As the Steve Miller Band said, “time keeps on slipping (slipping, slipping) into the future.” We are nearly halfway through February, another week bites the dust, and “the years start coming and they don’t stop coming (Smash Mouth, 1999).”
Point is, there’s another week gone and goals to discuss.
Last Week
- Write at least 3x
- Finish reading at least 1 book
How'd I Do?
- Write at least 3x
- Nope. I wrote twice, though!
- Finish reading at least 1 book
- Yep! There was a LOT of reading this week!
Weekly Word Count: 2,142
I’ll admit that it’s a little disappointing to only have two goals and not be able to say I accomplished them both. Did I have a good reason? Sure, I had a migraine on Tuesday, one of my scheduled writing days. I’m also grappling with the realization that I’ve taken on a bit too much at work, and navigating the reality that I’m going to have to back out of some things. Naturally, disappointing people is not my jam. But my priorities are clear – I know where I want and need to focus. Everything else is just clutter.
Honorable Mentions
Despite all this stress and disappointment, there was some really cool stuff happening this week. The biggest one was Julie Nováková, the editor of Life Beyond Us, spotlighting my story “The Lament of Kivu Lacus” on twitter!
She said such lovely things about my story that I couldn’t keep the grin off my face for the rest of the day! Read the entire thread here! And don’t forget to PRE-ORDER Life Beyond Us!
I also received less tangible, and definitely more stress-inducing news this week. I got a partial request on Something Sulfurous. For non-writerly readers, this means that an agent I’ve queried has liked my initial query package (query letter and first five pages) enough to request additional pages.
If you aren’t in the query trenches right now, you might not realize how validating this is. I looked at the averages on QueryTracker and y’all, it is ROUGH out there. The average request rate (whether full or partial) is only 6.1%! I’ve been querying for just over six months and have only had two requests. My request rate is 6.9%.
That’s higher than the average, and I’ve had TWO REQUESTS since JULY!
So pour one out for the writers in your life. We’re dying out here.
Now, before you get too excited, requests aren’t a guarantee of acceptance. While they’re encouraging, and usually suggest that your writing is working, agents have a lot more to consider than simply the quality of your craft. There’s the market, genre, content, etc., to consider before they’ll make an offer of representation.
A request is simple a sign you’ve made it over the first hurdle. There’s an entire race still to run.
This week Trevor and I also added the final flourish to my office: the gallery wall! Now my reading nook is complete and I have something stunning to look at from behind my laptop screen!
So, What's Next?
- Write <3x this week
- Organize/Tidy up the office
- Keep reading
Look. I’ve yet to hit my goal of writing three times a week, BUT I’ve been consistently working on the book, adding about 1k words with each session. Things might slow down a little in the drafting process because I’ve hit the last third of the plot, and things from here require more research into the politics of the time period in a very particular setting. Remember, for some unknown reason, I decided to write a Historical Horror novel, so I have to do silly things like research.
“But, B., you already did research back in October!”
Good memory! Yes, I did spend a couple Saturdays at the amazing Oregon Historical Society Research Library, and it was absolutely vital to laying my foundational understanding of the area and time period. But, now I need to dig deeper. I need more than just a grasp of the technology and geography. Now I’m getting into the socio-political shit, and it’s a lot, okay?
I have a stack of books staring me down from the bookshelf behind my desk…
Also, I learned about printing presses circa 1855, which was VERY cool.
Beyond the writing, reading is going VERY well. I’ve been listening to audiobooks, reading some writing books to prep for Spring Break (more on that another time), and catching up on graphic novels. I’m hoping to keep up the momentum for a lovely year of reading and learning. 
In order to better facilitate both reading and writing, my office needs some love. Between the big project of measuring, hanging, and leveling a gallery wall, there’s also a slew of documents and iced coffee cups loitering around on various surfaces. Not exactly conducive to creativity.
So, a tidy up is in order. Nothing too crazy, but I think decluttering and organizing will help ground me into the space once more and clear the path to more productive writing sessions. I’m getting a little woo-woo there, but it’s true.
And that’s where I’m at going into this week. Just reading and writing and taking care of my space and myself.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with the usual Outings! post, and maybe a little something extra toward the end of the week. A blog post idea is percolating…
Until then, Bloggos!
BZ
