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 put my comment in the wrong place and can’t find it now! Anyway, I shall finish re-structuring my first novel by March and submit it to a list of agents from AgentMatch. I will send in my second novel to my professional reader on 1st February and act on their suggestions on its return. I will use my new JW membership to learn more about genre fiction and how to plot. I will thank my friends who tell me my writing is ‘lovely’ but not take their praise very seriously 😉
30 June seems a long way off, but I’m sure it won’t seem so long when we’re looking back.
By that date (ahem) I will have written 70k of my WIP and sent it out to a willing army of Beta Readers (any volunteeers?).
I will have continued to work/socialise with the wonderful writers’ group I have discovered locally, as well as with the amazing Jericho Writers.
I will have self-published a short story in a collection put together by said local group.
I will be fitter, healthier, happier etc etc etc.
And I will celebrate all that with a COVID jab (hopefully).
Happy New Year all! Good luck to everyone else in their writing commitments for the next 6 months! Here goes……
I commit to having my current manuscript ready to submit to agents by 30th June 2021.
I will:
– complete work on current draft and send out to at least 2 beta readers by end of January
– research and come up with 25 suitable agents while the draft is out with beta readers
– complete the rest of the manuscript revisions by mid-June, leaving me 2 weeks to finalise my submission packages to selected agents.
I also commit to reading: at least 2 books in my genre a month, at least one craft book a month and a classic every three months.
Love the commitment to read stuff – genre / classic / craft. Great idea!
Yikes…thanks for picking up on it Harry which strengthens my need to commit to it now 😁
I aim to finish the first draft of my WIP, ideally by 1st July. I am 40k words in but it is already roughly plotted (although have just had a character surprise me which will mean a slight change in part of the plot).
I also aim to read at least two books a month – of any genre (they all help!) .
[Story so far… I self-pubbed my first novel last May, the 2nd novel last October]
I will send out 3rd novel in my John Kite series to Beta readers in the next 2 weeks, the cover designer is at work. Hope to hit Amazon early Feb. I will start 4th book a.s.a.p. and have already booked an ARC slot with Hidden Gems for 29th July (first available!). The deadline seems reasonable. (I’m retired, so time is available.)
My highest royalty payment so far has been £85 in a month. I’d like to raise that threefold and make it every month: it would then begin to cover my costs.
I want to learn more about ads. I was given Gaughran’s book on Bookbub ads for Christmas. Essential to read soon. I also need to read Newsletter Ninja to improve my newsletters, and I need to increase the number of subscribers to my mailing list.
Currently reading (well, dipping into as I type) New Hart’s Rules & Oxford Dict. for Writers and Editors. (Jolly useful.)
By 31st Jan I will have started my first Amazon Ads programme on a book that was released last summer. (FB ads worked well thanks to Harry’s videos.)
By 31st March I will have completed my WIP and will have submitted it for professional editing and assessment.
By 30 June it will be edited, and I will have decided its optimum route to publication. I will be pitching/preparing it accordingly.
Long before then I will have explored this community (I’m newly active here) and will be contributing regularly.
No reading targets; that happens without pressure!
Gulp. By Easter I shall finish my current book and then (the hard bit) edit and polish properly by the end of June, to get it assessed by Jericho Writers.
I am committed to finishing my degree in English Lit. and Creative Writing in the first six months of this year. It’s good – it’s pushing me out of my comfort zone as a writer I definitely feel like I’m improving – but it is getting in the way of the WIP. That’s my commitment for the second half of the year! More work on that. Half written – maybe I can finish it in the last six months?
The degree sounds a very fruitful ‘getting in the way’, Sally. Good luck with it.
Thanks, Libby, it was. I got a 2:1. Now to finish the novel!
Happy New Year everyone.
My commitment to myself …
By the 1st Feb, I will finish my current MS edit and polish like I’ve never polished before
By the 1st Mar, I will submit for a manuscript assessment and start fleshing out the bones of my next fantasy project
By the 1st Apr, I will take up said polishing cloth again.
By the 1st Jun, I will venture out to 10 agents
By the 1st July, I will prepare entries for the Bath Children’s Novel Awards
And read and read and read and read 🙂
I’m new to Jericho, and already glad I stumbled upon you all.
By July 1 I will…
— Submit for peer review on Jericho (kind of cheating…did it a few minutes ago)
— Submit to big deal short story competitions to get used to rejection
— Finish first draft of the translation of a novel
— Amass a total of 15,000 words on my WIP
— Be engaged in Jericho’s activities and communities.