A Critical Assessment of My Creative Output for 2011

I want to change things up today.

Lately I’ve been doing critical analyses of the “weird fiction” I’ve been reading (reminder: by “weird fiction” I mean science fiction, fantasy, and horror). But I don’t conceive of “literary criticism” as the core goal of my blog (although there will be plenty).

Ultimately, I want to merge *analysis* with *synthesis,* to go from reading good genre fiction to writing good genre fiction.

With that in mind, I want to publicly take stock of my writing efforts, attempt to characterize my creative endeavors, and in that way gain some critical perspective/detachment. I hope this isn’t just *navel gazing* and that it might be useful or instructive—even as a blueprint for *not* how to proceed—to aspiring genre writers.

My current goal is to write creatively for 15 minutes per day.

I’ve been doing this *somewhat* consistently for a year now. In terms of word count, here is how I figure it: if I do this 7 days a week, thats exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes of writing (give or take, considering sometimes my 15 minutes becomes 30 or even 45 minutes). Considering I average 500 words per 15 minute session (give or take), my output in terms of word count is approximately 3000 words per week. Thus, in two weeks I can reach 6000 words.

Most of the short-fiction markets I’ve been researching want 5000 - 10,000 word stories (you can get a thumbnail sketch of them in my “markets” section, although for more in-depth information I suggest checking out their webpage directly). And so, considering my output page, 15 minutes of writing a day—if I’m consistent—gets me *a draft* for a story for one of these markets in two weeks.

Add about a week for revision, and in 3 weeks I can have a story to send off.

And yet—and yet! this is not how things have been working out!

I’ve been writing seriously since December of last year and I’ve finished *drum roll* 7 short stories (these have been significantly revised and polished)! Of these seven stories, I only feel truly confident in 2 of them. I sent them out at the time I started this blog (approximately 10 days ago—I’ll report in as I hear back).

Summary: in a year of relatively consistent writing, I’ve gotten to a position where I have two stories under review by magazines.

Yes. It seems I need to work harder.

In all honestly, though, *I haven’t been consistent in my writing.* For the months of August, September, and October, I barely wrote at all considering I was researching for and studying material for my qualifying examinations (I passed them, by the way, and am therefore no longer a Ph.D. *student* but a Ph.D. *candidate*—::self-satisfied smile::).

And now I’m starting my dissertation project. *gulp*

The key to productivity, I realize, is to stay consistent. 15 minutes a day, ideally, equals one story written every three weeks. That means in a 52 week year I could conceivably write 17 stories.

This year I wrote seven. ::sigh:: I didn’t realize how far behind I was. Of those seventeen I aim to write, I’m sure 4 or 5 will be worth submitting.

Anyhow, I did want to share some of the logistics I’m been rolling around in my head. Its refreshing to take stock of these things.

Onward. Excelsior! Engage! Roll initiative!