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Welcome to The Literary Pig's blog - a safe haven for all those afflicted with
the unbearable urge to write.

Friday, 1 February 2013

January round-up

At the beginning of January the Indoor Writer set out her writing goals for 2013, you can read them here. So now it's February already (eek) and how have those good writerly intentions faired...

The stats for Jan:

Write 1 Sub : 2 new short stories written, 2 new flash pieces written, 12 submissions (including poetry!) √
Publish e-collection: have selected 8 short stories and 8 flash pieces all award winning or shortlisted pieces. Next step is to collate and assess format.
Re-start the novel: no progress
Crack the Weekly News: sent polite (very very polite) chasing email to Fiction Editor, as nothing heard on story submitted back in September. Waiting on a response....
Crack Woman's Weekly: story submitted...
Write and sell a serial: initial pitch received a positive response, now finalising synopsis. Next week to write first few pages of part 1 and SUBMIT...
Application for MA in Creative Writing: POSTED. √

OK, not a bad start.
Other submissions: 1 feature commissioned and delivered, 1 feature pitched.

Successes: Longlisted in Flash 500 (waiting for shortlist to be released), confirmed final 10 for Hysteria competition (story to be published in anthology due out April 2013), Runner-up in Chamber's Best Word competition (won a Chambers mini dictionary) and winner of West Sussex Writers Short Play competition (won a Hilary Mantell novel).

And now for the bad news... Income = zilch.
Payment for the feature will most likely arrive on publication (est March). So it's a good job we don't rely on this writing malarkey to pay the bills or feed us... This is sometimes the tough part of writing, putting a lot of work up front without any guarantee of success, but oh what joy when that success starts trickling in. I'm ready for the trickles!

Keep writing...

Posted by at

18 comments:

  1. Wendy's Writing1 February 2013 at 08:49

    Hi Tracy. What a great January you've had. You missed out one goal: to meet up with Wendy's Writing Now for writing gossip...tick!It was great to meet you. Wonder who will have the first response from Weekly News (9 months and counting).

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    1. TracyFells1 February 2013 at 09:49

      Good point Wendy. That was a very pleasant TICK too - reallly enjoyed our chat. Hmm, perhaps who ever gets the first sale (or would it be safer to say response) from TWN gets to eat cake next time we meet!

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  2. Anonymous1 February 2013 at 09:28

    Well done! You've been so busy it makes me feel tired reading about it... Keep up the good work :-)

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    1. TracyFells1 February 2013 at 09:50

      Thanks Hayley - well to be honest I don't have the excuse of a real job so I probably looking busier than reality...

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  3. Julia Thorley2 February 2013 at 07:58

    Well done, a fantastic start. 'Accentuate the positive *sings*'

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    1. TracyFells3 February 2013 at 05:41

      Definitely Julia - always focus on the positives :)

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  4. Patsy2 February 2013 at 08:02

    Glad to see those big fat ticks - hopefully they'll lead to income later on.

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    1. TracyFells3 February 2013 at 05:42

      Trotters crossed Patsy! Confess I'm an obsessive ticker too...

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  5. Anonymous2 February 2013 at 09:21

    12 submissions in one month - I'm impressed!

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    1. TracyFells3 February 2013 at 05:43

      Well Sally, I have to own up to this including 4 separate poems, but then I always count submissions by individual pieces of work. Jan did feel a good month though :)

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  6. Lindsay2 February 2013 at 14:27

    I signed up to W1S1 and got 2 subs off in January. Thought that was brilliant a until I saw your impressive tally.

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    1. TracyFells3 February 2013 at 05:45

      So you did even better than planned Lindsay and submitted 2 pieces - that's brilliant. Remember I didn't write 12 new pieces - my motto is recycle, recycle, recycle! Good luck with Feb's target!

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  7. Rosemary Gemmell3 February 2013 at 14:39

    Well done on those achievements and successes, Tracy - but you're absolutely right, the payment doesn't always add up!

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    1. TracyFells4 February 2013 at 02:00

      Thank you Rosemary for lovely comment. Guess we write for other reasons other than money!

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  8. Anonymous4 February 2013 at 14:49

    Well done Tracy - you're inspiring me! (and I've given you a mention on my blog, so others can be inspired too!)

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    1. TracyFells5 February 2013 at 06:35

      Blimey Helen don't think you need inspiring with all your womag successes, but thank you! And thanks for the blog mention too :)

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  9. Anonymous5 February 2013 at 09:50

    That's a great start Tracy, I've got to pull my socks up and get on with it. It's easy to slip into a relaxed way of thinking about our writing isn't it, and whenever I take it more seriously, I do better. Well done, and thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. TracyFells6 February 2013 at 00:05

      Thanks Susan - agree being serious does help. Sadly, I treat it a bit like a job, if I didn't I'd ALWAYS find something else to do... But don't be too hard on yourself while you are winding up the business, as that must take up your time right now.

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