Biting the Bullet - June IWSG

There comes a time in every writer's life when he must simply bite the bullet. In this context, bite the bullet means submit, whether it be a manuscript, short story, article or anything else. If it's something that must be reviewed, judged or accepted, then it must be submitted.

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I recently realized that it has now been a full year since I completed the initial draft of The Bonding. It's gone through three intense revisions and some hefty edits. The last two edits have focused almost exclusively on word count reduction.

It's not that easy for me. Some people have trouble shedding pounds. I have trouble shedding words. I know my nemesis.

Wordiness is the bane of my writing.

So I trimmed the fat. I whacked and whittled, cut and chopped like a lumberjack on steroids. I now wonder if there's enough fat left to flavor the meat.

But this post is about biting the bullet of submitting, not my struggles with word count reduction. Or are they one in the same? Perhaps wrestling with word count has become my way of avoiding the bullet of submitting. I tell myself it's a valid excuse. But is it just an excuse?

No matter! This is the month that Jeff bites that bullet. I've given my knightly oath to dragon and spouse alike. (And I dare not provoke either!) This is the month that I begin to seek publication in deed and not just in word.

Wish me well?

Seek to Critique - March IWSG

I'm a big fan of critiques.  I like receiving them.  And I like giving them.

The benefits of receiving them are obvious.  The benefits of giving them, however, are varied and not always immediately evident.

I gave my first critique less than two years ago.  A dozen different insecurities flooded my mind as I did so.

• Who am I to recommend that this be changed?
• What if my suggestion ends up being the worst suggestion in the history of critiquing?
• How can I make sure my feedback will be received in the spirit intended?
• Did I word this comment so that its meaning won't be misinterpreted?
• Am I sure the writer's intent didn't just fly over my head?
• Maybe that section really is perfect and I'm just too dense to recognize it??

And on and on the doubts came and set up residence in my mind.  But had I never sent the critique, that residency would have become permanent.

As with anything we do in life, we improve with practice.  We grow more confident and strengthen our skills, both in analyzing another's words and in conveying ours.

But I've found that I'm the one who benefits most from the critiques I give.  I learn or reinforce grammar lessons.  I see the importance of word choice, sentence and story structure.  I discover new terms, new techniques, and get a feel for what works and what doesn't.  I find myself flagging a writer for something that I still do myself, and promptly make a note to change it in my own manuscript.

Critiquing enables a writer to view his own writing from different perspectives, making possible a more objective assessment of his own skills and tendencies.

Providing a good critique takes a fair bit of time if done well.  And when handled properly, the results will encourage as well as enlighten the writer who wrote the words under your microscope.

Almost two-thirds of my time reading over the past year has been for critiques.  And I do not regret it one bit.  I can only hope those who have received critiques from me have benefited from them as much as I did.

While receiving a critique benefits the receiver, giving a critique benefits everyone. So do everyone a favor. Seek to critique and learn from the experience.

(My apologies if this publishes as new again. I somehow managed to "unpublish" it.)

The Stages of a Geek's Manuscript

Most of you know that I'm a software developer (computer programmer) by trade.  As such, I've discovered a number of similarities between developing software and developing a manuscript.

Proof of Concept
A software developer will generate a proof of concept to determine things such as whether the chosen technology is stable or if the design can support the intended solution.

I liken this aspect of development to the initial thought process of writing the novel. This is the phase where the programmer determines if a project is feasible, or even doable.  The writer goes through the same process, proving that the story is worth the effort and can be written to satisfactory depth, length, tension, etc.

The Wireframe Model:
This is a high-level, mocked-up interface of the application. It reflects the developers' interpretation of the project's requirements and provides the customers with an expectation of what the programmers intend to deliver.  I equate this with all the planning, plotting and outlining an author must do in the early stages of crafting a novel.

Alpha-builds:
This is the early design delivered to customers for initial approval. Much of the actual program hasn't yet been written and much of what has will be deleted. The customers saw representations in the wireframe, but with an alpha build, they can actually do things and get a feel for how the project is progressing and where it's heading.  The customers' feedback then governs the project's continued direction.  Critique anyone?

Beta-builds:
At this stage, the programmers have taken all the feedback the customers provided and integrated it into a fully fleshed system.  All the major functionality is there.  Things should work--as expected.  People reading a novel at this stage of development should be able to provide more finely tuned suggestions.  "I was bored in this chapter" or "the pacing was a little off in this section" is the type of feedback I'd expect here.

Quality Assurance:
Developers have a love-hate relationship with QA because their purpose is to verify that everything works, right down to the mouse pointer's behavior. They'll catch the the typographical errors in dialog boxes and point out that things aren't centered or aligned properly. I find this similar to line edits and proofreading.

Deployment:
We're ready to submit! At this stage, manuscripts are in the hands of agents, sitting in a slush pile or are being self-published.  The programmer has incorporated each stage's feedback and produced a polished system. The author has also taken feedback from each stage and produced a polished novel.

Then we programmers either begin developing the next software application or enhancing the one just deployed. (Upgrades!)  For writers, that's either the next great novel or a sequel to the one just deployed.

Did you have any idea you had so much in common with us nerdy, geeky types?

August is Awesome Because of Charlie Holmberg

I'm such a fan of awesome people, and Charlie Holmberg definitely qualifies as awesome.  I'm an avid fan of her "Link Blitz" posts every Friday.  (She always manages to find something fascinating for us.)

She spotlights "Someday Stars" every other Thursday, introducing her readers to those that she believes will be a bona fide star--someday.

I've always loved Charlie's upbeat blogging personality, her positive outlook toward life (wherever it may take her) and her genuine love of family.

Congratulate her on all those works she's finished and give her a great big welcome!

 

Step 1: Finish Your Manuscript

Before I dive into this, let me make it clear that I don’t have any writing credentials outside a few small-town story contests. Because of that, I don’t expect anyone to take my writing “advice” with any merit. However, one thing I can do is finish a book, and the first step to being published is, of course, having a complete manuscript.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since junior high, started focusing on it in high school, and began taking it seriously in my first year of college. I started my first book when I was 13, but I didn’t finish a [different] book until 19. If my memory is correct, the first book I finished was the eighth I had started (not including my dabbling in fanfiction, which we won’t get into!).

So what changed?

The thing that really got me focused was utilizing a daily word count. I fluctuated between a minimum of 500 and 1,000 words a day, every day. Sometimes it was really hard to get those words in when I wasn’t excited about the scene or didn’t know what would happen next, but I had to do those words, otherwise they would accumulate, because I refused to forgive a day’s word count unless absolutely necessary.

Charlie Holmberg's awesome blog

The next step was turning off my internal editor. We all have one: the mini version of us that, in the voice of our 11th grade English teacher, says, “That sounds weird,” or “You’ve already used that word!” The sooner you murder this editor and bury him six feet under (later to be resurrected as a blood-thirsty and immortal revisionist), the more words you will write. Stop thinking about it. Say it can’t be done? So did I. But if you try hard enough—if you remind yourself that revisions will come later, and they will be glorious—it can be done. I have the curse fortune of being an editor in my consciousness as well, and if I can shut my internal editor off, so can you. As is, I hand out drafts to my alpha readers without ever giving the manuscript a second glance. Once it’s written, it’s out of mind. (Outlines help.)

Lastly, you need to make time to write. Not find time to write, make it. The reason we always arrive at our son’s soccer practice on time or catch the latest episode of America’s Got Talent, despite our busy schedules, is because we make those things priorities. There comes a point where you have to ask yourself, How much do I want this? The more you want to write, the more time you will find to write. The more excited you are about you manuscript, the more time you will find the write. The more you ache for your story to be on a shelf at Barnes & Noble, the more time you will find to write.

I’ll use my sister and I as an example. Both of us love writing; both of us are writers. My sister is currently finishing her revisions of her first completed novel, which she started three years ago. I’m currently drafting my seventh.

So many? :-)

My sister, 2 ½ years my senior, has two kids with a third planned, and a brand new poodle. She is incredibly accomplished. She’s an Irish step dancer. She plays the cello, the piano, the tin whistle, the hammered dulcimer, and more. She’s fluent in Japanese. She runs the Girls’ Achievement Days for her church, which is virtually boy scouts for young ladies. She cooks all her family meals, sews all her daughters’ Halloween costumes, and maintains a rather seismic garden. She also has plans to learn how to shoot a gun.

Now look at me. I have a full-time job, and I write. Outside of that, my hobbies are limited to my learning to play the ukulele and the occasional brushing up on my neglected piano skills. I do enjoy cooking dinners when my husband isn’t scheduled for work. I used to bake a lot, but now only do on occasion. I used to play the flute and the French horn. I used to write music. I used to win awards for my compositions and played live shows. These are hobbies I pushed aside for the sake of writing, and while I am not nearly as well-rounded as my sister, outside of my husband and family, getting published is the most important thing on my map right now, and the highest and hardest goal I have set for myself.

So when it comes to time, if you want to write, write. If writing is a priority to you, make it a priority. No need to be a Nazi about it—life happens. Problems arise. Kids need mothering. The day job needs doing. I can’t recall which author said this, but one of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve ever heard in regards to finding time to write went something like, “Nothing needs your attention at four o’clock in the morning.”

Butt in chair + hands on keyboard = productivity.

Productivity = finish books.

Finished books = queries to agents and editors.

Queries, though long and tiresome, = published works.

Much luck to everyone on this writing journey, and thank you to Jeff for letting me leak brain all over his blog. Let’s get those manuscripts finished and show the publishing industry just what we’re made of!

Charlie Holmberg is awesome!

About Charlie Holmberg:


I’m a technical writer and editor from Salt Lake City, Utah, currently living in Moscow, Idaho. I play the ukulele, pretend to speak Japanese, and really want a dog.

Links:
Blog: myselfaswritten.blogspot.com
Twitter: @cnholmberg

August is Awesome Because of Linda Jackson

This is an awesome Monday for Linda. She's celebrating her 24th wedding anniversary today!  Please congratulate her.  I hear we men aren't always the easiest souls to tolerate day in and day out.

And Linda is so awesome that she doesn't want any presents from you.  In fact, she wants to give one away to one lucky commenter!  

All you have to do is leave her a comment and you'll be cybershuffled in cyberspace for the chance to win a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Here Comes the Bride.  (The book is paperback and limited to U.S. addresses.)

You can win this!

The book contains "Honeymooning In a Clown Car", a story written by Linda herself.

I'll announce the winner on my Sunday Surfing post and in a trailing comment here.  (Make sure I can contact you!)  Now, don't be in a big rush.  Get comfortable and read about Linda learning how to wait.

Learning How to Wait

After many years as an independent author--self-publishing and writing reading assessment passages for educational publishers--I decided to try to get an agent. So I wrote something brand new and began the infamous query process. Imagine my elation when I received the following email from an agent at a very prestigious agency only a couple of months later:

Thank you for sending the first fifty pages of your manuscript. I enjoyed it very much and would be happy to read the rest. Also, would you please tell me if other agents are looking at it, and should you receive an offer of representation, I would appreciate a heads up before you make a decision.

After sending the full, I immediately emailed a friend with my fantastic news.

"This is it!" she responded. "You are on your way!" Then she mentioned a sermon she had heard the previous day. The speaker, she told me, had said, "Nobody is teaching the saints how to wait."

My gut reaction to that statement was: "Uh oh…this can’t be good."

My friend’s words to me, however, were: "God says you have waited long enough."

But I knew she was wrong. I knew that message wasn’t the prophecy she thought it was.

Guess who was right?

That email correspondence was in July, 2009. As of July, 2012, three years later, I was still un-agented. Somebody is teaching this saint how to wait. Note: The word "saint" is used in a rather generic way. *winks*

While the manuscript was with that agent for a couple of months, I didn’t bother querying anyone else. And I heard nothing from the previous queries I had submitted…except rejections. So after I got the painful rejection from the agent whom I thought was a sure thing--because she had enjoyed my first fifty pages very much--I started querying again.

I got one request.

I sent that one off, and I waited. And waited. And waited. That was November, 2009. I queried more agents over the next few months. I got no takers.

Somebody was teaching this saint how to wait.

By April, 2010, I had written something new. I sent out 20 queries and got two full requests--one from the agent who had rejected my full the previous July.

The agent rejected me again.

The other agent never responded to my full. So I dropped the idea of querying this new project and looked for fresh meat to query with my old project.

I sent out a fresh batch of queries that October. I got one request right away. But I didn’t have to wait very long for an answer. I got my rejection later that night.

Guess what? I still had not heard back from the agent I had sent the full to in November, 2009. I figured she didn’t have the heart to send a rejection. So I got bold and emailed her and asked her if she would be so kind and give me some feedback (a no-no I’ve been told). She emailed me back and said she never got my manuscript. (Actually she had, but there was a mix-up with the email so it probably got lost.) I asked her if she was still interested in seeing the manuscript. It took her three weeks to respond with a request for the full.

Again, I waited.

Somebody was teaching this saint how to wait.

In the meantime, I got another full request from the batch of queries I had sent out in October. Again, I waited.

I heard back from the November, 2009 agent in January, 2011. I got a detailed rejection and my first R&R (revise and resubmit) invitation. A couple of months later, I heard back from the other agent. Rejection.

I revised and sent the manuscript back to the November ‘09 agent in April, 2011. I also queried other agents with the newly revised, newly renamed manuscript. I got one request, but the agent didn’t make me wait very long.

After a few months, I heard back from the November ’09 agent. Another agent at the same agency was interested in the manuscript, but she wanted a plot change. Okay, another R&R. Third time’s the charm, right? Wrong. That rejection was so painful that I didn’t talk to anyone for days.

It had now been two years since my friend gave me the prophecy that "nobody is teaching the saints how to wait." *laughs hysterically*

I started querying again. From that small batch of queries, I got a partial request. The agent asked for an R&R. I went to work on it right away. This was November, 2011. In December, I touched bases with her to let her know how the rewrite was going. She informed me that her client list was full, so she couldn’t take on any new clients. So, I moved on.

More queries were sent, but I had no success. Then I entered a couple of pitch contests and won the honor of submitting partials to a couple of agents. This was March, 2012.  By April, I had an R&R from one of the agents. Based on her comments, I knew I had really messed up my manuscript from the previous R&R’s. I stopped querying. I stopped entering pitch contests. I put the manuscript to the side and polished up my latest work which I had completed in March.

I queried and touched bases with the two agents from the pitch contests. I got one full request from the queries, plus requests for partials from the two pitch contest agents. I had also won a first-page critique in a random drawing, and that agent also requested the full.

After a month, I got upgraded to a full with one of the pitch agents and got a rejection from the agent who had requested the full from the queries I sent out. And that’s where I am right now…still waiting. Oh, and I’m also back to revising that first manuscript…you know, the one that got four R&R’s and too many rejections to count.

So three years after my friend said, "Nobody is teaching the saints how to wait," I am still waiting.

Somebody is teaching this saint how to wait.

About Linda Jackson:

Linda Jackson is awesome!

Linda Jackson has self-published two books for young readers as well as written reading assessment passages for several educational publishers. She currently writes for Chicken Soup for the Soul and blogs at Writers Do Laundry Too.

Linda's Amazon page

NaNo Mid-Point. Argggh!

In the words of so many suddenly-enlightened antagonists, "What have I done?"

I'm post-midpoint now and waaaay below target.  Yes, I've experienced many of the same inconvenient time-sucking hurdles all the other participants have, but they're not necessarily the bulk of the blame.

I've concluded, reluctantly, that I'm not the type of writer who can produce 50,000 words of prose within a month and be able to use any of it.  Just ain't gonna happen.  That's not to say I've not had productive spurts, but the massive majority of what I've written is completely unusable.

If the definition of "rewrite" is restarting from scratch, then what I've written needs to undergo a rewrite.  If the definition is to re-do chapters, sections, characters, plot lines, etc., then a rewrite is not what this manuscript needs.

But this exercise has been worthwhile.

I've discovered characters and fleshed out ones I knew I'd have.  I've learned that some of my original plotting ideas just won't work, but found others that might.  Being that this manuscript could loosely be termed a prequel, I've got new things to enrich my upcoming sequel.  But there will be no "editing" or "revising" of this manuscript.

I intend to continue.  That's how I am.  If I say I'm going to do something then I do my dead-level best to follow through.  (That's why I debate long and hard before committing to anything.)  I'll do so knowing that I'll be sending it off to pixel purgatory when I'm finished, but there is still benefit to completing it--beyond following through on a commitment.

I will discover more characters.  I will be able to further develop plots and subplots.  I will find hidden themes, things I can foreshadow, envision new twists and a multitude of other things I can use.  I just won't be able to use the words and structure I've already got.  I think this is okay.  Much of this is what I normally do anyway, albeit at a slower pace with far less throwaway prose.

Perhaps by month end I'll have refined my target audience with this book.  (It's not that I didn't have one in mind, but the story seems to want to unfold differently.)  And when I begin writing this thing in earnest, for real, I'll have one mighty fine outline and maybe that's the whole point after all.

Have you experienced a NaNoWriMo or similar challenge?  What were your experiences?