Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Wednesday's Writing Update: When to Stop Writing a Short Story


Happy Wednesday!

If you look at last week’s post, I had two short stories I wanted to write before the end of July. Now it is just one, but I didn’t finish the other one. Yeah, yeah, I know as writers we should always finish what we start. I loved the idea of the story, but after doing the research and beginning to write it, it fell flat. My enthusiasm for it was gone. I wrote about 600 words in it in three days. It was pathetic. I had two options: struggle along and do my best to finish it before July 31st (the deadline) or stop writing it and work on story two.

I decided to work on story two. The anthology I planned to send story one is a yearly anthology. If the idea sparks up again, then I’ll take the short story back out and write it. Until then, it’ll be shelved.

I am working on the new short story. It’s awesome so far! I’m so excited about it. I’ve written over 1200 words in two days on it, and I hope to get more written today. My only fear is that it’ll be too long (can’t be over 7,000 words), but if it is, I’ll find something else to do with it. I’m glad I made the decision to move on.

In other writing news, I’m editing Virtuoso again. I won a first chapter critique, and the feedback made me excited to work on it again. My goal is to finish editing chapters 1-10 before August 1st. Then I’ll take a chapter every two days (rewrite/edit time). If I keep with the schedule, it’ll be query-ready in early October. I need it to be query ready by then. I’ll be attending a query letter workshop and an agent pitching workshop on Thursday, October 6th at the James River Writers Conference, and I’ll pitch an agent either on the 7th or 8th there. Also, it’s time to have Virtuoso polished and ready to go. I wrote the manuscript back during NaNoWriMo 2009. I’m ready to work on new things, and I need to use October to plan NaNoWriMo 2011 and my YA Contemporary novel, Starred.

So how is everyone? Have you stopped working on a story before for something else? How did you feel about it? Anyone planning to do NaNoWriMo 2011 with me in November?

6 comments:

Aubrie said...

Yup, I've had my stories sputter out before the end. Knowing when to put them away is best. You can always come back to them later.

Usually when I'm stuck, I turn to another story so I can keep writing.

Good luck with your writing this week!

Linda Glaz said...

yeah, sometimes the idea is far better than the story itself...

Christine Rains said...

I know what you mean when stories sputter out. I can't get back into that unicorn hunter story even though I love the idea. It can sit until the time is ready for it again. I'm happy you're back to Virtuoso! ^_^ I'm editing my Sphinx story again. It will be my third time. I hope to do NaNoWriMo, but I don't have an idea yet. If the Sphinx story is liked by the publisher, maybe I'll do another one about one of Arik's sisters. Do a small series for each Sphinx in the family.

Summer Ross said...

You have been a busy lady! Good job on getting through the one story, 1200 words is nothing to scoff at. great job!

Becky Mushko said...

If writers finished all the stories they started, they'd never have time to start all the stories they don't finish.

Jennifer Hillier said...

Ooh, that writer's conference is something to look forward to!

Hmmm, I may do Nano this year, if I can wrap up my revisions in time. The timing didn't work out for me last year, but I did enjoy watching everybody's updates!