So Much to Write and Revise

Before registering with NaNoWriMo, I should have considered that I might have another edit coming from Wormhole Electric. Sure enough, it came yesterday, so I'll be working on a third edit on my novella The Witch's Familiar, which will be published in Wormhole Electric on November 25 (or rather, the first episode of seven, since they publish in serial form). At least they're giving me chances; most magazine editors start reading the draft I sent them and reject the manuscript outright rather than say they'll publish it after some revision.

I wish open rejections--"We'll publish it if you make these changes"--were much more common, rather than closed rejections. That said, I realize that journals (and literary agents) receive a great many submissions and don't have time to give unknown authors that much attention. Yet unknown authors, if anything, need more attention than extremely famous authors.

Between now and November 15, I'll not only be busy with a developmental edit and with my NaNoWriMo manuscript, but I'll also be revising The Witch's Familiar manuscript, since its due dates is November 15. This is what I've always wanted to do--be a full-time author without a day job. However, I imagined it with enough royalties to live on.

NaNoWriMo

It's day two of NaNoWriMo, the November challenge to write a novel of 50,000 words or 175 pages in only one month (www.nanowrimo.org). The emphasis is on quantity rather than quality, in order to get writers and would-be writers to work on that novel they've been putting off. After the month of November is over, you can go back over the manuscript and revise as much as you want.

My brother informed me via Facebook that he registered for NaNoWriMo and asked me if I'm doing it this year. I'm very glad that he's finally working on a novel rather than just world building and character building. I also decided to take up the challenge, but with a little artistic license: since I have a January 5 due date for a long story to submit to Wormhole Electric (www.wormholeelectric.com), I should work on two or three long stories rather than one novel. So that's what I'm doing. I have about thirty pages so far, 145 to go. Who knows, at the rate that one of these long stories is going, it might end up being a novel.