M. Lori Motley

.. with a bit of marketing, platform-building and tweaking of websites thrown in for good measure.

(They are, after all, important parts of becoming a professional writer, which I intend to be!)

I’m charting my progress on a new blog — Go Forth Boldly — where I will talk about the day-to-day processes of writing fiction full time and marketing my various pen names so I can build a solid fan base as I go.

Motley me has been working on “Sweetest Poison,” which had been critted by critters over a year ago. I’ve changed and grown a lot as a writer since then and think I can do justice to the story now. It will be the first one I submit to publications. Will keep you all posted on the progress.

This is the day my kids’ summer vacation ends. They’re homeschooled and we go basically year round, but took most of July off this year. Hopefully they remember everything they’re supposed to remember.

I was a bit lazy in July as well, especially in this past week. Too much time in Azeroth and not enough time at the keyboard. Well, yeah.. at the keyboard, but not writing!

It’s Monday morning and time for all of us to get back to work. But work, for me, is so much different now.

My usual modus operandi for fiction writing before was to wait until the kids were tucked in bed and my youngest stopped making distracting noises. (Which could take more than an hour.) Then I would open up my WIP (work in progress) file and start typing. Maybe.

This will be the first time I will seriously try to write fiction with the kids in the same room as me. I hope I can break the tradition and get stuff done, because I can’t do all my writing at night if I’m going to be a full-time fiction writer.

The Plan For the Week:

1. Work on the “Lust” entry for Accentuate short story contest ending Aug 31st.
2. Edit “Sweetest Poison” and polish it to be ready for submission
3. Write at least 5,000 words in “Shroud Work,” my fantasy novel

Getting those three things done will satisfy me.

Deep breath…  here I go.

I’m surprisingly cool today, even though I’m submitting three stories to various online markets: one anthology, one e-mag and one to the Accentuate short story contest’s “Endless Love” theme. I’ve already subbed one story to the contest, but have another that will fit the theme.

It will be the first time I ever have more than 2 submissions out at the same time. I’m proud of me for tromping on the procrastination and fear – at least for a little while – and submitting. There is one immutable truth to the writiing game: if you don’t submit, you’ll never get published.

My organizational methods include innumerable index cards in boxes with big labels on them. My daily to-do list is a kid’s shoe box with 20 tabbed cards and about 30 index cards between each. Each index card is one thing I have to do.

I have something very similar for fiction submissions. In a grubby old index card box with “Fiction” on graph paper taped to the front, I have tabs for each month. Then, I write the submissions I want to make on cards and stick them in their appropriate month, based on due date. The ones for the current month get taken out of the box and taped to the back of my desk hutch where I can see them all the time.

Right now, there are two cards there with stories due April 15th. Rather bold of me to try to get two more stories done by tax day, but I’ll see what I can do.

Two years ago at the Muse Online Conference, one of the presentors talked about her “Rule of Thirteen.” She said she always had 13 stories or articles out at one time. I don’t think I have 13 stories that are ready for submission right now, but I can see how the guideline works. The moment you get a rejection back, submit the story somewhere else (perhaps after another quick edit). My goal over the next few months is to build up to at least a Rule of Seven. Seven’s luckier than thirteen anyway.

Ponderous – From Weekend Wordsmith

I sat at my desk, hot to the bone, sweating in the city’s summer heat, and thought about the weight of the world laying across my shoulders. It was ponderous… and it whined.

People on TV with $200 hair-cuts and $600 shoes talked about how to reduce stress. Old men living on pristine mountain tops talked about ‘getting zen,’ finding inner peace. No one from Jersey City told you how to shift that weight aside… not even for a day… an hour.

So I sit, sweating, at my attic-room desk and wait for this ponderous weight to crush my bones into dust. The only way to deal with stress is to die from it as slowly as possible.

For the past 3 years, I’ve attended the Muse online writer’s conference. Tons of information and tons of writerly camaraderie. There are also multiple publishers who attend and — besides teaching classes and answering questions — accept pitches during the conference.

After carefully researching all publishers attending the 2010 conference, I may have to prepare a few pitches myself.

But… only after I finish the novels.

I’ve completed Chapter Four edit and polish for my current WIP, “The Shadow’s Song.” I was inspired by a kestrel that landed in my backyard yesterday. One of the main character’s name is Kestrel, so I took it for a sign to start editing again. I have tweaked my work schedule to allow more time for fiction writing, and I intend to make use of it. I have two other novels that I could finish by October… IF I work really hard between now and then.