Yep. I’m going to give it a try. Publishing, that is. Short stories. Novellas. Novelettes. All of it. Instead of worrying about how others do it, have done it, or if these things are good enough, I am going to do it.
To start, I am going to release “The Farm” (this title may change; it was its working title), a speculative piece of short fiction following a farmer who is trying to keep her way of life after leaving her as the only farm owner left — food production otherwise having gone over to climate regulated towers. It’s on the longer end of the word count range for a short story at nearly 7,000 words. That will come on August 5th on ebook.
Then for September will be another one. Whether this will be a short story, novelette, or novella, I’ll see. I have a few high in the queue. All of them will be published in the near future.
In a manner of speaking, this will be a flood of new material available from me, much of it being less than novel-length stories. The pace of releases won’t last too long; nor do I wish it to last. It’s a push to clear out a backlog as well as a means to help push me to produce more. Not that it is a guarantee.
There’s a few things I need to practice, and this decision was in a way, a means to commit to that practice.
Since April, I stopped a lot of things related to my writing. In fact, I fell off a lot of routines and habits altogether. I stopped logging my word count, I stopped reading everyday, and I stopped journaling. Stopping them each in their own ways were big mistakes, but I knew I needed some time to reflect.
With anything we do in life, the measure as to whether it is good for us or not can be made through if the activity is helping us progress. If it is, then it is good; if it is not, then it is not so good. At the time, I realized that my tracking my written word count was not helping me. Rather than being a tool to ensure I wrote each day, I stressed more about meeting the prescribed goal. I stressed over how many words I wrote in fiction vs anything else. It pushed me to write for the sake of building a word count instead of creating a story. And many projects suffered for it. In realizing that, I took the step back.
Putting some distance between me and that daily word count goal tracking helped me to reflect on some of the other things I do, and how I ultimately treat my writing. Editing/revisions and publishing are a big one there. Because of the time needed to write new words, old words that needed polishing were neglected. I’d rather write new than revise — the timeless dilemma of the writer. Maybe that’s a reason why editors abound?
Much of what I did revolved around the word count goals. I’d finish drafts and move on. Short stories might find their way onto my site for Free Fiction Friday, but mostly, they just went to the side. All in all, I have probably 2 novels, a middle-grade story, and a dozen or so stories between short story and novella that could be effectively ready to publish if I was to give them some attention. Focusing on word count also allowed for me to ignore the general fears or anxieties that follow along with the creative pursuit. Given that all creative works are very much personal, the idea that they aren’t “perfect” or that others will sneer at them persists. It is easier then to turn attention to writing new stuff (and to whine and complain on here), than it is to put myself out there. Will I be popular? I don’t know. Will people like my work? Maybe. Will the work be perfect? Never. The realization came that the work should be put out there and see what happens.
Hence the realization that maybe it is time to start a publishing surge.
Still, the problem of writing still remains. Simply put, I do need to write every day. How much? Don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Whether it is 100 new words or 1,000 or 10,000, I need to write something. It simply cannot be all consuming like it was before. The new routine will have to include a mix of writing and other writing activities, with a careful eye to balance between them instead of letting one strip out all the time for the others. Racing to get the best word count each day over everything else only will lead me where I am now, with a backlog of material and a mess of other stories to sort through.
Back to the publishing aspect. While short stories are not the most ideal of publishing material, given their traditional position as fodder for literary magazines, other periodicals, and publication in collections, as I wrote in Short and Long Breaths in Writing, technology has allowed a market for these shorter pieces. That is the market I am going to move in for a bit.
There is a lot of work still to do, but I am going to try for it. I hope to bring you all along for the ride.
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