Writing sessions

A writer friend of mine told me once that when you are writing you should never "write yourself out," that is, you should always stop for the day before you have finished all you have thought of to create.

That way, he reasoned, you would always have a starting place the next day. Voila! No writer's block and a quick start to your next session.

That sounded reasonable to me and so I tried it and found it was almost impossible to do. The more I tried it, the less I liked it. In fact, sometimes I found that by the next writing session, sometimes I had forgotten exactly where I was going. That may mean the "inspiration" wasn't so good in the first place.

Or it might mean I missed an opportunity.

This is a tactic for any writers who might stumble upon this blog and it could work for you. But it doesn't work for me.

Who knows how many such strategies are out there to help us be successful? Probably each writer has half a dozen and most of them only work for that one writer.

The point is just because one strategy does not work for you does not mean there is something wrong with you. It just means you have to find another path.

Status of current rejection project: 28,211 words; 99 pages

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Someone is out there

I wouldn't exactly say that readership of this blog has "exploded," but it is interesting that there has been a definite uptick in views over the last month.

In the first month or so, I would get probably two or three reads a day. I mostly knew who was doing the reading as they were friends of mine. Now I get about 20 views a day.

As I said, no explosion, but at least I don't know the first names of everyone who is looking in.

I know this because the blog stats record the origin nation of the viewer. Of course, almost all the views are from the United States, but a surprising number come from France (?!). About a dozen other nations are represented in the list. This week, someone from India looked in.

Thanks for reading. I hope a little of what I am writing about helps someone in their own journey to get published. At the very least you know that there are others out who are struggling in the same way you are.

The message I am trying to get across above all other things is keep plugging away. Don't stop writing. Never stop writing.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

A good friend

OK, I make light of rejection and the truth really is I don't take myself all that seriously. I take my writing seriously, but not myself. I put everything I have into my writing and you should, too. It is what matters.

But every now and then rejection does get to be a drag and I have to force myself to plow forward, get past the, "why the hell am I doing this" arguments and just write. In times like these I tell myself that at least I am leaving something behind for my kids to read.

My father left me poems he wrote and they are among my most treasured memories.

I had a few friends read "Lost in Translation," my second novel. They were people I picked who were well-read.

After the dismal failure of that manuscript to pick up any interest whatsoever, I've set it aside. I thought it was decent, the agents did not. I respect that decision.

But my friend, who is a published author and playwright came to my office, sat down and quietly said this:

"I don't think I ever told you this, but Lost in Translation is a very good novel. You have written something special and you need to know that."

A good friend and sometimes it helps your soul to listen to friends instead of the critics.

Yours in Rejection,

Phil

Tedium

Now there's a title to really make you want to read a blog, right?

In this case I'm talking about the tedium of re-reading and re-writing. It is so bad I can only do about 14 or 15 pages a night at the absolute maximum.

When your eyes start crossing it is time to stop.

But here is the thing: I always find many errors and examples of bad writing when I re-read. That makes it worthwhile no matter how many times I do it and no matter how tedious it gets.

I've never sold a book, but I still think this is one of key elements to getting one sold. Probably I'm not doing it half enough.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

We interrup this regularly scheduled writing...

I decided on a whim last night that it was time to do another re-through and edit before I went any further.

This is odd because I'm on a roll, know exactly where I am taking the characters and the all important "what happens next."

But I don't want to neglect this sense that I need to re-group, work on what I have so far then forge ahead. I almost wrote, "I've learned not to neglect these feelings...." But that would be goofy since one could easily say that the Master Rejector has not learned anything just yet.

So the next few days will be consumed with going over it word by word.

Part of the reason for this is that I've just started reading "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. What a book! His descriptive phrasing has to be the most precise ever.

I'll keep updating, especially if I find some egregious errors.

Rejection project status: 26,302 words in 93 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Rejected!

My short story in the Writer's Digest Short Story contest was a non-winner.

Now THERE'S a surprise!

The only thing left up in the air is whether I made the top 100 list in short stories. I'm not holding my breath on that one, either, but it would be nice to see how I fell in the ranking.

If I don't rank I'm going to blame it on the fact that I used the "p-word" too many times. Yep, it was in there a bunch, but it called for it. There was no gratuitous "p" in my story.

There's an upside to not winning. To get to the 4,000-word limit, I really had to slice and dice it and cut out some parts I thought were necessary. It was a much better story - at least in my opinion - at 5,000 words than 4,000.

This is a tough contest and I did not expect to win. I've read some of the entries from past years and they are very good. Congratulations to those who did win and good luck in catching that brass ring.

Rejection project status: 24,555 words in 84 pages.

Yours in rejection,

Phil

Christmas present

I decided today that the Christmas present I will give myself is Knight in Shining Armor, Ltd, finished by the end of the year.

I'm not talking about final, ready-to-send-to-agents finished, but finished with the first write. It still won't be easy. That gives me about 70 days (roughly) to write about 60,000 words (roughly, again). As I said, not easy, but it gives me a target, even if it is one I will not hit.

I will be working in that direction and, unless the unforeseen happens I will be at least close by the end of the year.

On another note, if I am going to get notified as being the winner of the Writer's Digest short story contest, it will be by Friday. Not holding my breath.

Rejection project update: 23,167 words

Yours in rejection,

Phil