Finish one piece of writing and send it to a publisher.

I have finished a piece of writing – the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo. And I have sent it to a publisher – Createspace. It is a self publishing house, and I won 5 copies when I won NaNo. So, as I have technically finished a piece of writing and sent it to a publisher, I am technically counting this as done :)

And I have come up with a short list of four publishers who I feel will be good choices to hit with my unsolicited submissions :) I really do need to look further into what they have actually published with regards to being similar to my book though, as two of them require an online form to be filled out and this is one of the questions. I have put aside the bio for now, it just isn’t working out. But I’m feeling good about having done this research, and about this goal in general!

I have decided to finish editing the book that is actually finished. It sounds lazy when I say it, but it’s being practical too. After all it just needs editing, whereas the bio isn’t even finished. And as it is only 28,000 words (kids book, though it will probably end up at about 30,000) it will be quick – I finished the third draft yesterday (cleaning up what spell check didn’t catch, filling in blanks) and today I have started the fourth draft (going through from the start and fleshing it out while checking for continuity of names, places etc.)After this draft I will put it away for a bit while I get the bio down, then come back to it with fresh eyes for a last draft before sending it to a publisher. I think this way will be best, because I really want to do NaNoWriMo and get that other book down and this way it won’t delay me getting something finished ready for a publisher. Which, by the way, is my definition of ‘finished’ for the purpose of this goal.

I have two pieces of writing on the go. One is a book that I started about 16 years ago, and finally finished the first draft last year. I am on the third draft as I write. The other is still in first draft stage, this is the one I am wanting to get finished and sent first before I forget all the pertinent details (it’s a bio and I’m working from one sentence diary entries and my memory) I would especially like to get it down and spell checked so it is at third draft stage before November, because I want to do NaNoWriMo and get down a story that has also been waiting 16 years to be told. I have plot outlines, chapter outlines, lots of notes and because I spent so much time thinking about it when I got the idea, it has actually managed to stay in my memory waiting to be recalled. And this is the year I want to tell it.