The Short Path to Publication
"Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen, and not a shadow of an idea of what you're going to say." --Francoise Sagan
What is the one thing that will inspire a newbie writer to continue learning and growing? Getting something published, of course. Well, what if you’re writing a full-fledged novel? Getting published could mean years of work and eons of frustration. When I started writing, one of the most intimidating things about it was the time investment. It takes time, lots of time. It takes practice, lots of practice.
It was so daunting that I almost gave it up. Almost but not quite. I had to figure out a way to write more stories, more often, in short spurts, and in so doing increase my chances of one day being a published writer. I decided to try my hand at writing short stories. What a shock! Short stories are harder to write than novels. Go figure!
We’ll I am stubborn, if nothing else. That’s one of a writers greatest tools I’m told. I scoured the web for information on writing short stories, I attended online classes and I joined forums. I wrote my first short story. It took about 3 weeks for my first rough draft. Later I wrote my second one. This took up a weeks time and I was starting to have fun. Now I can do a short story in a couple of days. “What about publishing?” I’m glad you asked. The next step was to post my stories on a couple of the forums I belong to in order to get feedback. Those forums are My Writer Friend and Nick Daw’s Writers Circle. There are links here to both sites. So what? Did I get published?
No, not yet. There’s a little more to it yet. Once I got a good cross section of feedback, I re-wrote my little stories. They range in word count from 500 words to 2700 words. Next, I entered several contests. I won second place in one and have several pending. BTW see the upcoming contest links I’ve listed. I figure at this pace I will have about 4 entries a week, more or less, out there, waiting to win. My writing skill has been improving steadily as I’ve had to learn to write concisely.
The bottom line to all this blather is that if you want to learn to write and be published one way to start is by writing short stories, then step up to that award winning novel you have and do it the justice it deserves. Til next time, Namaste. Aelf
Sites to see, places to go and groups to join:
My Writing Friend: writingfriend@earthlink.net This is a great place to hone your writing skills.
Nick Daws Writers Circle: Click link on this page. I'm a moderator on this site, It's awesome.
Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/ Want feedback for your work?
Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/ Great place to meet other newbies
I’ll be adding to the above list as I find more newbie friendly sites.
What is the one thing that will inspire a newbie writer to continue learning and growing? Getting something published, of course. Well, what if you’re writing a full-fledged novel? Getting published could mean years of work and eons of frustration. When I started writing, one of the most intimidating things about it was the time investment. It takes time, lots of time. It takes practice, lots of practice.
It was so daunting that I almost gave it up. Almost but not quite. I had to figure out a way to write more stories, more often, in short spurts, and in so doing increase my chances of one day being a published writer. I decided to try my hand at writing short stories. What a shock! Short stories are harder to write than novels. Go figure!
We’ll I am stubborn, if nothing else. That’s one of a writers greatest tools I’m told. I scoured the web for information on writing short stories, I attended online classes and I joined forums. I wrote my first short story. It took about 3 weeks for my first rough draft. Later I wrote my second one. This took up a weeks time and I was starting to have fun. Now I can do a short story in a couple of days. “What about publishing?” I’m glad you asked. The next step was to post my stories on a couple of the forums I belong to in order to get feedback. Those forums are My Writer Friend and Nick Daw’s Writers Circle. There are links here to both sites. So what? Did I get published?
No, not yet. There’s a little more to it yet. Once I got a good cross section of feedback, I re-wrote my little stories. They range in word count from 500 words to 2700 words. Next, I entered several contests. I won second place in one and have several pending. BTW see the upcoming contest links I’ve listed. I figure at this pace I will have about 4 entries a week, more or less, out there, waiting to win. My writing skill has been improving steadily as I’ve had to learn to write concisely.
The bottom line to all this blather is that if you want to learn to write and be published one way to start is by writing short stories, then step up to that award winning novel you have and do it the justice it deserves. Til next time, Namaste. Aelf
Sites to see, places to go and groups to join:
My Writing Friend: writingfriend@earthlink.net This is a great place to hone your writing skills.
Nick Daws Writers Circle: Click link on this page. I'm a moderator on this site, It's awesome.
Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/ Want feedback for your work?
Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/ Great place to meet other newbies
I’ll be adding to the above list as I find more newbie friendly sites.
posted by Aelf at 11:58 AM 
2 Comments:
Congratulations on coming second, Aelf!
Fingers crossed that you get a first place soon. You deserve it after all your hard work. And yes, short stories and notoriously more difficult to write than a novel!
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the comment Suzie!! Aelf
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