Novel
I completed my novel, Slipping, at the tail end of 2019. I spent the first three months of 2020 trying to get people to read it for feedback. I chased friends who I thought would be good because they read so much and so fast. What I needed were other authors. I found them via Facebook beta reader and critique partner groups and writerly Discord servers. Twitter can also be a source to find readers. The (current) first chapter has had a dozen folx read it. Many have given feedback over the entirety of the story, including sensitivity readers. Over the course of 2020, I moved the beginning of the novel and revised, revised, revised. Going into 2021, I’m still revising.
I submitted Slipping to Pitch Wars 2020. I was not selected.
I completed writing another novel in two parts. That one has gone through my alpha reader, two beta readers, and is with a critique partner. Going into 2021, I’m still revising.
Short Work
I consider short work 50 words to 45k words.
I’ve penned loads of short stories over 2020. Four were polished up for submission throughout the last month of the year. I submitted those four to six potential publications. Five of those submissions are still pending and I received one rejection. It was my first rejection on short work in decades!
2021 Goals
Novel
I am submitting Slipping to Author Mentor Match in January. We submit the first 50 pages, which makes partial requests unlikely. I hope to get at least one, if not four, full requests and, of course, selected as a mentee.
However, my current critique partner, found through Pitch Wars, is providing excellent feedback on my current manuscript. If I am not selected for author mentor match, I believe she and I can get it query ready.
Whether or not I am selected as a mentee for Round 8 of AMM, I plan to query my most polished version of Slipping.
I will query five agents monthly or so, with a goal for 10% request rate, until I get an agent for Slipping.
I will continue to edit and polish the second novel, and I have a third novel-in-progress I will finish writing.
Short Work
Write /polish 13 short pieces, and submit my polished short pieces 39 times for 39 rejections. The goal here is to accrue rejections. I win if I make my goal, and I win if I don’t since that likely means I’ve gotten acceptances.
Image from Adobe Stock.