Thread: Me, quite simply

First and foremost, merry Christmas

Hello, folks. I'm an aspiring writer who's been published in online formats but I am aiming for a trade print publication, which of course will first require me actually writing, and completing, a book.

So, I've decided to take the "slow climb" approach. I found the fever of writing several years ago, and had it hard-boiled into my brain when I completed NaNoWriMo in 2008. I did not participate in 2009 because a newborn in the house often prohibits such... well, we'll say "fervor." NaNoWriMo taught me several things about writing, but attacking such a monumental task without minding very minute principles is difficult. Or, as Chris Baty put it, "turning off the inner editor." Absolutely, that's what you should do when you're trying to put a book down in draft, but when you're trying to complete pieces for analysis and self-improvement, well, it's hardly ideal.

So, right now, while I do have previous publications, I'm aiming for the requirements of a SFWA membership, starting with the absolute smallest bit of fiction possible, through FlashFictionOnline, and am proud to say that I at the very least now have my very own rejection letter. Once I manage a successful publication there, I'll move to short stories until I feel that I've honed my skills properly to put them to task on a book.

So, I'm taking some advice. I'm joining a writing group.

Welcome to the forum. Good luck with those goals. I've done NaNo successfully the past two years and have been an SFWA member in the past, though politics preclude my current membership.
Gonna try to scale the story ladder a la Zelazny, eh? Hmm.

welcome to the forums, Jokotai. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Fantasy Girl xx

I wasn't aware that Zelazny climbed from the pit of obscurity in that manner, actually. Well, at least I might find something of his on the way out.

Sorry for the multi-posting replies. The system went all sorts of sideways.

It does that (the system)...if you look at Roger's output, he started with short-shorts and worked his way up to novels in pretty short order. It confirms this in his wiki:"He deliberately progressed from short-shorts to novelettes to novellas and finally to novel-length works by 1965."
If you're interested, I run a Science Fiction social group here. The url's in my sig. Drop me a pm for membership-we keep it private in case someone needs to keep first rights for something they dream up in there.

I'll have to keep that in mind once I settle in. You know how it is with finding new internet forums. You're tempted to take it fast, but it always ends in heartbreak if you don't pace yourself and get to know the forum you're anonymously spreading your partially fictionalized soul to.

Or maybe I'm taking analogies too far again...

*nods* It'll be there.