Commit, commit!
My normal emails are, as you know, long and baggy. They tell jokes. They digress. Sometimes (goat folding – pah!) they have no practical purpose whatsoever. This email, born as it is, in the clarity and cold of a New Year’s Day, is short and to the point.
Friends, it is time to commit.
What do you want to achieve, as a writer, in the next six months?
That’s not a rhetorical question. I actually want you to answer me. I want you to tell me – tell the world – what your intentions are.
I don’t want answers that may be unachievable. So, yes, lots of you will want to say something like:
“By 1 July 2021, I want to get a six-figure deal from a Big Five house.”, or
“By 1 July 2021, I want three books self-published on Amazon and a monthly income of at least $2,500.”
And sure, lots of you will have aspirations like those. But I want commitments that definitely lie within your capability. If you don’t achieve the goal, I want that to be because you haven’t done what you said you would do.
Put another way, we’re not, today, in the business of lifting a prayer to the universe. We’re in the business of building a To Do list that we will systematically execute.
So the kind of things I want to hear from you might be things like:
“I will completely my current manuscript. I will self-edit it hard. I will get a third-party manuscript assessment (from Jericho Writers, obviously 😊). Then I will submit the work to at least 12 properly selected agents. I will have the book out on submission to those agents no later than 30 June 2021.”
A newer author might make a commitment more like this:
“I will read at least three books on writing. I will watch and absorb all of the Jericho Writers’ video course on How To Write. I will spend at least 7 hours a week on writing, every single week. I will write at least 50,000 words of my current project. I will get beta-readers to look at 2x chunks of the book. I will commit to offering feedback to at least 12 other writers, so I contribute my share to the community. I will do all this by 30 June 2021.”
Someone who’s heading for the sunlit Land of Self-Pub might say something like this:
“I will complete my manuscript. I will get editorial feedback on it, complete my edits, and get the whole thing copy-edited. I will select a cover designer, deliver a brief, and get a quality cover that I’m happy with. I’ll research my metadata and make the choices I need. I will write and produce a lead magnet that will act as the basis for my mailing list. I will do all this by 29 June 2021.” [Why the 29th? Because self-pubbers always work harder and faster than trad authors.]
OK. You get the picture. I’m after specific commitments by you, that lie within your power to execute in the next six months.
Yes, you can simply write those on a sheet of paper and glue it above your computer, but public commitments work better. I want you to enter the public square and make your commitments visible to all.
I’ll do the same. So please make your commitments right here on Townhouse. (If you’re not a member, then become one. It’s fast and free to do so.)
That’s it from me. I promised short. Here’s short:
Make your commitment.
Make it here on Townhouse.
Do it now.
On Friday 2 July, we’re all going to check back on your promises. See how we’ve done.
Onwards!
Okay! New year, new manuscript. In six months, I’d like to have written an entire draft of my book three (YA), re-written it to a sellable standard and (hopefully!) have secured a deal for it. I’d also like to have written a complete revised draft of the MG novel that stumped me in 2020.
Alongside that – launch my book two YA and try not to fall apart, as writers launching new books are prone to do.
Let’s do this!
By end of January 2021 I will submit my recently completed MG fairytale novel to two writing competitions. By 30th June 2021 I intend to secure a contract with an agent.
Alongside I will write my next fairytale novel in the series – complete an initial rough draft by end of January and the first draft and most of research by end of April, second draft by end of June etc.
Throughout the next year I will also reread and listen again to all the masterclasses and books on the craft from which I learned so much in 2020, as well as continue to swap WIPs with fellow writers.
Veronika, that sounds like you are very determined to meet your writing goals. How good does that feel I wonder? From where I am writing it must feel thrilling and the kind of thing to get you up early every day to write and plot and create.. How long will your Faerie Tale be? Do you know? Are you able to give a good slice of time each day? For me at the start of 2021,I have set myself 3 months, or 90 mornings to write the next piece…and today was the first day when I began to get back into the place where my soul sings and I have no real notion where the ideas come from. We are blessed, very, very blessed to have the desire to delve into the faerie realms. enjoy.
Yes, Paul, we are blessed indeed. It does feel absolutely wonderful (the main thing that keeps me going in these crazy times). The piece I have recently finished has ca. 78000 words at the moment and I’m still editing down as much as possible. The new piece will hopefully be a little shorter (I estimate around 50 k but it’s difficult to say because these stories take on a life of their own).
I write first thing every morning, most days, until ideas run out, time varies between 1 and 3 hours.
Best wishes for your piece. Look forward to hearing more about it!
Thank you Veronika. These stories do have a life of their own and I look forward to hearing more about yours as it becomes ready to be shared.
1. Complete Fiona Griffths #7.
2. Determine how I’m going to publish it and, either, get a deal with a publisher I like or prepare to self-publish worldwide.
3. Fix on next writing project after FG #7. Have at least 20,000 words of that project written.
That’ll do nicely!
Author Goals
Publish Book 1
Market Book 1,
Book 2 into queue
Edit book 2-4
Anthology short story edited and turned in
Continue writing Book 5
Keep Author Platform running smoothly with weekly blog posts and daily media posts.
I want to learn how to write non fiction.
I am also a poet and would like to put my poems together.
I want to enter contests with my poetry.
In six months I hope to have earned enough to self-publish my first novel. In the meantime, I will write a reader magnet novella and create/setup my author website along with an official Twitter and Instagram page to interact with other writers, readers, and fans. In six months I will also have written book #2 and hopefully will have had it assessed by an editor.
I intend to have finished the research (as far as covid restrictions allow) for the new biography I’ve been commissioned to write and have written 50 % of first draft by the end of June.
Oh and learn how effectively to use Instagram and begin a short (5 mins) weekly Facebook live.
By the end of June 2021 I will have [finally] finished editing my novel and have all the chapters in order between my two protagonists.
I’ve been trying to achieve this for 18 months, so that’s enough goals, Ed.
Good luck to everyone and thanks Harry for the impetus.
Well done – writing dual-narrative is hard!
My Chapter 38 just moved to Chapter 7. I feel your pain 😉
I also feel your pain Sheena! It’s like a merry-go-round, isn’t it? So much shuffling around and then making sure the chapters all flow and make sense again in their new positions….. 🙂
It is indeed. My two protagonists are also operating in different timelines… which gradually converge… at different rates.
I have a feeling I must have a masochistic streak somewhere.
Well done! Sounds intriguing…Haha, as they say, whatever doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger ☺️
I may have acquired an agent. I approached her because she deals with foreign rights, so it seemed like a good idea to dangle my already published book in front of her so she can dangle it in front of publishers who organise translations etc. She also seemed interested in my other (more or less completed) ms, so hey, I sent her that too. Hopefully, she’ll like that as well. So…. resolutions include:
Published book: hopefully sign up for foreign rights;
Ms #1: quickly edit for leaks and floppiness, in case she (new agent) can find interested publishers;
Ms#2: first draft is kinda 3/4 finished, but the whole thing needs fleshing out and the theme strengthened. Do that.
Short stories: write some.
Non-fiction: write some.
I will finish the final round of edits on my current manuscript by February, and submit to agents. If after two rounds of submissions I haven’t had any takers, I will self-publish in July. I will also have written a reader-magnet of probably 20k words, ready to start a mailing list.