Rule of 10

I am taking vitamins again. I wake up tired!! And I'm tired of living mentally asleep. And I mean that in more ways than one. Yes I am physically tired. And I imagine that a small amount of worry about my oldest being away might contribute to that :) I can't help that. But I feel like I'm mentally sleeping through a writing life that I could have. I want to write. I want to finish a book. I want to get published!

I'm taking a break from my short story to write this. I came across a blog post on how Kresley Cole focused on publication. She called it her "rule of 25." The blog post is here.

The Rules:
1) At any Given time, have 25 ventures toward publication out there. (AKA juggling 25 balls)
2) When One ball comes back, send another ball out within a day.

A Ball can be:
1) A Contest Entry
2) A Confirmed Conference Registration often with an editor/agent appointment
2) A Formal critique in progress
3) A Proposal sent to an agent
4) A Query to a publisher

I think I'm going modify her rule of 25 to fit my writing life... and make it the rule of 10... or maybe 15 :) And I'm going to allow myself the summer to get to the 10 or 15. Twenty five not only sounds nerve wracking but expensive. I don't do contests anymore for many reasons. And the cost over what I actually received from contests was my biggest major factor in stopping. I think I'll allow one contest at a time though and I'll only do the "big" contests.

As for critiques. I hadn't exchanged those in probably two years... but I do miss it. For me... I got a lot out of those. When I think about it... I was VERY productive during that period of my life. Having a critique partner (or two, or three) was motivating for me. I worked (and was motivated) to be able to give my critique partner my next chapter to review. I also wanted to make it a satisfying read for her. And I critiqued hers as well... and that made me constantly think of all the elements in a book, in a chapter, in a scene, that made a good story. My old critique partner is concentrating on her family right now and isn't writing any more. So I suppose I'll have to go through that period of searching for another. It takes a lot of time to find a good critique partner. I'm not looking forward to that part. I know my friends on this blog don't do critiques... and that's OK... that's what makes us all unique :)