Tuesday 4 February 2014

Targets!

I had a busy week last week, revising and resubmitting short stories.  This was in an effort not to let January be entirely wasted from a writing point of view.

You see, I’ve set myself a target to submit four stories each month and coming into the last week of the month, I was set to fail miserably.  During the month I had only subbed one story, and that had been rejected, along with two others. This left me with only one story out there and that’s been out for a while so is probably a no.

To be honest it sent me into a panic.  If I’m not sending stuff out then there really is no hope.
So last week I rejigged my latest rejection and sent it out elsewhere, and revised two other stories which have been rejected before, but which I am hoping are a case of me not finding the right home for them yet.

So technically I achieved my aim last month, even if what I sent out wasn’t new.
I did manage to write one story which is still in its first draft, and I will be working on that this month along with others, but it’s a pretty poor show.

In my defence, January was a difficult month, settling into my new job.  Apart from a new routine, it’s been mentally challenging so the last thing I’ve felt able to do when I come home is to either write or edit.

This month, I aim to send out four stories again – hopefully sending out stories more quickly than they are rejected, so I can build up my submissions.  Some of them this month might even be new material.

Motto for February – must do better!


4 comments:

  1. It's very hard when you put pressure on yourself, isn't it Linda. I have reached my targets short story wise but have done nothing on the novel. I'm now wondering if I need to revise what I expect to achieve... also, remember you have a new job as well.

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  2. It's nice to have a goal, but you mustn't put too much pressure on yourself, especially when you have had a difficult month and a new job x

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  3. Have you joined the Write1 Sub1 challenge? http://www.write1sub1.com/p/details.html
    You can sign up to their weekly or monthly challenges. There's no pressure (except what you put on yourself!) but I find it encouraging to know I'm not the only one struggling to meet goals. I didn't manage to complete everything on my January to do list, but like you I had a lot of other things to cope with!

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  4. But you did make your target and you can always generate new stuff this month. I hope the new job's going okay.

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