Writers of the Future, Part II

Well, I just hit the submit button on my first writing competition.  This is a big first step toward establishing a writing career.  Have to say it would be nice to win, but the fact that I committed myself to writing the story and submitting it is already a major triumph.  Doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping my fingers crossed though.

I’ve heard some writers theorize you don’t really hit your stride and start gaining polish and momentum as a writer until you’ve written at least 1 million words.  Chalk up another 17K toward that checkpoint!  Wish me luck.

Writers of the Future

I’ve had my laptop to the grindstone this week.  I previously started a short story/novella to submit to Writers of the Future for their first quarter competition this year.  I had the entire story outlined and approximately 2,500 words written.  Since the deadline is fast approaching I decided it was time to switch gears and finish it.  It’s been a productive week writing to say the least.  I completed the first draft last night;  it clocked in just over the 17,000 word limit.  I’ll let you do the math since my brain’s tired.  I did a first spellcheck/grammar pass last night and will complete several revision passes over the weekend so I can email it for submission next week.  It’s time to start submitting!

Writing Resources

A very good friend gave me a wonderful book recently:  Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction by Orson Scott Card, Philip Athans, Jay Lake and the Editors of Writer’s Digest. Not the kind of book to read straight through for pleasure necessarily, but I’m finding it to be a great resource for my writing.

Orson Scott Card’s advice on writing is always top-notch.  No surprise there.  This learned tome presents quite a bit more high quality information on such topics as Steampunk, Fantasy Cultures, World Cultures, Magic, etc..

Some of the most useful things in this book are general lists of terms and definitions for Dress and Costume, and Arms, Armor, and Armies.  I never knew there was a woolen cloth, often ribbed, worn by the wealthy known as “lersey.”  I also did not know “cambric” is a fine white linen.  And, I definitely had never heard of a “blunderbuss woman”.  A blunderbuss, yes, but a blunderbuss woman, no. FYI, that’s a member of an elite female corps under the command of the king of Dahomey, Africa used not just as bodyguards, but on the battlefield as well.  Very useful stuff to know writing fantasy.

Highly recommend this book.