Vision: A Resource for Writers
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Holly Lisle's VisionEditor's NoteTime to start all over again...By Lazette Gifford©
2002, By Lazette Gifford
I
have several personal writing rules. One is that I finish everything I've
been working on that year by December 31. 2001 was a good writing year for
me. I wrote six novels, three novellas, six novelettes, eighteen short
stories, twelve articles, and two poems. The final word count was just a
little over
700,000 new words -- and that did not include rewrites and edits. Of the
forty-two submissions I made, I placed fifteen pieces -- all e-published -- with
about eight pieces still out. (That does not include any of the articles
published in Vision.) However,
it's now January, and I'm starting over. Those numbers are all zeroed out,
and I begin the New Year with a completely clean slate. Sound scary?
It isn't -- it's liberating! I am free of any old entanglements. I
can, if I wish, go into totally uncharted waters. I can reinvent my
writing life. I
don't always take advantage of that possibility. Sometimes I have only
just started to get on my feet after a drastic change the year before, and I
head on in those new waters, stretching out a little farther. At the time
I am writing this, with less than a month to go, I have no idea how I will start
out 2002. Will I finally make a daring leap into Historical Fiction?
Not likely as the very first piece I work on, but I might start research on
something in that category. Will I write another contemporary young adult
mystery? Will I make more of an effort to 'go pro' this year? Dare
to try my hand at getting an agent? This
is a time of renewal and looking ahead instead of behind. What are you
going to do? This is your chance to put aside bad habits, and reinvent
yourself as a writer. It's a new year. You can do whatever you want.
You are a writer -- be creative! And
enjoy the new year! |