Starkess

Congrats and good luck!

After a few months of procrastinating, I've finally read through the first draft of my newest novel and come up with a revision plan. Started in on it this morning. One chapter down, many more to go... Feeling a bit down about my writing because I've been both drowning in rejections and slow at making new material. But cautiously on an upswing in productivity, having now written four short stories this year and plus now starting my new novel. Got a rewrite request for an anthology and just resubmitted so really hoping it gets picked up. Also had my boyfriend read one of my stories and he said "You must be sending these to people who can't read." And okay yes he's biased, but he also really means it and enjoys my writing. So that made me feel nice.

Me, I believe... Speaking of which, I got a rejection on a full I was feeling hopeful about from an agent. She actually provided some feedback that would be helpful for revising, but given that I've already tried 105 agents with this one, I don't think it's worth doing a big revision for the small handful I might still query. I have one full still out on this, but that's feeling like a long shot at this point! Sigh. This will be novel #7 to go into the trunk. Guess it's time to really get serious about the next draft of #8!

I've used critters before, it's quite good for critting short stories in my experience. Less good for novels, but possible. I usually do it for a bit and then get overwhelmed and quit for a while (you're expected to crit a certain amount every week).

Got 2 heartbreakingly close rejections from some pro markets in the past couple weeks. On the one hand, I'm thrilled I made it through to the final rounds of consideration, but on the other...gah being so close and then failing is so frustrating! These stories have also been submitted a lot of places so it's not like I can fool myself the next submission will go any better. Ah well. Onwards! I also am back into querying for manuscript #7. We'll see how that goes.

I'm not an expert, but I believe romance is the best genre for self pub and science fiction is also a good one. Fantasy not as much. Not sure if that translates to indie as well.

What did Rowan slip under the table to the judges to keep him over Mak this week?!

Yeah, I've looked into both small presses and self-pub, but neither seems to be a good fit for me at the moment. I may change my mind in the future, but the dream of trad pub dies hard, I suppose. In good news, I did finish that pesky draft and I I already hate the manuscript a little bit less. Going to let it sit for a month or so before revisions. In the meantime, wondering if it's worth revising my previous manuscript yet again. I paused querying on it due to a low request rate and the pandemic, and it might be worth shining up again. I only made it through ~half of my query list. @The Grey Wolf, I prefer V2. Looks great!

Well I'm hoping that once I finish I'll be able to find parts of it to like and make the whole thing better. I've abandoned projects before, but usually once I get past a certain point I find it best to just go ahead and finish without judgment. This is the 8th full novel-length manuscript I've written so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the middle-of-the-book doldrums. Of course, none of those manuscripts have snagged me an agent, so I'm not exactly doing everything right...

I'm about finished with the first draft of my latest novel. This was last year's NaNo project--50k in 1 month and then 10 months for the next 30k...oops. Problem is I think it kind of sucks and that's pretty demotivating. But my boyfriend is reading the draft now so I have to finish or he'll be upset at not getting an ending! I think there's only about 2-3 chapters left. @Lord Patrek, I'm curious how you took a 12 year hiatus and still have an agent on call?? Impressive! I know that feeling of writing again after a long break, good luck with the new story!

Well for one thing, if you fit a simple model to the wait times of the books, assuming an impossibly best case scenario of Book 6 in June 2020, that puts Book 7 in Oct 2032. I just don't see it happening.

I'm still working on my poor little things. I've become a bit stuck at around the 75% mark of my current MS, and I'm struggling to finish it. I have a million new shiny ideas that seems soooo much better than this pile of crap...but I suppose I ought to just finish it anyway and see. On the business side, I've decided to pause querying for a while. I know publishing business is still going on, but I've seen a drop in agent responses and I know my own professional productivity has been quite low at this time, so I think it's best to hold off for a little while longer. I'm about 50% of the way through my query list for this one. Not getting the best response rate, but I'm not sure where to improve it at this point, so I'll probably continue on with my current submission package for at least another 10 agents.

Whoops, fair enough!

I think this is a really unnecessary response to someone posting a mild-mannered question about a draft that was completed a year ago. It was not an attack on the author nor an entitled demand.

This counts as self-promotion even though I actually get nothing for it*, but I had a short story published recently: http://www.bronzevillebee.com/2019/11/fiction-death-friend-by-nora-bailey/ *ETA: I mean, I did get paid for it, but I won't get paid more if more people read it.

I haven't read the Guardian article, but I agree this season is a bit off. I'm still enjoying the baking and the contestants, but I am NOT enjoying the judging and the editing. It seems like the judging is only based on the showstopper--why even bother with a technical round when they just completely ignore it? Honestly it feels like they're just choosing who goes home based on who they want to stick around. Maybe that's not the case, but if there have been good reasons for the judging decisions, they haven't been showing them, which is annoying to watch. I don't need or want vague judging soundbites throughout the show so that I can be shocked with who goes home.

I'm excited that Netflix is airing this in the US in somewhat-real-time, so I don't have to constantly avoid spoilers. I've watched through episode 3 so far and am enjoying it as always. I do still miss the original cast, although I like Noel. I just could not get over the frosted tips that Jamie had, please tell me that is not a fashion choice that is making a comeback... Edit: Wow I just got around to watching Dairy Week and that was some bullshit. I understand that they want to generate some suspense, but either shame on the editing team for not making it clear why someone was in danger or shame on the judges for cutting someone who hadn't shown themselves to be on the bottom that week.

That's cool. Not sure if I'll be reading it, though. It's been so long and I don't feel like re-reading...maybe someday if the series is finished! This isn't a dig on Scott, just a fact of life that long waits for books makes me lose enthusiasm for series.

Well, thank you for telling me what I think. I have seen the light! Or else there are legitimate complaints about the sheer incredulity of a random lowborn whore from the North sleeping with almost every major character?

Only for things that bore me. :)

I gave it an 8. Didn't quite grab me as much as I'd hoped, but still very good. The Ros/Pycelle scene was a waste. I found it impossible to follow his wheezing exposition and ended up checking facebook. The final scene felt a little anti-climactic, and I know it's nitpicky but it's really bugging me that she didn't lose her hair. Looks a little silly, and she would have only been bald for a little while--by her second chapter in ACOK it is already growing back. But still, a very satisfying end to a very well done series. Loved how they pulled the sheer misery onto Sansa's face. Loved to hate Joffrey. Loved Robb. Loved "Arry." Can't wait until season 2!!

It's a little harder to tell in the show, because it is in 2 different episode, but in the book that Arya chapter comes immediately after the Ned chapter where he gets betrayed by LF. Arya even thinks during that scene that it is her last dancing lesson before getting on the boat (ie the one her father arranged for her and Sansa to go back to Winterfell). When she runs away, she realizes that it's not safe to go to the Tower of the Hand. So no, neither her nor Syrio know yet that her father has been arrested.

Or maybe your subjective opinion is just different than theirs? Several people have already stated that they didn't even know this episode was written by GRRM. I personally could care less who writes the episodes--what matters is how much I enjoy watching them.

My first 10. My biggest complaint about the episode was probably the weird editing/shooting when Arya killed the stableboy--totally threw me out of the story and reminded me I was watching a video camera. But that's a minor quibble!! Loved it!

Gave it an 8. Would have been a 9 if not for the awful LF-porn scene.