Another day, another thousand words

If you could force yourself to write 1,000 words a day, every day, you could have a novel-length manuscript done in 90 days.

It might not be worth reading - it probably would not be - but I still think it is important to get what is in your brain out on paper (or computer, as the case may be). Once you have it out you can do anything you want with it, including throwing the whole mess away.

More should be thrown away than ever is.

One thing I know for sure is that no one ever spun gold directly from their brain onto paper. Most of the work still has to be done and it is the tedious kind of work. Not the fun stuff.

I would guess that is where I - and maybe most everyone else - fail. I am not rigorous enough with the words after they are on paper. You can't just write an average novel (poem or short story, either)and get it published. It has to be something special.

I'm still working on that.

Rejection project update: 42,836 words in 152 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

The boy can still write

After two weeks of not writing a word, I worked on the latest rejection project last night and then again today.

Last night's session was pretty tough, no doubt about it. I had to force myself a great deal and think I just wrote about a page, but that was still better than nothing. The longer I wrote the easier it got.

Today was completely different. I wrote like there had never been a hiatus.

Writing is a habit, pure and simple. When you don't write you get out of the habit. Because it is work (unlike some people believe) it is a lot easier just to skip it, sort of like I have skipped all those exercise lessons all my life.

It feels very good to be writing again. The next few weeks present some challenges to writing, but I am going to try to do it, even if it is only a few paragraphs. That is better than nothing

Rejection Project update: 41,690 words in 148 pages.

Yours in Rejection,

Phil

Comeback

I haven't written - anything - since Nov. 21.

Not quite true. I wrote what I had to at work and last night I fleshed out two poems. Even though you might wish it otherwise, life sometimes intervenes.

So I haven't felt like putting words together and getting back into the groove has not been all that easy, either.

I haven't tried working on the latest rejection project yet but when I close this out I am going to give it a whirl.

We'll see. I am not overly optimistic.

But eventually, it will come back because it is what I do and just about all I do.

Cheers...

Phil

Finding your own way

You can get a lot of advice both from books and across the Internet and, frankly, a lot of it is terrific. In fact, I'm sure all of it has worked for someone.

But none of it is going to work for everyone. In the end I think to be a successful writer - note the name of the blog you are reading, however — you have to find what works for you.

Many writers have found it helps them to, uh, drink a bit as they write. Great. Wish I could do that. But I can't have so much as a glass of wine and then try to write. My brain just want allow it. Others want complete silence. I put on my headphones and crank the music up, which is actually a way of "silence" as it drowns out all the distracting noise.

Others write at exactly the same time during the day, or carry a notebook around with them so they can jot ideas down (a "smart" phone allows you to do the same thing).

Try everything that looks as if it might work for you, but don't worry if you discard half of it or most of it. Writing is an intensely personal act. Others can read what you have written and help you once you have done it, but no one but you can coax it from your brain.

I haven't written on my latest rejection project in two nights so there's no update.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Crossing 40,000

I came to two conclusions tonight in writing. the first is that this rejection project is going to go longer than 80,000 words. I don't believe I am halfway through the writing process and I have now written a few more than 40,000 words. I still think it will be under 90,000.

More importantly, I could tell I am not going to meet my self-imposed deadline of the end of the year. This project - written as a suspense - is more difficult to write, even on the first draft.

In suspense, I am finding the "pieces" have to fit together intricately. Maybe I should have paid the same attention with the last two projects and they would have been better.

Anyway, where I could write a good thousand words in a night before, the suspense project is much more likely to be held to 500-600 a night. That adds up.

It doesn't really matter, but I AM learning something new every time I write. I suppose that is what it is all about.

Current rejection project status: 40,088 words in 141 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Another contest

I just sent in my entry to the Writers' Digest short-short story contest. It is bound to be a tough competition as the top prize is $3,000 and second is $1,500.

This is the second Writers' Digest contest I have entered, the mainstream short story contest just announced the winners and I did not mark in the top 100.

I think I'm going to keep entering the contests, no matter what the result, even if I never make that top 100. True, it does cost $20 to enter, but that is the only downside. You are forced to write something different, to think of something to write out of the air.

That has to be good to help you stretch yourself.

I'm also pretty sure I will enter the poetry contest. Now that one is a real challenge for me. But I will be interested to see who the winners are.

If you have the $20 to spare, I think you ought to try, too. You can find out about all of their contests at writersdigest.com

Good luck to you and to me.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Worth the work?

The question is, if you are doomed to write nothing but rejection projects (unpublished novels) is all the work worth it?

I'm not giving up the idea of getting published by an stretch but the reality is when any of us writes a novel the only thing we are guaranteed at the end of the day is the finished piece.

And don't think it isn't work. It is simply impossible to write 85,000 words without a lot of hard - damn, damn hard - work. Even if it is a bunch of crap at the end of the day, getting there is still tough.

So would it be worth it if you knew for sure you could not be published?

Everyone must answer that for himself (herself) but for me the answer is, yes, it is still worth it.

Writing gets something out of you. It is sort of like taking a dose of the salts for your brain. Published or not, it is still quite an accomplish to finish a novel. Loot at it this ways, millions of people start novels but the number who actually produce a novel each year is tiny by comparison.

So here's to us writing rejects. May we some day find our publisher and, if not, may we never question the worth of what we are doing.

Rejection project status: 37125 words in 131 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil Latham