submit a novel for publication

I didn’t get anything done for Christmas 2006; I’m barely getting anything done for Christmas 2007! This makes me unhappy and ashamed. :-(

However, right now I’m just focusing on writing a little each day, getting some of my short stories ready to go by the end of October 2007… and then writing a new novel draft during November! (It’s NaNoWriMo, dontchano!) After that… we shall see.

Big time cheers to everyone else working on their novels!

I’ve entertained this idea since I was a child, really. While my ambitions on this front have been off and on throughout the years, the idea has never really left my mind. I’ve been working on a fantasy novel for quite some time now and have a (very) rough treatment done. I’ve also put together a bit of a concordance so I can keep track of all the characters, places, topography, etc. needed in such a huge undertaking. I don’t know that fantasy’s the easiest genre to break into, as it’s a niche genre and let’s face it – it’s glutted with submissions. Still, I figure it can’t hurt. :)

Let’s see where this goes, yeah?

Well, my original goal (way back in The Day) was to have this movie ready to submit for publication by the end of 2006. I was working full time all summer, though, and then going to school full time (and working part-time) in the fall, so it wasn’t feasable. However, I DID finish the first heavy round of edits in 2006.

I can now start the harrowing task of fixing the novel on a big-picture scale. What plot elements need tweaking? What character traits need honing? It’s going to be interesting.

I think it’s feasable for me to have it ready to submit for publication by the end of THIS year, 2007. So I’m going for it. I’ll be coming up with some sort of general timeline in the next few days, before school picks up again.

This year, I applied to, and was accepted to, Viable Paradise X. VP is a professional workshop for SF/F writers; you can read all about it here and here . After all the great feedback I got on the opening to one of my novels, I have determined to get that novel revised and ready for submission by Christmas 2006. So there!

My school workload is tougher this year than it was last year (go figure, I’m in year 2 now.) The idea of making time for editing a novel is somewhat laughable. I would really, REALLY like for this book to at least have the first major phase of editing done by the end of the year, though. So over my Christmas holidays I’m going to put a push on. (It’ll be a nice escape after NaNoWriMo, too. Yes, I’m writing a novel in November. Hey, silly off-the-cuff writing is WAY easier than editing.)

I wanted to get a lot of editing done on my novel this summer. Naturally, I’ve been slacking off. It hasn’t all been for naught, though – I’ve torn through the first eight chapters and gotten them into much better shape. Once I’m done updating my goals here on 43Things I’m going to hop back into the editing.

I had originally wanted to have the thing through the first edit/rewrite by the end of the summer; now I think I’ll push that date back to September 15th. And now that school’s starting, I can use editing as a means for procrastinating homework. Score!

I have a rough draft of a novel for middle-grade kids (nine to twelve years old) that needs editing. Badly.

This is my Great Task of 2006: to finish this novel and submit it for publication.

It will be rejected. Repeatedly. But that’s not what I’m worried about. I want the experience of having written something, I mean REALLY written something, and knowing that it is good enough to show to editors and not be embarrassed. There’s also an aspect of “actually finishing something” that appeals to me.

Too often I live on whims, letting my mood decide what I’m going to do in a day. I don’t want to divorce myself from that completely, but I want to be more disciplined, particularly with my writing. So having this as a long-term goal will be good for me.