Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hellooooo the end of May!

See bold para at the end of this post for an easy point for June! ('easy' is a relative term...)

Only a day or so to go, so in May have you...

Submitted a short story, poem or other short fiction submission to a competition or magazine (one point for each submission)?

Submitted an article (one point per article, no matter how many mags the article is submitted to)?

Written and/or edited at least 4000 words (one point)?

Written more than the basic 4000 words (one additional point for each 2000 words of original writing (not editing)?

Edited more than the basic 4000 words (one additional point for each 5000 words of editing) ?

Outlined/plotted 4000 words or more (one point for each 4000)?

Beta-read read a fellow writer's novel and provided feedback (one point)?

Completed and published a new author website (one point)?

Written your query? (one point)

Written your synopsis? (one point)

Submitted a novel to an agent or editor? (Straight up to Koala Approves!)

(Anyone who's on Koala Approves while waiting for an agent response, remember that you must keep writing/editing/submitting short stories in the next month. Anyone sitting on their laurels drops down a stage. However, if an agent asks you to make changes to a novel, you get to stay on Koala Approves for the duration of your editing and negotiations, provided you get those changes to him/her in time and remember your manners. Ask for an extension or moan about your potential agent and you drop down a stage.)

A reminder... Points cannot be held over for a following month. The Koala wants consistent effort. The Koala is always right.

With the Submission of the Great Dissertation (making Paca into Doctor Paca) and the Commencement of the Great Blog (making Phoenix into Evil Editor Birdie), there are no more Special Furry or Bird Rules.

However...there will be a point for everybody who participates in Paca's Voice Fest. Some of us have done this before and the results vary from passionate and articulate to, um, the rest of us. Click here for more info and follow the Paca Posts for the final decision as to what we will be reading.

34 comments:

McKoala said...

*whispers in a humiliated tone* All of a sudden I feel the need to claim May as my month off...

writtenwyrdd said...

I have to confess that I have only gotten a couple thou written. But I haven't had any days off this week and won't for another two. Sigh.

PD Singer said...

*peeks in and whispers* wrote 28k and edited 7K, um, 14 *runs*

PD Singer said...
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PD Singer said...
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fairyhedgehog said...

A point! A whole point! I'm not even in on this but I shall still claim a point for paca's reading thingie.

(Notice the precise vocabulary? I'm obviously born to be a writer.)

Catherine Vibert said...

Ok, I haven't been able to say this publicly on Facebook, so PLEASE friends, don't speak of this beyond this blog.

Not sure what the points are for this but I am the new copy editor and writer for our wee little town paper. The Fairview Town Crier. :-) Contributes several researched articles every month. Job officially starts in June. I wrote 1 article in May for that. Hopefully this will redeem me from last month's smackdown *hangs head in shame*

jjdebenedictis said...

To my utter surprise, I am not here for a butt-shredding.

I got a request for a full. *boogies*

fairyhedgehog said...

Yay and happy dances, jj!

PJD said...

Hooray for Jen!

Boo and hisses for me. I did not submit my novel anywhere in May, but I did write 8,000 new words of fiction to get me three points.

PD Singer said...

I am so sorry, I did not know that each time it turned me down it also recorded the comment. Hangs head in techno-illiterate shame.

Mother (Re)produces. said...

I'm not doing great this month, but I claim three points for approx 8000 new words written, and two points for subs, so that's

5 points worth of donuts.

*Passing McK a Eucalyptus cream donut*
Here you go. Take a break and gather energy for June.

:)

McKoala said...

Pam, no idea why your post appeared three times, but no need to rub it in any more to the slackers...

Catvibe, each article submitted gets you a point.

*boogies for jj*

The rest of you...survive!

Merry Monteleone said...

Go JJ, Go JJ, shake your booty, Go JJ... keeping fingers and toes crossed, my friend :-)

I'm a worthless heathen in comparison, but...

2 points for editing, because I can't keep my grubby paws off already written chapters even when I try to trick myself into it.

2 points for new fiction.

No submissions and you are allowed to give me a smackdown next month if I goof on the submissions again - even if I've written a veritable tome.

jjdebenedictis said...

*still boogying*

Thanks FairyHedgehog, Peter, McKoala and Merry! I didn't expect any cheering; you're all so kind! :)

Robin B. said...

Congrats, JJ - hope all goes very very well!

For me, I read through and edited most of my novel this month. Worked my butt off, actually.

Took 102,000-some-odd thousand words down to 96K, so 19 points with some unused leftovers.

NorthL said...
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pacatrue said...

Congrats to all for their wonderful work.

I'm going to claim the last of the Special Furry Rules for May, after which no more Furry Rules. Anyway, I finished editing the whole thing one last time a couple days ago. It's more proofreading than editing, so I'm just going to grab a couple points so I do not get shredded.

Henceforth, i will have to do fiction stuff, which means I will soon be shredded. Positive attitude is everything.

pacatrue said...

Thanks for the point offer, McK. You're a goddess.

Here's a link to the post about what we are doing.

http://pacatrue.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-writing.html

The idea is to read aloud some small snippet of your work, typically lasting just a few minutes. All are welcome to join in. Just host the file / youtube video / media format of your choice on your own blog and add a link to the comment trail on the central post. If you cannot host a sound file yourself, let me know and we can work something out.

Angie said...

JJ -- that's awesome! Congrats! :D

For myself, I did more writing than last month, but still not much. :P

4 stories submitted = 4
72K words edited (yes, again [flail]) = 14
Total = 18 points

No new acceptances, but two of the submissions got very nice personal rejections, with specific invitations to submit again. I'd rather have a contract, but I'll still take "Please send me another story" as a semi-win. :)

Angie

Sylvia said...

2 short story submissions : 2 points
1 resubmission (they LOST mine can you BELIEVE it? Do I get extra points for trauma?) : 100 points
Wordcount: 21,000 : 9 points
12 novel submissions sent : Approval!

111 points.

Mother (Re)produces. said...

Dang! Y'all make me feel like such a slacker!

Laurel said...

Go JJ!

I think I'm going to have to claim May off. Last month of school here did me in. I have about two legitimate points. (Lots of outlining and beta work, not much writing.)

GO JJ GO JJ GO JJ! Awesomesauce!

jjdebenedictis said...

Aw, thanks Robin S., Angie and Laurel!

Sylvia, I am in awe. And you too, Dr. Pacatrue!

Kate said...

Congratulations, JJ!!!

All I've accomplished fiction-wise in May is a little plotting. I suck.

On the other hand, I did write a lengthy guide to author websites, which might help one of you get a point next month...?

Aniket Thakkar said...

Congratulations to JJ and Cat!

I need to claim May as my month off. It literally was a month off with the forced break and all. Staying a month with parents turned out great. Nothing in the world beats home-cooked food.

writtenwyrdd said...

I confess to zero points for May. *hangs head in pretend shame* I was busy knitting and doing yardwork. And I read six books.

writtenwyrdd said...

JJ: I just read your awesome news. Congrats! Fingers crossed for ya!

iasa said...

Would you believe I vacationed all of May? Count that as my month off.

Yay JJ!!

Diane J. said...

3 points: Submitted two articles and wrote 4,500 words (Whew, I'm beginning to climb up...slowly, but I'm climbing).

jjdebenedictis said...

Thanks Kate, Aniket, Writtenwyrdd and Iasa!

(Wow, who knew there was so much kindess here on the bloodied floors of The Koala's torture chamber? Y'all are awesome.)

Sarah Laurenson said...

New Words
You contest: 99 words
Entered You contest (1 point)
Editing:
MG: 23776 words
YA: 587 words
Total: 24363 words (5 points)

Creeping back into good graces - almost.

Sarah Laurenson said...

Wow! Lots of good news here amongst the blood and shredded skin, fur and feathers.

Whirlochre said...

Well done to JJ, bummo to me — but then I said right at the start that May was out as far as McKoaling was concerned.

Back next month with a genuinely miserable score...