Libby

Well FWIW I know a few writers who have really good publishing deals, a few more who have agents and are subbing to publishers, some more who are subbing to agents, and some who haven’t got to that stage yet. The honest truth is that the vast majority of writers I know well are bloody good. The ones who have the great deals are bloody good, but s…[Read more]

I know just how you feel Richard. It really sucks. But I tell myself if I don’t sub, I don’t have any chance, so keep on scratching at those doors.
Thanks for that tweet link Daedalus.

And I’ve literally just seen this thread on perseverance from Joanne ‘Chocolat’ Harros on Twitter, so in case it’s helpful here:

Let's do it! Follow #TenThingsAboutKeepingGoing to collect them all! https://t.co/6AOlwh0AAU

— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) September 3, 2018

I know of another writer who does similar stuff (and is absolutely brilliant) but has had a tough time getting agents interested enough to take them on. I wonder if it would be possible to track genres and styles that are more or less likely to attract attention quicker – not so people can tailor their writing so much as know what to expect when subbing

Thanks Philippa. It’s magical realism, so never going to be an easy sell, but I’m not giving up quite yet. At least I have that bit of paper from a professional saying it’s good that I can get out and stroke occasionally to console myself! Thinking about retiring my adventurous soul and writing some chick lit instead. :/

Following a really positive book doctor report on my MS that said in a fair world my book would get published, I started submitting back in May. I’ve had nothing but form rejections.
So my advice PB is, when the rejections start coming in, you have to hold on very tight to the fact that it’s not your writing that’s bad, it’s just very difficult to…[Read more]

No problem. It looks like a decent prize at any rate!

Another excellent blog, Richard. You got me to invest my beer-tokens in Keith Roberts and now it looks like I’ll be blowing the dust off my wallet for James Cabell.

Totally barking, Ath, but very very well done!

MPO is that if the cloud goes then all communication with participants goes too and you aren’t responsible for that. Attempting to continue with a subset wouldn’t be the same competition, would it?

One issue I can foresee with moving the competition here is that when it closes for entries, we may well have entrants who do not wish to join another forum in order to participate. Also, I don’t have a way to contact all members except via the Cloud should it go toes skywards. I think I will be backing up topics and the wall as we go along once…[Read more]

I always approach a new blog from you, Richard, with a feeling of anticipated pleasure. I am never let down.

Presumably we’ll shift the challenge over to here if the Cloud breaks. It often doesn’t load for me at all, particularly if I try to go onto the notifications page.