Sunday 12 October 2014

Shifting Goalposts: Are You Improving?

You know I said I sold 134 things in my first year. Well, it was a big fat lie. It was only 111. I mean, who sells 134 things? Sorry about that, I guess I was just trying to impress you all.

Anyhoo, that mean my next sale will break my record. C'mon editors.

It's a funny thing, really. It's all about shifting goalposts. I mean, one hopes one improves as time goes on. But there's no guarantee of that.

Do you ever worry that you're writing less good than what you was before?

4 comments:

  1. It's funny -- I had the best luck when I was writing/subbing a story every week back in 2011. The stories I wrote that year broke into multiple SFWA-qualifying markets. Quasar? Not so much. More of a niche thing with him. Oh well. Write what you love, right? And by the way, I expect 150 acceptances for you this year.

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    1. Judging improvement is nebulous. Take pro sales for instance, there are different factors, the quality of the story, the number of submissions a writer makes, and as you point out, the fit of the story: is the writer producing the type of story editors want (which is nothing to do with quality).

      Although this was an off-hand blog post, improvement is something I think about. No one wants to think that they're not progressing, I imagine. One thing I've certainly got better at, is finding opportunities. I guess that something that comes with experience as you travel the jobbing writer's road.

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  2. Well done on whatever you get published. It's a tough world out there for us writers. I'm just happy to have three things accepted this year. My journey is in the slow lane at the moment and I'm happy with that as I learn the ropes.

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  3. The fact that we quite believed 134 when you said it shows it is perfectly believable - and therefore going to happen at some point soon...

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