Sunday 30th December, 2012

Almost at the end of the year, so “Happy New Year!” for tomorrow night / Tuesday morning. Today I have a bunch of things to talk about, which means… headings!

What I Learnt About Writing in 2012

Foxie has put up his “What I Learnt About Writing Post” for 2012 [External Link], so here’s my stats for this year and last year for comparison:

• Submissions = 26 (37, 2011)
• Total pieces in circulation = 13 (10, 2011)
• New pieces in circulation = 4 (5, 2011)
• Rewrites = 6 (6, 2011)
• Acceptances = 2 (1, 2011)
• Published = 1 (2, 2011)

(These numbers are a combination of Duotrope figures and some notes for submissions to non-listed destinations but do not include stories written for the website or published here. Attempts to rehome stories published here elsewhere have been included.)

So, I’ve been marginally less productive and less aggressive about getting work out there (bearing in mind writing is essentially just a hobby) but I haven’t done as badly as I’ve been feeling. Seriously. As with everything else in life (see next section), I’d started to hear that little voice in my head that says I can do more, I should do more and I’m a failure because I haven’t. Lies, damned lies and statistics suggest I’m not actually doing that badly – compared to previous years.

Unlike last year, however, I can’t claim to have spent a lot of time working on other pieces that aren’t included in the count. While I’ve increased my blogging, in the sense of opinion and world-building pieces, on the site, my long-length work has taken a bit of a beating. I’ve basically dropped The Gens and may never come back to it. On the other hand, 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf is starting its round of submissions to new homes, and is currently in its second small press slush pile.

What I Learnt About The Rest of Life

This year was the year I (re)discovered stress. In November, I actually had a week off for it. The doctor wanted me to take longer but I decided that if I didn’t keep going – if I didn’t keep getting back on the horse, to go with the traditional saying – work would become this Big Thing That I Couldn’t Do. The idea of it would scare me more than the actual doing. That isn’t something I could let myself do so I got back on the horse.

One of the main problems is that – with work, fencing, writing and life in general – there are very few rewards for keeping going. There are signs when you’re going wrong but there’s nothing in the way of a prize for doing… not well, but not so bad you’re doing it wrong. Make sense? Anyway, I can’t say I have a harder life than anyone else. I know plenty of people in worse straits that me, for a start. I just don’t handle it well. (And the little voice once again says “you can do better”.)

I’m having to relearn to take a deep breath, say “no” – whether to the little voice or outside demands – and get on with what I can do.

Flattr

My Flattr [External Link] will continue – and not because I received lots. I’ve found the system usable and I quite like the no fuss way of handing over a tip. My only complaint is that there are people I’d like to tip who obviously aren’t aware of it or have no interest in trying it.

But, as I said, I will continue because it’s a much better way of budgeting for these things (I am currently set up to give about five euros a months away) than making individual donations to people who remember to put a paypal button on their site. While they might see less from individuals, I think they’ll get more over all – after all, I’m donating while I never used to because I can now leave a small mark of my respect and try to work out what’s an acceptable amount that fits in my budget.

Next Year

To finish off December, I have one of the most awesome non-Christmassy Christmas songs ever. It sounds like the offspring (note the lack of capital letter) of Wings and ELO, and contains just the right sort of message for starting a new year: