1) How many of you a) write, b) finish what you're writing, c) submit it for publication, d) when it comes back, send it out again?
Those are Heinlein's rules for becoming a professional writer.
2) How many of you, after you write something for this bulletin board, reread and rewrite your post before you hit "submit"?
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
a) I write all the time b) i frequently finish what I write (50% of story ideas make in onto the page) and c) submittal is pretty iffy d) sending it back out after rejection - UGGGH!)
And I don't usually reread before i post, but I look at it after post and then edit. It looks different to me after post, just like paper looks different to me than the computer screen.
Now Rick, you asked the question, so you have to tell me what this all means.
[This message has been edited by debhoag (edited July 16, 2007).]
Posted by JeffBarton (Member # 5693) on :
1 A: yes, almost daily. There are the day job, the house and the wife in there somewhere, too.
B: Finish, yes. Confession time - in another world, I have been known to write *coughfanficcough* - about 800,000 words of it in 10 novel-like stories. One is still in progress on it's last chapter or two. The others are finished and web-posted. Ya know, all the practice in the world doesn't do any good when you get the wrong sort of feedback. At least I have been able to bring stories to conclusion.
C: Submit for publication ... as in for money? ... haven't got that far
D: Sending it out again sounds like a good idea if 1) the rejection says it's not their genre or 2) the rejection tells of something I can correct.
2 Yes, actually, I have caught several mortifying errors before they saw the light of day. Now to check over this one...
Now also waiting to be psychoanalyzed, but I'd expect that from debhoag first.
Posted by debhoag (Member # 5493) on :
sorry, buddy. I go off the clock at 5 p.m. it's all on Rick Posted by Rommel Fenrir Wolf II (Member # 4199) on :
well i personly dont like the idea of publishing. so i just write i was looking at the writing projects i brought with me nd the oldest one is 4 years old and only 15 pages typed. no i never read what i type to post until i post it. it is a thing i like to call, (who gives a S#$^) or maybe i m just insain. Rommel Fenrir Wolf II
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
On (1), I've revised Heinlein's rules somewhat for me---I gather Heinlein didn't follow them all that slavishly, either. I write until the idea runs out of steam (or loses my interest). Then it goes into my files, sometimes reemerging later.
By the way, you missed one Heinlein rule, between your (b) and (c)---you must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order. I've given up on that---I spend a lot more time picking at my work than I used to.
On (2)...thanks to the wonders of modern word processing, available here, I back up, insert this or that, remove this or that. It's a convenience.
Posted by DebbieKW (Member # 5058) on :
#1 question: yes to a, b, c, and d. #2 question: yup.
Posted by Sara Genge (Member # 3468) on :
a) Writing? A lot less lately, what with exams and all. b) finishing what I write. This is the big boogy as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I finish 70% of stories that I left half-way done, but I drivel and drabble a lot and those almost never get done unless they have plot and push. c) Submit. If I finish a story and deem it worthy of revision, I'll almost certainly sub it. If it isn't worth the trouble of revising, chances are I noticed earlier and didn't finish it. d) resend it once it gets a rejection. Hell, that's the easiest of all: all the time until I get to a tier of markets I'm no longer interested in, in which case I trunk it for a few months.
Posted by RMatthewWare (Member # 4831) on :
I a) write, b) finish it, c) submit it, and d) resubmit when it comes back.
I rarely proofread my posts here. I do, however, proofread and have others critique my novel.
Posted by O-Sapo (Member # 5569) on :
1 I write, but it's a new developement for me. b. Normally I finish what I start, but then again I havn't started too many. c. I've submitted one novel, 52,000 words. d. I'm still waiting for a reply. If it gets rejected then I plan on submiting it elsewhere.
2. I love to second guess myself and check over most everything that I write. Maybe with time I'll get better. I'm still new to this blog thing.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Oh, yeah, one other thing. If I've posted something, and, when looking it over, something seems wrong with it, I'll change it then and there, usually dropping a note in saying what I've done. But after I go away and come back the next day, I'll just leave it even if I notice it. It seems bad form, somehow, to change something after somebody has replied to it. I might correct something in a new post, though.
Posted by dee_boncci (Member # 2733) on :
1) I write and finish probably 80% of what I start or more. I've yet to screw up the courage to submit something. I always think "this ones not quite good enough, maybe the next will be better". I know, that's probably a fatal attitude.
2) If you mean the open discussions forum, I usually read through and clean up spelling/grammer/clarity. If it is so bad I'd have to rewrite, I just delete it and forget about it, that's too much work. If you mean the F&F forum's, I never write something "for" the board, I only put up the first 13 of completed stories. I have modified them if I find a typo or a clunker of some sort that for whatever reason escaped my eye until viewed with the different formatting.
Posted by Rick Norwood (Member # 5604) on :
Let me encourage those of you who don't submit your stories for publication to try. Nobody can judge their own work. I've known writers who think their work sucks who went on to a great reputation and writers with swelled heads who can't write worth beans. You never know until you try.
Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :
1. yes to a, b, c and d. I'm pretty good at a, b and c, and I force myself to be good at d. After all, what you ain't submitting, you ain't selling...
2. I reread and rewrite my posts 70% of the time, whether on this bulletin board or on another.
Posted by autumnmuse (Member # 2136) on :
This is a great reminder/motivator. Thanks for posting!
1. I write, though not enough. I finish, mostly. I submit, very rarely. I re-submit, rarer still. Sigh. Must work on that! I've been using the fact that I'm in the middle of a novel as an excuse but really, I have several finished stories just sitting on my harddrive that I should be pushing.
