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!
I commit to finding representation for my first novel by 1st June 2021, hopefully in the form of one of the six submissions I’ve just made. I also commit to completing at least three more chapters of the rewrite of my current novel, so that when an agent picks me up I have a tangible next step to show them. In that time, I will also have committed a plan for at least one sequel of the first novel to ‘paper.’ I also commit to updating my sadly outdated reading of modern science fiction by reading at least six new novels (2016 onwards) in that time, including the one I’m currently reading.
I commit to having my second novel, proofread, edited one last time, and self published by the end of January. I will begin research for my next novel and start writing the first draft which WILL be ready before 30th June.
I just had a Jericho Manuscript assessment a few weeks ago (very useful – definitely recommended!) so my goal is to have this round of edits finished in January and have it on submission to a few selected agents by February/March. Then depending on the result of that, decide next steps, eg maybe another manuscript assessment, further re-writes? I’m also about 12,000 words into a new novel so by July I’d like to have finished a rough first draft of that one as well.
[This has cheered me up today, btw, as I’ve been far too focused on thinking about how horrible January is going to be. Thinking about July is much more fun. I want to be writing in a beer garden in the sunshine by then, in a world where there are pubs again, that serve alcohol! How can such a thing not have existed in Glasgow for 3 months??]
I commit to finishing the final draft of my second novel, editing and formatting it. I will commission the cover design and self-publish the book on wide platforms.
I will also produce a marketing and promotion strategy which is targeted and streamlined, to increase my mailing list and run effective ads to the first in series (published Feb 2020) prior to launching the second book.
I aim to have a first draft of novel number two written – only have a single sentence of text so far (and that will probably go!). But, I do have a plot outline and working synopsis, so fingers crossed I can get words down and achieving what I would like them to.
I commit to having at least the first drafts of the full manuscripts for my first 2 novels completed and ready for editing.
I commit to reviewing all of my writing and choosing one piece to finish and self edit. I will submit this to Jericho for manuscript assessment by July 1st this year. Whatever the feedback, I look forward to hearing it and learning about how I can improve. I commit to becoming a better writer by engaging regularly with the Jericho community, sharing work, requesting and offering feedback and engaging in training. I also commit to regularly entering competitions as I think that this is a great way for me to push myself out of my comfort zone (whatever that is) and stretch my abilities (I’ve yet to work out what they are) while strengthening areas of weakness. (some feedback may help me get clarity on what these are!) Additionally, I commit to reading a book about writing and publishing that was gifted to me and to reading one more book per month of varying genre. I also commit to organising my writing projects so that each project receives the attention and energy that it deserves and requires in order to progress. A workshop on sentence structure is something I should look out for and commit to. I commit to being very excited about all of this and super happy I made the decision to join Jericho ! The most important thing for me though is probably, I commit to stop procrastinating and just write. . Happy New Year everyone.
My goal is to complete the 3/4 finished draft of novel no.2, and then revise, revise, revise. In between rounds of revisions I’ll be sending novel no.1 out on a new round of submissions to agents (I’ve had an editor’s report and done a lot of work on it since the last submissions). If nobody is interested, by midsummer I will reconsider, and either archive it under the category of good experience or consider the self publishing route.
I aim to have the bones of my fantasy novel laid down, and be adding the layers to make it a fully fledged book complete with sub-plots and indepth characters. My planning seems to be taking forever, but like painting and decorating, it’s the preparation that will lead to a polished finish. I have a rough draft of the beginning and I’m working on the end – just so I know where I’m going, though I expect these to changes innumerable times. I will continue to use all research materails I can lay my hands on and learn form a variety of sources. But most of all, I will write every day – even if it is only one sentence.
I’ve just finished my book and sent it off to JW for editorial assessment. For the next month, I’m going to write my next proposal for a children’s book and send it off to my publisher (WOW! – it’s so huge to be able to use that phrase ‘my publisher’, but what I want to write is thrillers, and that’s what I’m working on). By the end of January, I will have submitted my children’s book proposal. I will have got back my assessment from JW and I will start in February working through it. Reading it over and over and over again. I will study Agent Match for appropriate agents, when i’m ready, and I will submit to agents. To stop me going insane while waiting to hear back, I will start editing my next book (draft already done, and needs to be rewritten with what I learn from the editor this time around). All by 30 June 2021 – anything else I manage depends on what responses I get (if any) to all of that. Good luck to everyone – may 2021 bring you good things.
“my publisher” — well done!
That all sounds enormously exciting, good luck to you!