Drawing from the Well
Queries: 58 (+0)
Rejections: 48 (+1)
First Eighth
Chapter 11/90
Scene 47/500 – 9.4%
Word Count: 13,390 (+4,595) – 9.2%
I haven’t done much with submissions the last week (also, sorry it’s been a week since I’ve blogged). Yesterday’s rejection has spurred me to send more queries, though. It’s a lot to keep putting out there but one day it will be worth it. It only takes one.
That said, I am also researching self-publishing quite a bit. I’m watching videos from successful self-published authors, reading articles from different successful self-published authors, and ingesting every bit of information I can get my hands on. This may end up being the route I take, but it’s going to take some time to get there. Obviously, if I change gears, you all here will be the first to know.
On the writing front, let’s talk about changes in my habits, work ethic, and drive the last week. This is something I’ll talk about in detail below (hence the title of the blog) but I want you to see the effects. First, the chart:
I finished September at 9200 words. That’s abysmal to me. Rather than despair at poor performance, I’m feeding it back into my tank to use as inspiration. And look at the effect! So far this month, I’ve hit my 1k goal every day, which, granted, it’s only been 3 days but it’s still 3 days straight. The real shocking statistic is that I’ve written in October almost half of what I wrote in September. Already. That is inspiring. I hope to report equally good results (or better!) as the month progresses.
Filling the Well
Miraclist: 100%! (Book 31/25 for #ProjectBookworm2019)
Blue Lily, Lily Blue: 83%
The Bible: 82%
The Handmaid’s Tale: 35%
I’m managing to keep filling the well as I write a lot. Miraclist was great and I’m about to get the sequel to start chewing into that. Can’t wait! Blue Lily, Lily Blue is at its climax and has started to come together. I’m anxious to see the eruption of the confluence of all the threads set during the rest of the novel. I just reached the scene in The Handmaid’s Tale that I remembered. I remembered it being much longer and more poignant back in the day. Perhaps memory magnified its effect. That or having physically seen it on the Hulu show sapped the shock value of the prose. Once again, prose > video.
Polishing the Well
Wedding season begins again tomorrow. Most people ask us “Isn’t June wedding season? We always hear about ‘June Weddings.'” Yes, that’s true, EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY. We live in Florida. June is an AWFUL month to get married in even with an indoor ceremony. Our busy season last year was November to February. This year, it’s starting in October which is great for business. It’s going to be a busy time but I couldn’t be prouder of my wife or more ready to support her.
Well Chat
Feeding Your Failures Back Into Your Engine
Failure is a part of life, every aspect of it. Failure is how we learn and grow. But failure sucks too. It is too easy to despair over a lack of success. I’ve been in this boat more than once. Recently, I’ve tried to take a different approach and feed those failures back into my tank to drive the engine of my effort toward success.
I’ve had some ups and downs in an author capacity recently. Professionally, things are all over the map but we’re not talking about that today. I had a lackluster writing month in September. I’ve gotten almost 50 rejections on my first book. I’m considering jumping to another IP for the next book and abandoning traditional publishing for now. It doesn’t sound good.
So how do you turn things like that into fuel to kickstart your engine? For me, part of it is defiance. There’s power in looking into the face of defeat and screaming for all your worth. It keeps the fear from creeping in and fear is the mind-killer.
So I won’t LET failure halt my efforts. And there’s a key distinction there that I think is important. You can’t affect your success. There are so many factors involved in success that are far beyond your control. Market trends, personal tastes, personal attitudes, and timing are all outside of your control and they have a much greater impact on your success than how good your writing is.
What you CAN affect is your effort. By the law of averages, if you keep putting yourself out there, eventually you HAVE to succeed. It might sound like a pipe dream but my experience has been that if you put positivity out into the universe it will eventually loop back around and slam into you.
Those are the ideas that let me eat my failures and grow stronger from them. I’m not going to let them get me down because I remember that I just have to keep working and keep trying and EVENTUALLY I will get where I’m headed. I’m determined and I’m staying that way.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG