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!
Ok, gulp. Here goes:
I am going to send the MS of my first novel, Mixed Doubles, to 12 carefully selected agents….BY THE END OF THIS WEEK. ie by 8th January 2021. I have been procrastinating and self-editing hard for several weeks now, and really do feel I have reached the stage where it is lovely and shiny and highly polished and ready to go.
And I hope that, as a result, I will get some serious agent interest and maybe, just maybe, representation at some point in the coming months.
In the meantime, I commit to beginning my second novel. Yay!
Good luck Belinda! And well done for getting this far 👏🏽
Ok, so here is my public commitment …..
By June 30th I will have completed the final edits to my MS and submitted it to 10 well researched and carefully selected agents. I will have made a definite decision on what my next writing project will be, and will have made a start – as a minimum, I will have an elevator pitch I am happy with.
So there it is! Look forward to checking back in during the summer. Good luck to everyone with their commitments!
I commit to getting another 3, hopefully more, children’s books on KDP by end June, 2021.
By the 1st of July, I commit to completing the self-edit of my manuscript and to placing it in the hands of the professionals at Jericho writers for assessment! Very encouraged by all the resolutions…. good luck everyone!
I’m focussed and motivated to have my manuscript edited and re-worked, ready for submissions before the end of Spring 2021. I’m drafting a short-list of ideal agents, refining an appealing pitch letter and working on my synopsis. Good luck everyone with your intentions.
I have the full manuscript of my first novel out with 3 agents right now… Long before the end of June I’d like to sign with one of them (or maybe another still to respond?) and move closer to selling the book. I also want to complete the first draft of my second novel. No pressure 😊. Go for it, everyone. We can do this thing.
Good luck Bindi! Exciting times ahead 👏🏽
I’ve had an idea for a children’s book in mind since about 2004 (that’s what you call an epic procrastination). I knuckled down before Christmas and finally got a 50k first draft in the bag. The relief was immense!
I’ve started the rewrite/restructure/deleting characters etc and will then move onto the polishing stage. For some reason I’m finding this part much more daunting than the actual writing…
Anyway, my aim for 2021 is to take the plunge and send it off to agents. *gulp*
I want to commit to finding a publisher / agent for my second novel by April 2021. If I am unable to do that, I will get a full manuscript assessment. I’m also planning to complete my third novel by June, including the editing process. It’s possible as I managed to write 25,000 in November and December. I’m also going to finish writing the treatment for a feature film that I’m working on, which will happen by the end of March, as that’s the deadline I’ve been given! External deadlines always help.
I commit to spending January polishing the ending of my first draft, before embarking on several rounds of edits. By 30 June 2021, I want to have submitted my manuscript to half a dozen well-researched agents, and be undertaking research for Novel 2.
If my submissions are unsuccessful, I commit to gaining further feedback and reworking the manuscript to submit to further agents & not lose hope.
Good luck to everyone with their goals!
I commit to achieving my first short story publication in either an online or print publication by end of June 2021.
I commit to completing a re-draft of my first novel by end of June 2021 for self publishing.
I commit to building my email subscriber list (ongoing).
I commit to completing the first draft of WIP novel by end of Dec 2021.
Good luck to you all!