Goals four V.38!

[PenMark]

Thanks for the tip, disgruntledpeony, I will be sure to do that!

[Shockhawk]

My goal is to submit a new unique story each quarter and learn one thing new about writing with each piece.

I officially started writing last November (didn’t know about WOTF till February) and when I started it would take hours to get two or three sentences written... three days ago I wrote 1000 words in a couple hours.

During my first year I learned that short stories need a character, in a detailed setting, with a problem. That I, as the writer, need to make a promise to the reader within the first two pages, have a great ending with a bow tied around it.

I also learned to not write a bunch of stuff and then write as, as much, Not to start so many sentences with adjectives and to never kill off your character or have them commit suicide as that is the cheap and easy way to finish a short story.

Best of luck to everyone with your goals!!

[storysinger]

I plan to submit a story to every quarter for volume 38. Unless I get a win in the first three.

[Eagerink]

Good luck with your goals everyone! They all sound great.

My goal is to submit a new unique story each quarter and learn one thing new about writing with each piece.

I officially started writing last November (didn’t know about WOTF till February) and when I started it would take hours to get two or three sentences written... three days ago I wrote 1000 words in a couple hours.

During my first year I learned that short stories need a character, in a detailed setting, with a problem. That I, as the writer, need to make a promise to the reader within the first two pages, have a great ending with a bow tied around it.

I also learned to not write a bunch of stuff and then write as, as much, Not to start so many sentences with adjectives and to never kill off your character or have them commit suicide as that is the cheap and easy way to finish a short story.

Best of luck to everyone with your goals!!

This sounds great :) if you haven't read any books on writing, I highly recommend doing so. When I first started reading them I learned way more than just one thing per story. The Red Sneaker Writers series is a great one to start with in my opinion if you need any suggestions. :)

[Shockhawk]

Awesome and thanks... I’ll check those out Eagerink.

[Eagerink]

Awesome and thanks... I’ll check those out Eagerink.

I haven't read them all, but my favorites are the dialogue and the style ones. :)

[Beth Powers]

I've always tried to focus on making my writing goals things that I can control (writing and submitting), rather than the things that I can't (acceptances, winning, etc.), but I like the idea of thinking about what I can do that could potentially affect the outcome in a positive way. I haven't missed a quarter since 2007 so submitting isn't really a problem for me, but lately I tend to write the stories right before the deadline, which means my submissions are probably less polished than they could be. I'm doing something different for Q1 (collaboration experiment with Dustin!), which will leave me a window of cushion room this quarter. So my goal for V38 is going to be to draft my Q2 by the Q1 deadline, and Q3 by the Q2 deadline, and so on. That should give me some extra time to get feedback and revise before the actual deadlines.

[Agathon]

I've always tried to focus on making my writing goals things that I can control (writing and submitting), rather than the things that I can't (acceptances, winning, etc.), but I like the idea of thinking about what I can do that could potentially affect the outcome in a positive way.

Now that's an admirable attitude!

[ajschultz6]

I love the idea behind this thread! I just heard back last week on my first submission to the contest. My goals for next year are to:

1) Submit every quarter this time.

2) Hopefully get above an HM somewhere in there.

3) Get better at my second round of revisions. I'm good at pumping out the first drafts, doing the first round of revisions, and then getting critiques, but I've had three stories languishing in the second revision phase pretty much all year, which is why I only made one sub to the contest this year and four subs overall, all for the same story. And this has prevented me from moving on to new projects, too, which is an obvious problem.

4) Finally finish that novel I've been tinkering with since 2015.