Here are my monthly stats for March:

• 6,500 new words of fiction written this month. ¹
   
• 15 first drafts currently in progress. ²
   
• 1 first draft currently "ripening" before second draft. ³
   
• 1 second draft currently in progress
   
• 0 second draft currently in the hands of "trusted readers."
   
• 2 third drafts currently in progress.⁴
   
• 1 third draft currently awaiting polishing.
   
• 1 fourth draft in currently in progress.
   
• 12 stories currently submitted to markets⁵
   
• 100 words in shortest story currently submitted.
   
• 8,700 words in longest story currently submitted.
   
• 0 offers of publication received this month.
   
• Longest current wait without response: 314 days.
   

¹ More than January or February, more than my median, but still not very good. My March excuse is Clarion: Between all my excited planning (and doing things to raise money to go there 😛 ), I’ve been distracted from writing new stuff. Still, I did complete a new first draft.

² I always have a lot of first drafts "in progress," until one of them really grabs me and I work on it obsessively. This month I was mostly working on a time-dilation story.

³ I employ a six-week "ripening" period for first drafts.

⁴ These have been stuck, stuck, stuck for a long time. They’re stories where the second drafts were so badly flawed that I had to start from scratch again. And then I did, and sort of lost steam; it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for the task. But I had three on this list last month; one of them is actually off the table and has been converted into a finished third draft! Very happy about that.

⁵ I sent two off just today: one new sub, one resub. The number would be higher, but (a) I’m trying to figure out where to send the 14,000 word fantasy novelette next, and (b) I want to see what K.D. had to say about the semifinalist story on WotF and possibly revise it before sending out again.

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Tagged as: drafts monthly tally revision submissions tally

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