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!
Thank you for your email Harry – just the kick I needed and I can do no better than to quote you: “I will complete 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.”
Write for 2 hours/6 days a week, in 2021. Draft first 3 chapters of my book 30 June 2021.
Happy New Year Harry. I will complete my second draft of my latest novel by end of Feb with a view to send out to 10 agents by end of March. Will look to self pub by Sept 2021 if no luck via the traditional route.
Will focus on marketing my first novel A Mother’s Loss using social media options. Initial sales of 57 books in the first 10 weeks have exceeded my expectations.
Hi Caroline. Congratulations on the sales of your book, A Mother’s Loss. That’s great news.
Thank you
Great thread Thanks, Harry.
I’ll complete transferring my film script into a book, with at least 4 further rounds of edits, then get it out to the agent who expressed interest in it plus 9 selected others. I’ll outline the last 2 books in my Eridor series. I’ll maintain my ‘If you send ships out onto the open seas, some many return with something of value’ philosophy so I’m trying to keep 10 ships out at a time (agent approaches, MS edit requests, book review requests, competitions) so each time I get a negative, I’ll send another ship out. Keeps me floating mentally.
I have just had an editorial report via Jerico Writers (extremely thorough and a real game-changer for me!) and I will work through the suggestions (including losing the first fourteen chapters!) and edit until my book is as good as I can get it. I will get it out to beta readers by March and out gradually to 12 agents (already researched so no excuse!) by the end of April. I will also try not to get side-tracked by my idea for a new novel until I’ve done this!
Thank you Harry, I love a good public declaration.
By 1st July I will either get to the 80000 word mark of novel 2 or complete the first draft (whichever comes first)
I will also watch and absorb at least 3 Jericho videos and compete the Aaron Sorkin MasterClass
Happy new year Harry and everyone. My commitment. Set aside time everyday to work on my WIP. Complete WIP by end June. Begin editing. Participate in at least one Jericho webinar. Read 6 novels by end of June.
Harry oh Harry, you feel me with hope! And you make me laugh so that can’t be bad 🙂
My commitment (apart from having committed to walk 1000 miles in 2021 already) is to finish the second edit of my fifth book EMMA SUMMERS HAS NO NAME, use my Christmas and Birthday money plus the holiday money from last year (didn’t get to go on that! Wonder why!) to get it edited (Jericho of course), but this time I hope against hope that an Agent sees promise in my work.
I will complete the rewrite of my book The Middle Passage and submit it for consideration for Paid and Wattpad Studios publication by March 1, 2021. Should it not be accepted there, I will use their feedback to do another rewrite and begin submitting, after another round of feedback, to agents by August 2021.
Happy New Year to everyone. Good luck in 2021. I intend to put the writing disappointments of 2020 behind me (2 requests for fulls but no offers) and by July 1st I’ll complete a rewrite and rigorous edit of my book ‘The Carol Singer’, get it out to beta readers and then test the water with three or four agents.