2013 recap

Not too long ago I started this blog for the purpose of documenting my journey of trying to get published. As I've said before, I had a goal, starting around March of 2013 of submitting at least ten works to publishers by December 2013.

So, being the start of the year, I've decided to take a tally.

I wrote seven new short stories. Ranging from 10k to 30k. I reused one short story that I wrote in college. And I started, but abandoned, at least three others.

I submitted eight short stories to six publishers. Or, as it turned out to be, nine separate submissions (yes one story was submitted twice). So I ended up making one less submission than I intended. But I did try! NaNoWriMo murdered my spirit, unfortunately (though I did complete it!) I had just not the will to continue with editing and completing the last work on my list.

I've had three rejections and six acceptances. Three have been published (see the tab above!). One is currently in serial (see Less Than Three Current Serials). And two have been accepted as ebooks and are still in the editing stages.

Oh, and I wrote two new fanfictions and (finally) completed posting another.

And, as much as I want to flail around, get drunk, and marathon the entirety of Star Trek TOS, I've still so much more to do!...and I'll probably still do that anyway...

Writing these short stories, almost exclusively for anthologies, was an experiment of mine. I wanted to see what it would be like to submit work for publishing and (as I've been so lucky) to see what it is like to actually get published. I wrote new short stories because I didn't want to start out with something that I've been devoted to for years and see it get blown out of the water. It was easier to brace myself with these stories that I've conceptualized, wrote, and completed in the past nine months.

And it still hurt to get rejected, but I know its easier to take when I've only loved a certain story for a couple months, versus nurturing it for years.

But I can't go on with this strategy. I've calculated that I've written about 150,000 words in the past year. Which, granted, is a lot, but was even more strained by the fact it was split up into about 12 different works (obviously not all completed).

My best comparison is that I've previously written 80,000 words in four months, but that was one novel. Every month, since march, I've been creating new worlds, new plots, new characters. I've had to flesh them, write them, and edit them in as little as two weeks. I found that taking one day off from writing felt absolutely relaxing, but then I was gripped in crippling guilt because every day off was a couple thousand words I had to write the next day. My schedule changed constantly with what open calls I could find, which new publishers I discovered, what ideas I actually had enough inspiration to write, and my own personal life.

It has been tiring. Though some of the stress has probably come from everything being so new. I know it will be easier, and continue to get more easy as the years go on and I continue to grow and submit. But I'm ready for a change in writing style.

So next year I won't have the schedule of a new short story every month. I'll have the schedule of three novels, first drafts to be completed by the end of December 2014. I'll go into that more in another journal.

For now, I'll say that it has been a very good year. I feel blessed for all the opportunities that I've been given and so grateful for all the publishers that have given me a chance to really showcase my work. I'm hopeful that this year will be as extraordinary as the last