The W1S1 Check-in and Chill Lounge and Bar

Diem_Allen

"Jane, get me off this crazy thing!
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Hey just starting this crazy ride (W1/S1). I started a new short today and also worked on my novel. Finding it a little difficult to switch things off and change gears but hopefully like Articshark I will find my groove. Happy writing!
 

Batspan

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Hi, everyone. Inspiring to see all the productivity.

Niccolo, I can relate. I'm musing about my goals and ideal pace. I have a pretty intensive editing and polishing process. A couple of new ones a month is probably a better fit for me than one a week. I've just come out of years of intensive writing production on other projects and I want to enjoy my return to fiction, not go back into production stress mode.

I started with revising my favorite stories. Reworking them is taking a week or so each. I just submitted #5 today. Two are on their second submission.

I started a file of ideas for new stories. Enjoying using Scrivener and Sonar submission tracking software for this.
 

articshark

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I am going to get two short pieces in this month. But after that, I am going to take a small hiatus on writing shorts to concentrate on some of my longer pieces. It just seems that finding romance markets that are short shorts or even long shorts is getting harder and harder as the year moves on. And I can't do two novella length pieces a month plus work on two novels at the same time. It is making me CRA-CRA. lol I guess I could switch over to spec fic. But when I do that, I want to be working on my PA/UF and MG Space O/W to keep the continuity between my shorter and longer works. Too much of a switch otherwise. :)
 

Batspan

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Hey, Batspan! Do you know if you can export Markets you have added to Sonar3? :)

I see "export list" and "convert sonar database" under "File," so I believe so. His website's pretty informative if you need more info: http://www.spacejock.com/

I don't know him or have any connection to the site. Liked finding a sub tracker by a science fiction writer.
 

Izz

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Hey all. :) Checking back in after a pretty long absence. Not sure i'll be back on the W1S1 horse for a while yet, but i'll definitely be around here.
 

alexshvartsman

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Hey all. :) Checking back in after a pretty long absence. Not sure i'll be back on the W1S1 horse for a while yet, but i'll definitely be around here.

Welcome back! We missed your Cthulhu skeleton... thing (or whatever that avatar of yours is!) :)
 

fihr

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Just wondered what everyone here does with their older stories. Do you keep them circulating even when your writing style has changed?

I have some early stories which haven't yet found a home, but have been held up for a long time at some markets, so they haven't been circulated everywhere yet either. In the mean time, I think (I hope!) my writing has improved. I've edited the stories over time, and I still like them, but now I'd rather write new stories than edit much older ones, so I don't intend to touch them any more.

But the idea with W1S1 is to keep sending the stories out until they find a home regardless. Is this what you do?
 

gettingby

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Just wondered what everyone here does with their older stories. Do you keep them circulating even when your writing style has changed?

I have some early stories which haven't yet found a home, but have been held up for a long time at some markets, so they haven't been circulated everywhere yet either. In the mean time, I think (I hope!) my writing has improved. I've edited the stories over time, and I still like them, but now I'd rather write new stories than edit much older ones, so I don't intend to touch them any more.

But the idea with W1S1 is to keep sending the stories out until they find a home regardless. Is this what you do?

I have found the longer I do w1s1 the harder it is to keep them all out there. Actually, I don't even think it is possible. I have my favorites that I will keep trying with, but some of them aren't worth it. I feel the same way as you that I would rather write new than fix the old.

I think the idea of w1s1 is to get you writing and submitting, but as you get better, those are the stories that deserve more of your attention. It's what I think, anyway.
 

fihr

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I have found the longer I do w1s1 the harder it is to keep them all out there.

Not in my case, because I am not as prolific! I have only a handful in circulation, and when I sell one or two, it's noticeable. So for me, its a question of do I keep old work out there when my writing has changed?
 

alexshvartsman

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I finished stories that I felt weren't good enough to submit to markets. But among the ones I polished and submitted, I've never removed one from circulation yet. I have stuff still making rounds from 2010!
 

fihr

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I finished stories that I felt weren't good enough to submit to markets. But among the ones I polished and submitted, I've never removed one from circulation yet. I have stuff still making rounds from 2010!

Thanks, Alex - it's good to know that! Yeah, I have some stories that I didn't feel were ready/good enough, but the ones out there are ones I'm happy with.
 

Izz

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Just wondered what everyone here does with their older stories. Do you keep them circulating even when your writing style has changed?
I typically keep them circulating until i've at least run out of markets that pay, though there have been a few i've retired earlier than that. Though, even with ones i've retired, if a new market comes along that i think they might fit at, i'll get them out, give them a quick polish and send them over.
 

eyeblink

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I tend to do much the same, though the number of submissions has declined in past years - as had the number of stories I'd written (three in four years, 2009-2012). I've just sold one that I wasn't sure where to send to once the obvious markets had all rejected it.

I do have stuff out though, and have written three new ones so far this year (all listed in sig below). though "Mourning Becomes Me" is due a major rewrite and will get much longer than it is and "Because" I only wrote last Friday and is still an unedited first draft. "Treffpunkt" I will do a final pass on soon and send it out - I'mn concentrating on getting to the end of the novel redraft, which should take about another week.
 

fihr

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Thanks Izz and Eyeblink - that's helpful. I'll keep them doing the rounds. I still have plenty of paying markets left. :D You know, I have a feeling if I ever write a novel, the experience of continually subbing shorts will be invaluable.
 

Batspan

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Good to read about how some of you who have been on this track longer do it.
I've been doing major revisions on older stories. Re-envisioning them to the extent that the final story is a new thing. Only on the ones that are worth it.
Having fun with Scrivener. Took an old SF story apart in it to restructure it.
 

DragonHeart

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Just did something I've never done before. A story came to me (in the shower of course) so as soon as I was done I sat down, wrote it and immediately submitted. To the market that gave me my last R, no less, mainly because it's hard to find paying markets for stories of that length of indeterminate genre.

It's something, at least. I'm still working on stories I started in January. Sigh. Rough year.
 

Izz

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Good to read about how some of you who have been on this track longer do it.
I've been doing major revisions on older stories. Re-envisioning them to the extent that the final story is a new thing. Only on the ones that are worth it.
Having fun with Scrivener. Took an old SF story apart in it to restructure it.
I've never used Scrivener. Heard good things about it though.

Just did something I've never done before. A story came to me (in the shower of course) so as soon as I was done I sat down, wrote it and immediately submitted. To the market that gave me my last R, no less, mainly because it's hard to find paying markets for stories of that length of indeterminate genre.

It's something, at least. I'm still working on stories I started in January. Sigh. Rough year.
Hey, good going :) Sometimes something like that gets the rest of your writing moving again, too.
 

Batspan

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Izz-- I got the free trial of Scrivener and it's become my favorite writing tool. There's a corkboard feature for organizing scenes and there are also areas for character and research notes. All of it can be changed with drag and drop. Terrific for tinkering with and easy to move scenes around.
 

Batspan

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Here's another vote for Scrivener. Got a free trial and never look back. I now use it for fiction, non-fiction, blog posts, journaling and recipes. :D

I hear you. I'm going to have to buy it when my trial runs out. It's been amazing for restructuring older work, and now I'm starting to plot new fiction with it.

I've nearly finished story #9. I'm writing a new one that I expected to be my 10th submission, but it's running longer than I expected and I don't want to rush it so I might do a flash.

I just started a novella I want to draft by the end of the month and I have NF projects on deadlines. This is the most fiction I've done in years. I'm on track, just have to crank.

How do the rest of you set goals and pace yourselves?
 

Aislinn

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I use Scrivener too, for anything above about 3000 words. I love it.

Batspan, I find pacing myself difficult - in weeks when the ideas are bouncing around, it can be hard to stop and just do normal life stuff, and I find myself stressed out by too many projects even though I'm only working for myself and my own deadlines.

I use a diary to write goals for each day and week so I don't end up trying to do everything at once, and don't even have to try to remember all the things I have to do. I've been doing blocks of W1S1 around other weeks of writing or revising longer works. I can only first-draft one story at a time, but I revise anything, anytime I feel like it.
 

Eliza C

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Do all you Scrivener users work on Mac or PC? I get the feeling it was designed for Mac and may be more compatible with that system.
 

fihr

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I love using Scrivener, and mine is on a Mac. When I had no choice and had to work on a Windows laptop temporarily, I put a Scrivener trial version on it. Didn't notice any difference, but I was only doing basic stuff.