Annual State of the Writer
Feb. 18th, 2023 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
writerkitAnother Boskone is upon us (although again I am not there) and with it the annual assessment of my writing career. Which took a massive pause this year-- I was only really active towards the start of the year, with the writing falling by the wayside as my life got more stressful.
Still, I did manage three sales and one publication, most of them of stories not actually written this year. One of those was a pro sale. I know SFWA changed its membership definitions, but I spent far too long aware of and aspiring to the old ones for "third pro sale" not to hold a certain magic to it. I really should actually join SFWA; I now qualify under both the old rules and the new.
Of the sales, one was also the publication for the year, another will be coming out fairly soon, and the third... will be coming out in mid-2024, which probably has a lot to do with why that particular market is so against publishing any stories involving current trends.
I have not gotten very many things written this year, though, because everything else has been a massive pile of stress. I was so hoping that getting a full-time job would improve that stress but it's only made it much, much worse. (The thing is, getting enough of a writing career to have a Patreon or something would probably do a lot to ease my anxiety, but I need to do a lot more writing first.)
But I did achieve SFWA qualification under the parameters which I originally set, which means I have qualified as a Real Writer under those parameters. It's good that I set something so very either-you-are-or-you-aren't, because there's a definite sense of goalposts moving: "Okay, you've done that, but have you acquired any fans? Any people reading your writing?" Somehow I thought being a Real Writer would feel more like I knew what I was doing.
The podcast has continued and I'm now doing a lot more of the actual writing for it. It continues to be great fun and a great learning experience. Still contributing to Young People Read Old SFF.
Looking at last year's goals, I achieved "qualify for the SFWA" and none of the others.
And what goals for the next year?
Well, write more. Write more original fiction, write more fanfic, write the podcast script earlier than the night before recording... just write more, in general. I'm not going to set a hard number on this but I want to get more submissions out this year and that requires writing more.
Be on a convention panel. I've got enough stories in pro markets and semipro markets now that I am a reasonable person to have on a convention panel. I mean, depending on the topic, but I have writing credits now.
Really, that's it for this year. I can't think what else I'd set. It's been a long year and it looks set to be another long one. I'll be happy if I can make progress.
Still, I did manage three sales and one publication, most of them of stories not actually written this year. One of those was a pro sale. I know SFWA changed its membership definitions, but I spent far too long aware of and aspiring to the old ones for "third pro sale" not to hold a certain magic to it. I really should actually join SFWA; I now qualify under both the old rules and the new.
Of the sales, one was also the publication for the year, another will be coming out fairly soon, and the third... will be coming out in mid-2024, which probably has a lot to do with why that particular market is so against publishing any stories involving current trends.
I have not gotten very many things written this year, though, because everything else has been a massive pile of stress. I was so hoping that getting a full-time job would improve that stress but it's only made it much, much worse. (The thing is, getting enough of a writing career to have a Patreon or something would probably do a lot to ease my anxiety, but I need to do a lot more writing first.)
But I did achieve SFWA qualification under the parameters which I originally set, which means I have qualified as a Real Writer under those parameters. It's good that I set something so very either-you-are-or-you-aren't, because there's a definite sense of goalposts moving: "Okay, you've done that, but have you acquired any fans? Any people reading your writing?" Somehow I thought being a Real Writer would feel more like I knew what I was doing.
The podcast has continued and I'm now doing a lot more of the actual writing for it. It continues to be great fun and a great learning experience. Still contributing to Young People Read Old SFF.
Looking at last year's goals, I achieved "qualify for the SFWA" and none of the others.
And what goals for the next year?
Well, write more. Write more original fiction, write more fanfic, write the podcast script earlier than the night before recording... just write more, in general. I'm not going to set a hard number on this but I want to get more submissions out this year and that requires writing more.
Be on a convention panel. I've got enough stories in pro markets and semipro markets now that I am a reasonable person to have on a convention panel. I mean, depending on the topic, but I have writing credits now.
Really, that's it for this year. I can't think what else I'd set. It's been a long year and it looks set to be another long one. I'll be happy if I can make progress.
