Prioritizing Writing Plans Over Goals
Prioritizing Writing Plans Over Goals
"As I sent them off, I took a moment to bask — I’ve dreamt of being represented by a literary agent for almost a decade, and here I was, closer than ever.
But let me pause, and try to sum up the steps it has taken to get this close to that goal: commit myself to writing a second novel; write a first draft in notebooks; type up that draft then edit it for clarity; join a novel writing group; submit and revise chapters with them over the course of two years; read full drafts myself and do edits based on the feedback of writer friends; get through four novel drafts then send it to a developmental editor; revise based on her feedback; do a final read-through; put together a query package; get feedback on the query package; put together a list of agents and start querying; have a revelation and change the last fourth of my book; get back notes for a revise-and-resubmit; spend three months doing those edits; tweak my query letter again; meticulously research agents; wait, wait, wait.”
Article for DIYMFA about making a writing plan, breaking big projects into small steps, and finding your path to a finished novel.