Self Report Card

With April coming to a close and the year already a third of the way done, I thought I'd look over my writing goals for the year and see how I've done so far.

I set three main goals for the first four months: One for short stories, one for this blog, and one for queries.

The short story goal was to complete and submit one new story each month. With rewriting, and resubmitting, I ended up falling behind and finishing only two. That sets me at 2/4 or 50%.

My goal for finding a literally agent for my first novel was to send out one query ever weekend. Out of seventeen weekends, I sent out seven queries. 17/17 or 100%. That's a little more like it.

My final goal involved this blog and I set the loose goal of writing a 300-word minimum post twice a week. In seventeen weeks I posted twenty-seven times (counting this one, of course). That makes 27/34 or 79%.

Without weighting the numbers, I give myself a grade C+ with a 76.3% average. For extra credit, I'll claim a handful of short-list rejections, two acceptances in April, and two full requests from the queries. All in all, I'll call it a fairly decent four months.

If you've read my posts in the past, you know that I'm a firm believer in setting written goals and reviewing them on a regular basis to see where you succeeded and where you failed to hit your targets.

I think it's really important to understand what worked and what didn't. Don't just pat yourself on you back and say, "Ain't I great?" if you achieved your goals. Make sure you understand specifically how you did it. Likewise, in your failures don't make excuses or blame any other person or event. Just look at what happened and then adjust.

So even if you've fallen off track with your New Year's "resolutions," now is the time to start fresh and revise your goals. You've still got 2/3 of the year left to achieve everything you've set out to do.

Rejections are awesome!

Actually, they're not awesome at all, but I thought I'd put a positive spin on it just because I'm in a good mood.

While rejections may not be awesome, they are certainly a part of our lives. In everything we do, we need to be able to handle rejection, and writing is no different.

My submission stats for 2013 so far include 12 rejections and 1 acceptance (which I just received tonight, hence the good mood) setting my 2013 acceptance ratio at about 7%. That's way below a C average, but I still try to view rejection letters in a positive way. For one thing, a rejection means I'm trying; that I'm actually doing something to chase my dream. It also means that I created something I felt was good enough to show people. That's a success in itself.

Every time I feel a little down about a rejection, I remind myself how much worse I'd feel at the end of my life if I never tried at all to make it at writing. Remember that old saying: When the time comes, you regret what you didn't do more than what you did.

One thing that new writers need to remember is that every writer in history has gone through rejections. Check out the website One Hundred Famous Rejections to see just how many famous novels and writers have been turned down by someone at one point or another.

So whether it's writing or another dream you have, you can't give up on it just because somebody doesn't accept you on your first try. It can be difficult and sometimes frustrating, but rejections are just a small bump in the road, and if you continue to improve, learn from each rejection, and never give up, you'll get there.

And if you ever feel like quitting, remember why it is you started in the first place. And then keep going.

Recommended reading: Write Your Book. a No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Fiction by De Bethune, (Google Affiliate Ad)