Quote:
Originally Posted by davos
I have a few goals in mind for myself:
a) Publish Writing
b) Lose Weight
But I find it difficult to pursue these properly. I do my best to accomplish a little bit every day, but it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Advice?
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B) first ... really, that's the easy one believe it or not. So, the biggest trick to me is to find something you enjoy doing first. Bike riding, lifting weights, running, whatever. If your only goal is to lose weight, it's easy to get frustrated and quit. Try lots of things like hiking or rock climbing or swimming. Once you find "your thing" it will make exercising and diet much easier because you have something to apply it to.
A) Oookay, this is tougher because becoming published doesn't depend on just you. Now other people are in the mix. I've written two full books and haven't been able to get either published.
So ...
A1) Determine what you are writing. This affects how you approach publishers/agents. Non-fiction agents/publishers want a proposal before the book. Fiction agents/publishers want the book to be complete before you inquire about them.
A2) Write some consistently. Every day is great, but just keep at it. You know your capacity. Give yourself small goals such as finishing a chapter. When you finish a chapter, reward yourself. I suggest Oreos, but Oreo cookies are my answer to everything.
A3) Rewrite ad nauseum. Seriously. My typical number of rewrites is about 10.
A4) Get a good letter of inquiry.
A5) Get used to "No". I sent over 500 letters of inquiry on my first novel and most agents never even bothered to respond. I event sent a SASE for them to send me an FU letter back and didn't get responses. I sent somewhere in the range of 300 letters on my second book. I got a couple of nibbles, but no offers.
A6) If you can't get published traditionally, consider self-publishing as an eBook. There are great ways out there to post your own work to Amazon or B&N.
A7) Just because you can't get published, remember that doesn't reflect on your work, but the market. You could write the greatest novel of all time and never sell a copy. Case in point, JK Rowling barely sold any of her book under a pseudo name, but Snookie sold thousands of copies of her book. Snookie. Yep, the Jersey Shore girl who could barely spell her name.
Best of luck and hang in there!