The nitty gritty.
Sep. 4th, 2009 10:19 amRuminating on putting down Chant for a while in a more specific capacity (I haven't worked on it since I got home three weeks ago, but the binder is sitting on my bed) in favor of research. Both research for some of the in-story subjects (part of the goal is to establish a somewhat different medical and scientific climate than present day for the early part of the story, but I do need to be a little more up on the technical matters at hand) and of the market in which I'd like to have this published (eventually. I'm not close, now - the novel needs massive revisions before we even get into the polishing and fine tuning phase). It's high time I got behind learning more about the process. I also need to spend some time reading in the genre and thinking hard about my audience so I can actually go at selling my book with some degree of a strategy in mind, when the time comes. The marketing aspect of being a new writer is a little daunting.
The more immediate goal that I hope will help me take an initial and more manageable step into all the things I need to learn is the publication of a short story I've been working on for the last couple of years. I'm going to go sit down with Unbroken Thread for a couple of hours this morning and see if I can't make a final decision about the last (potential) new segment, tracking the time line for the reader, and the damn epilogue. I still want to have that sent to a market or two before the year is out. I won't feel like a total failure if it doesn't get picked up this year, but my goal is to at least send it. Somewhere. I need to get the ball rolling, however slowly, if I intend to be in a position where I can realistically hope to have this novel published when it's done cooking.
The more immediate goal that I hope will help me take an initial and more manageable step into all the things I need to learn is the publication of a short story I've been working on for the last couple of years. I'm going to go sit down with Unbroken Thread for a couple of hours this morning and see if I can't make a final decision about the last (potential) new segment, tracking the time line for the reader, and the damn epilogue. I still want to have that sent to a market or two before the year is out. I won't feel like a total failure if it doesn't get picked up this year, but my goal is to at least send it. Somewhere. I need to get the ball rolling, however slowly, if I intend to be in a position where I can realistically hope to have this novel published when it's done cooking.