor syndrome is a real asshole, huh?… Continue Reading “Good, but Not Good Enough”

Weeks of Writing: 4/11/22 to 4/24/22

Two more weeks of writing. Let’s dive in. Words to Write By Today’s quote is from author Allegra Goodman. “Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.”  —Allegra Goodman… Continue Reading “Weeks of Writing: 4/11/22 to 4/24/22”

Three Steps for Novel Reclamation

So, recently, I returned to a novel I abandoned about four years ago. It’s tentatively titled Hell’s Aquarium, and I wrote 35,000 words, essentially the first act, got spooked by the research I needed to do, and moved on to other projects. I’ve since… Continue Reading “Three Steps for Novel Reclamation”

Weeks of Writing: 3/28/22 to 4/10/22

Another catch-up post, so here’s a few weeks of writing in one go. Words to Write By Today, I don’t have a quote, but more a comment about a type of quote I was unable to find. I searched for quite a while for… Continue Reading “Weeks of Writing: 3/28/22 to 4/10/22”

Rejection: It’s Not Personal

If you’re a writer who submits fiction on the regular, you’ve undoubtedly had someone tell you rejections aren’t personal. Hell, that person might have even been me! For the most part this is true, and in this post we’re going to discuss why it… Continue Reading “Rejection: It’s Not Personal”

Submission Statement: March 2022

March was a pretty good month in submission land. Here’s how it went down. March 2022 Report Card Submissions Sent: 11 Rejections: 9 Acceptances: 2 Publications: 2 Further Consideration/Shortlist: 0 Like I said, pretty good month. Eleven submissions puts me at 27 (the 28th… Continue Reading “Submission Statement: March 2022”

A Week of Writing: 3/21/22 to 3/27/22

Another week of writing. Here’s how it went. Words to Write By Today’s quote comes from novelist Jodi Picoult. “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” ‒ Jodi Picoult. This is a pretty straightforward quote, and I’m sure… Continue Reading “A Week of Writing: 3/21/22 to 3/27/22”