I’m still struggling with revisions. I got critiques back on two of my stories this week. The crits were brutally honest, the way I like them, and resonated with things I’d been trying to figure out myself. One thing I’m uncovering is that I don’t read critically enough. Having a third party point out an issue is great. I don’t always agree, but I usually see their point of view. It’s not easy but I’m trying to be honest with myself about the stories I’ve written.

The story I’ve been trying to edit? Broken. Not hopelessly so, but it’s going to require enough work to fix, and my voice has changed enough since I originally wrote it, that a rewrite is in order. Off to the salt mines it goes, until I decide it’s ready to play nice again. I’m accepting that there are practice stories. I don’t remember where I saw the term mentioned recently, but it stuck with me. These are the stories written that were useful to move from one phase to the next but are critically damaged as-is. You can either spend the time to rewrite and fix them, or stick them in the trunk and move on. The option to revisit is always there later.

Part of this process is re-evaluating my goals on a regular basis. If something doesn’t work, change it. I’m going to give myself a break from stressing over revisions this week, instead focusing on finishing the new story I’m working on and the essay that I want to write. February is going to focus more on revision. Fixing what’s broken, instead of putting a pretty coat of paint on a broken plot or weak characters.

I’m still struggling with revisions. I failed my weekly goals this week, getting almost no editing done nor my outline for the Dollhouse essay. The essay contest’s deadline has been extended by two weeks, so I’ve adjusted my goals to reflect that. What I think I need to do is set more specific revision goals. A page a day, maybe. I do well when I’m working against a deadline but I have way too many stories sitting neglected that don’t have a hard stop against them. I’m never going to get more submissions out the door if I don’t start revising on a regular basis.

I set three goals for the week:

• Write at least 250 words every day
• Decide on topic for Dollhouse essay
• Reread The Descent of Iron Hammer and make editorial notes

I ended up averaging 507 words/day, hitting 3,555 words on the redraft of Recycled Dreams. If my pace continues it will be ready to rest in a deep, dark desk drawer by the end of the weekend. I picked the topic of my Dollhouse essay but it’s a closely guarded secret for now. Then there was The Descent of Iron Hammer, my mash-up of Dwarves, airships, and steampunk, but with lightning instead of steam. I had some nice editorial comments from it from the PARSEC contest lo those two years ago. I read through it again tonight. Wanting to set the manuscript on fire and dance naked in the snow as its ashes scattered is probably a good sign that I’ve made some improvement since I wrote it. Broken, but fixable.

In other writing news, I have my application stories (Clarion, Viable Paradise) out to a couple readers. Once those comments come back I’ll make another pass of edits and then out into the pool of hopeful writers they go. Two submissions out, both to Writers of the Future. Results for 2009 Q4 are trickling in so I should hear back soon (I will be trudging off to the post office tomorrow to check the mail). I have a third story that I really should send back out but I haven’t worked up the nerve to send it back out. It’s had good rejections, bad rejections, and a rewrite request. I’m torn on what to do next.

Say you have a story that you think is good, but doesn’t really reflect the quality of your writing today. In other words, your internal editor says, Hey, we can do much better if we rewrite this, only you’ve already rewritten it a couple times and you’d rather be working on newer things. Do you keep sending it out, lowering your sights until it finally finds a home or do you end up trunking it, convinced better to never see the light of day than get a credit that you’re afraid to list on your cover letter?

Jeff VanderMeer’s Seven Points to Consider When Submitting Short Fiction would argue that even that non-paying market that’s more accepting is a good post to the uncertain ego of a newer writer. I see the validity of that, but maybe I haven’t exhausted my list of preferred markets yet and even if they reject them, maybe there’ll be a tiny bit of feedback that’ll resonate. Things for me to consider.

I’m feeling pretty good about how things are shaping. I’m starting the year with a more or less clean slate; new domain, new blog, and new goals. That should help me keep track of things, in my special obsessive-compulsive sort of way.

I picked up a copy sometime in December. Sat down, started reading, and couldn’t put it down. When I finally relented, the next thing I did was tell my friend Christie that she had to stop everything she was doing and start reading her copy.

It might be a bold claim to say that this book changed my life, but it’s true. The book is subtitled “strategies and survival tips for the 21st-century writer” and that’s true, but it’s so much more. It changed the way I looked at my public identity. It prompted me consider exactly what my short and long-term goals were, and what my end goal for writing is. Most importantly, it provided me with some tools to accomplish what I struggle with the most.

The book covers everything from planning to social networking to public relations. For my purposes, I’ve read and reread the section on creating and managing goals several times because it most directly addresses my most chronic weakness. As a result, I’ve written several things to help manage my time and my career.

The Mission Statement, or, what the hell am I doing here?

I want to write the best stories that I can, and continually challenge myself to grow creatively. I believe fiction should be as diverse as the real world and that should be represented in my work. I want to earn the respected member of the SFF community that I love through my words and my actions. I will continue to pay it forward, to give and share what I can, for the betterment of us all.

This serves as a reminder to me of what it is I’m trying to accomplish in my life and my work. As I writer, I want to create damned good stories that make people think or laugh or cry, or just give them the escape they need to survive. As a person, I want to leave things better than I found them. That means sharing my knowledge and speaking out when I have something worth saying.

I’m also a firm believer in public accountability. As such, I plan to blog regularly about my process, success or failure. I’ve put together and will be posting, based on the advice in Booklife, one year and five year goals. Goals, by my definition, are things achievable directly by my own actions. I can’t control if an editor likes and wants to publish my work but I can control how many stories I write, edit, and submit.

Additionally, I’ve begun building a list of career achievements, like seeing my name in print in a bookstore, which I recently did, or being invited to a convention. These things mark milestones in a writers career and I think it’s interesting to keep track of.

I’ve been bad about over-committing myself and that needs to stop. I work more than full-time. I write. I read slush. I critique. Those are things I enjoy doing. Beyond that, I’m going to have to be selective about what else I do for others beyond the scope of my mission statement above. I have some outstanding projects that I committed to that will be finished. After that, I have to focus on what’s important to me.

So, if you’re a writer and you haven’t read Booklife yet, I can’t recommend it enough. It doesn’t matter if you write short or long, or if you’ve only been writing a short time. Out of all of the books aimed at writers that I’ve read it is easily the best of them and well worth the investment.