52 Projects

by Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Stop talking about your novel or short story ideas and start writing. Get in the habit of writing for at least an hour every day, no matter what. One strategy is to get up an hour earlier than you have to, make yourself a cup of coffee and completely focus on your writing. Not only will your mind be fresh, but you won’t be distracted by phone calls, prime time television or a visit from a friend. The main idea here is to make writing part of your daily regimen. If you can figure out a way to carve out an hour of writing while you’re on the clock, then go for it, because technically that means you’re getting paid for your writing efforts (something that’s not so easy). And of course in the evenings, instead of watching television, flip on the computer and write for an hour. After a long day at work, sometimes you just feel too tired, but if you plant yourself in your seat and start typing, after a few minutes, you’ll almost certainly hit a stride and find yourself feeling a burst of energy. It’s the hurdle of actually making time and getting started that might keep you from writing, and that’s why making it a habit is so important. It becomes not a question of "if" you are going to get some writing done, but "when" you are going to get your writing done.

Join or form a writing group. This gives you an opportunity to get your work critiqued, an incentive to complete and improve your writing, an outlet to commiserate and celebrate with fellow writers, a place to learn and experience different kinds of writing styles, and a source to both find and give inspiration.

Start submitting your stories to literary journals and magazines (both online and print). But before you start sending off those emails and sealing those envelopes, unleashing a continual tidal wave of mass-mailings to all the journals listed in Literary Market Place, found through online research, or listed in the back pages of Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers, become familiar with the multitude of literary journals being published both online and in print. Create some form of database with contact information, submission requirements, publishing schedule and theme issues, and most importantly, the kind of writing the publication publishes. Once you’ve organized your research, then you can start submitting stories on a regular basis to the APPROPRIATE journals and magazines. Submissions that do not meet a journal’s specific basic requirements are despised by editors, and it’s a waste of your time and energy. Be smart and efficient about the way your submit your work.

Also: no doubt you’ll be able to remember which stories get published, but be sure to keep track of which stories have been rejected by which journals.

There are all kinds of ways to find out about literary journals — online research, writing resource/guide books, library research, word-of-mouth, bookstore browsing. You can spend all your time clicking from one online resource to the next finding out about yet another literary journal. How do you decide which ones to submit to? Well, first off, I don’t think you should be submitting to a journal unless you’ve actually bought a copy and read it. Don’t just look up the submission requirements, and send off your story. My advice is to do broad research, and to really get to know as many journals as you can. Which journal blows you away? What online literary site do you make a point of reading each week? Which journals are publishing the kind of writing that you respond to? Those are the journals you should be aspiring to get published in.

One nice sort of cheat sheet trick to finding out about cool new literary journals is to look at the bios of published authors and contributors to literary journals that you like.

Keep in mind that getting published in the major, well-known journals and magazines (like The New Yorker) is like winning the lottery. It’s not impossible, of course, but be sure to submit to smaller, less monumental journals and magazines that you have a better shot of getting published in, especially if you’re just starting out.

Enter contests. Winning a contest is a great way to get your name out there and get noticed by either an agent or publisher. There are all kinds of contests out there. The higher the profile of the contest, the more cache a win, runner-up placement or honorable mention will have. (Of course the higher the profile, the more competitive the contest will be.) Keep in mind that all contests have very specific guidelines, and many have a $5 to $15 entry fee, so before you send out your best short story to every contest you come across, make sure you read the fine print. Again, do your research and create a database with deadlines, submission guidelines, addresses, entry fees, and of course, prize money. And be sure to budget a certain amount of money for contest entry fees — set a limit for yourself. There comes a point where you might start to feel down if you keep spending money to enter contests, only to get the form letter with a list of winners that does not include your name. You can start to like all your writing efforts are pointless, and having to pay for the privilege just makes you feel even worse. By allocating a certain amount of money, say $100 a year, I think that helps manage the expectations — You’re still taking the chance to enter contests, but doing so in a controlled, positive and responsible way.

No doubt you would figure all this out during the course of your research, but here are some excellent places to find an abundance of information about journals and contests: Literary Market Place (available in the reference section at your library); Writer’s Market; Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market; The Complete Guide to Literary Contests; The O. Henry Prize Stories; and The Best American Short Stories. Also, check out Writer’s Digest, The Writer Magazine, and Poets & Writers. And here is a comprehensive list of literary magazines.

Begin your education of the book publishing industry. Figure out which publishing houses publish the style of writing you are producing. Research the names of editors that are behind the kinds of books you wish you had written. Follow the trends and stay abreast of who’s who on the inside of the industry. This kind of information will give you an edge when you have a body of work worthy of getting published. A good book to get a hold of for this kind of information is the Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers and Literary Agents by Jeff Herman. Also, check out Publishers Weekly Online, the website of the publishing industry’s main trade magazine. And definitely sign up for the electronic newsletter Publishers Lunch, which sums up and provides links (as well as biting commentary) to the most important publishing news and deals of the day.

Take part in online writing prompt projects to fuel your ideas and get you engaged in creative writing exercises, things like Sunday Scribblings and Poetry Thursday.

Always carry a pen and a journal around with you, to capture thoes fleeting "brilliant" ideas coursing through your mind, as well as to note down funny bits of dialogue, real or imagined. Chances are that if you don’t write it down right then and there, you’ll forget it completely, or not be able to recall exactly what was so perfect about it in the moment. Check out Moleskinerie for total journaling inspiration.

Instead of grabbing fast food or an overpriced sandwich and then bringing it back to your desk to scarf it down while you surf the web, make a point of getting some writing done during your lunch break at work. Find a nice cafe or place where you can sit at a table (free from emails, phone calls and co-worker banter) and simply knock out a page or two of writing on your laptop or in a notebook.

Read constantly. Fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional book on writing, such as Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might by Path Walsh, and Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction by Charles Baxter.

Look for writer resources online, sites like SlushPile.net and Flogging the Quill. A list of resource links is here.

Enroll in writing courses. Anytime you’re taking a class, you are forced to write. Not only that, but people other than your significant other will critique your work. And similar to being a part of a writing group, you will have the opportunity to meet other writers and read their work.

Cultivate relationships. Go to readings. Go to events for literary journals. Go to writing conferences. Meet other writers. Correspond with bloggers who write about writing. Ask questions, but be sure to share the information you gather.

Look to the web. The web is full of literary journals, and many print journals have an online component. And whereas print journals move at a very slow pace (sometimes a year just to hear your story has been rejected), online journals (or print journals with very active online components) reject and accept and publish on a much faster schedule. The prestige factor is still higher for print journals, and yes, there is something amazing about seeing your words printed on paper in a beautiful package, but online journals are fast gaining strong reputations and doing much more innovative stuff, because they can operate more cheaply, move faster and be read by much bigger audiences. Following are some literary journals that regularly feature work on their websites that you should check out: Quick Fiction; Pindeldyboz; Small Spiral Notebook; Word Riot; and eyeshot.net. And by all means, do your own searches. New things are popping up on the internet everyday.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 28th, 2006 at 11:47 am and is filed under GTD, HowTo, ToDo, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.