Writer Recharge Update 3

We’re now three weeks into the Writer Recharge challenge/encouragement meme co-hosted by Sara Biren, Katy Upperman, Alison Miller, Liz Parker, and Elodie Nowodazkij. The purpose of the meme is to help writers push past weather woes and post-New Year slumps, and focus on moving forward with their writing goals. Some aim high and hope to accomplish a lot, others keep their goals small and easy. Either way, this is a great way to connect with others and encourage one another to make progress where we might otherwise have floundered, or become too distracted.

I have a lot going on at the moment, so I decided to keep my goals simple:

  • Get my novel ready for Beta Readers
  • Finish at least one short story

I’m happy/excited/ecstatic/overjoyed/etc. to say that not only is my novel Beta-ready, but I have submitted it to six–SIX–wonderful, awesome volunteers who, over the coming weeks, will be taking their virtual red pens to my manuscript. I suppose I should be a lot more nervous about these people reading my work, but I’m actually very excited. They are all people I’ve known online for a while, and I trust them to give me honest and constructive feedback. Maybe once they’ve finished I’ll give them an “official” shout-out on the blog. For now, I call them Team Awesome.

This past week, I’ve concentrated a lot on finishing First Reader revisions to the novel so it would be Beta-ready, which means I haven’t really worked a lot on the short story. Now that Team Awesome has my novel, I’ll be switching gears to the short story for the last few days of the challenge. Will I finish? I hope so. We’ll see.

Have you been doing #WriterRecharge? If so, how’s your week been? Do you think you’ve benefited from this challenge? I think I have.

cds

Colin D. Smith, writer of blogs and fiction of various sizes.

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16 Responses

  1. I have definitely benefited, too – I’m very happy that I’ll probably (like 95% sure) make my goal this month!

    • cds says:

      Only 95%? I’m 100% sure you’ll make your goal, Jennifer. You’ve only got 21% to go! šŸ™‚ And you know I (and many others) will be cheering you on every % of the way!

  2. katyupperman says:

    Colin! You’ve done so awesome this week! Way to go, getting your MS all beta-ready and sending it off to readers. Here’s hoping they respond with thoughtful feedback and lots of enthusiasm. And best of luck with your short story. šŸ™‚

    • cds says:

      Thanks, Katy! I do feel like this is a major accomplishment, even though the work’s far from complete–I still have to review Beta feedback and make changes accordingly. I plan to work on the short story, but even if I don’t make that goal, I’ll still feel as if this Writer Recharge has been a success. šŸ™‚

  3. kiperoo says:

    Huge congrats on making your goal, Colin! And I’m so excited to dig in to a certain ms this week! šŸ™‚

  4. Robin Moran says:

    It’s great seeing how many people have made it to the next stage in their writing this week! Congrats on getting it to Team Awesome and I hope you get the feedback you need!

    • cds says:

      Thanks, Robin. I know Team Awesome will do an excellent job of critiquing my work. Hopefully, I can put it all back together again when they’re done! šŸ˜‰

  5. Wow! How exciting to be at the Beta reader stage. Happy reading to your volunteers and Congrats! to you. What are your big plans? Agent? Publishing house? Self publishing? You don’t have to share that but I’m curious if you do. It’s always great to finish a book but I am learning that the real work beings then:-)
    Congrats again!

    • cds says:

      Thanks, Kristi! I would like to go the traditional route. Call it writer insecurity, but I’ve encountered a lot of great agents online who know what’s what, and I have no problem shelling out 15% for that kind of expertise behind me. Also, frankly, with six kids and a full-time job, I don’t really have the time for everything involved with self-publishing (if you do it right, that is). Assuming I get an agent and the book sells, I’ll be quite busy enough. šŸ™‚

  6. Best of luck with the short story!

  7. Alison Miller says:

    Yay for being beta ready! And for Team Awesome! What a nail-biting yet exciting feeling, right?! Good luck with writing that short story! Have a great week!

    • cds says:

      And not just Beta-ready–Beta-sent! Betas-have-the-novel-and-are-doing-their-thing! Nail-biting excitement sums it up, indeed.

      Thanks, Alison! šŸ˜€

  8. Liz Parker says:

    That’s awesome that your novel is beta ready and in-hand! That’s so scary, but so encouraging, too. There’s such an awesome YA writing community. Have great week!

    • cds says:

      Thank you, Liz–I’m excited to get feedback. And you’re right about the YA writing community. So many people rooting for you, it’s hard to be discouraged for long! šŸ™‚

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