But a recent blog by Chris Baty has me wondering. What sort of revision efforts could NaNoWriMo help me with? He's asking for input on the kinds of revision tools you'd like to see.
Right now, we have the barest minimum. A couple of forums, the Critiques forum, and the Novel Draft Aftercare forum. Critiques is great, but only if you have something ready to critique. Aftercare is nice, but I'm not done yet.
I had a dream the other night. Apparently, my subconscious doesn't set its sights very high. I dreamed that I went to the mailbox, and my novel was in there. It was a paperback proof, had been retitled "Off the Shoulder" (I have no idea why) and was printed by the "Del Rey Discount Books" division. There was a contract in there... with a $1,500 advance written in. I remember the cover art being pretty cool, though.
I mean... really? My brain couldn't come up with NYT bestseller list, or a million dollar advance, or even a fully priced paperback? Oh dear.
I'm going to take it as encouragement, though. While I don't think Del Rey has a discount books division, I like the attainability of that dream. Million dollar advances are very rare-- but what I'm aiming for isn't a certain advance, or even the NYT list. It's purely, and simply, publication. My book, available in a bookstore near you, where I can go and front my books, and smile like an idiot while I point to it to the other customers and say "MINE!" while they back away slowly. I've thought (hard) about publishing some ebooks, but I still want the real thing.
So what are your writing plans? Are you writing for you? Are you revising something to be published? Going the self-publishing or ebook routes? Trying to convince the aliens in the back of your head that they can't destroy the planet because of your literary prowess?
2 comments:
I am a firm believer in edit as you go-- you've read my first drafts. So I don't have any ideas for that.
But I'm here to tell you that you won't write anything until you wean yourself from Facebook. "Social networking site" my ass-- it's a TIME WASTING site, and not much else.
Oh, I don't deny it. My problem isn't facebook... if it's not facebook, it's something else.
My problem is internet addiction. If I can't get my fix on facebook, it'll be babycenter. Or the nano forums. Or blogsurfing. Or LJ.
I'm like a smoker. I don't care what brand it is, as long as it's got my nicotine in it.
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