Personally I don’t make resolutions, but that may not be true of you. It may be important to resolve, for example, to make time to write every day, or to complete what you’ve started, or to edit more, or any number of things.
I do plan, though, what I can realistically achieve this year as a writer. Luckily, most of those decisions are already taken for me in 2018.
January 1 | Make plans
I have a first draft of a novel, The Tears of Boabdil, that I’m really excited about AND that I believe has commercial possibilities. The year is book-ended by the opening and closing of a 12-month long mentorship I’ve been awarded by Cinnamon Press. In that time, I plan to get my novel into a publishable state. |
January | Enter short story competitions I’m more likely to win
For several years, I’ve been unsuccessfully entering some of the biggest competitions the literary world has to offer – the Bridport, the Sunday Times EFG, the Costa, for example. I will probably enter them again this year. But with the chances of placing ranging from just over 1% to less than a quarter of a per cent, the odds are not in my favour. So this year I am also entering competitions with more favourable odds. I have sent stories to competitions where the odds of placing are around 4% to 5%: · Exeter, which closes on 28 February · Bath, which closes on 23 April · Yeovil, which closes on 31 May I have entered all of these, as well as the BBC National Short Story Competition, which closes on 12 March and the Winchester Writers Festival short story competition, which closes on 11 April. |
February – December | Rework the novel
Comments from my mentor should be back by the end of February. If I enter the Bridport Novel Competition, I may want to concentrate in the first half of the year on the initial 15,000 words. |
April – May | Bridport Competition
This closes 31 May. I ‘m thinking of entering the novel competition rather than the short story. |
June – August | Sunday Times EFG Competition
Details not yet announced. But will probably open in June and close in September. Winchester Writers’ Festival 15-17 June. Costa Short Story Award Details not yet announced. But will probably open in July and close in August. |
September – November | Farnham Short Story Competition
Not one to enter, but to run. Writers’ Retreat Ty’n y Coed, November, run by Cinnamon Press |
Your concrete plans are inspiring, especially for me whose goals consist of: I hope to get something published. 🙂 Good luck, Neil. I hope the world is your oyster this year.
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Thanks Sascha. If you want to get something published, the trick is doing your research on what the magazine wants, and what its accpetance rate is
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Yes. This is very true. I’ve been being a reader for a book publisher and I have seen first hand how writers are unaware of the market. Market research is important for writers.
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I use Duotrope to guide magazine submissions
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I’ll check it out. I hoping to make myself serious about getting published again. Were there enough qualifications in that? 🙂
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I think it needs a subordinate clause, starting with “if” to really qualify
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not to mention the fact that if I go around writing “I hoping” it might dissolve any chance of getting published…but who knows.
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