Category: Writing

Establishing my groove

Post author By Nick
Post date 2016-08-21

Last weekend I attended the annual Writer's Digest conference in NYC. The event served as an informal deadline for me, to get my revisions done so I could pitch my story to agents of the science fiction genre during the conference's Pitch Slam event.

So I did that and it was great. I had a number of agents show interest in my story so I began to send out queries. One step closer to rejection letters!

The book is on the long side at 104k words. I'll be spending the next month or two waiting for more beta reader and agent feedback and ruminating on tweaks that I can make. Like every writer, I hope the feedback isn't disastrous--necessitating major work--but that's something I need to anticipate and accept. When it's time to roll up my sleeves and get the work done, then that's what I'll do. That aside, I'll be researching more agents to query. I'll start fleshing out my ideas for follow on books. I'll keep writing.

I need to establish my groove.

Productivity Tools Writing

On Beta Reading

Post author By Nick
Post date 2016-07-01

I've been on both sides of the beta reading spectrum in my journey to write my first novel, The Harvester. Rewarding is the best word I can think of right now when I think of both the experience in beta reading for others as well as the experience in working with people who've read my manuscript. My friends have been wonderful and this past January I joined a writing group and the past six months has been a whirlwind of discovery.

That said, know that whatever I say here are the words of a beginner. I know nothing. I am learning as I go.

Tools Writing

Ulysses for Writing Prose on Mac

Post author By Nick
Post date 2016-01-27

I use Ulysses app for Mac OS X for all of my writing. When you write in Ulysses you're working with plain text and you perform basic formatting with markdown syntax. What I love about Ulysses is how simple it is. Yet the application's simplicity does not mean it's trivial. In fact, it's extremely powerful. I am writing this post to talk about how I use it to write.

Writing

3rd Draft

Post author By Nick
Post date 2016-01-26

With my third draft nearly complete, I'm beginning the process of putting together 10-15 literary agents to query. In the past I wondered if this process was going to be stressful. Now that I'm almost here, it doesn't seem stressful at all. It seems exciting.

That said, I haven't actually submitted a query yet. My best guess is that my heart rate will spike a bit in the moments before I send out those e-mails.

I ask myself if that's really a bad thing? I don't think so. Life is richer with a little risk and excitement. I am glad to be writing.

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Writing

NaNoWriMo 2015 and my goal to finish

Post author By Nick
Post date 2015-11-01

When I finished the first draft of my novel back in January I was pretty happy with myself. Little did I realize that I had a boatload of work ahead of me, and a lot more work than writing the first draft. O was a bit naive about the whole novel writing endeavor since this is my first time through. I guess that's understandable. Now I'm focusing on finishing my second draft and I'm going to use NaNoWriMo to do it. I mean, it worked last time.

So, I'm inventing a new way to count words, wherein when I'm done with my second draft, the word count will be 50k. When I am half done, I'll be at 25k. Simple.

Go and check out my progress here: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/nickcody/novels/the-harvester-rewrite

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