Challenge 3: The Great Publishing Challenge

-

I've been holding off talking about this challenge, for a few reasons. Firstly, because it's something I've wanted to try for a while...and now I have there's part of me that wants to keep it to myself. Secondly, because, for the first time in quite a while, I actually care if I fail at something I'm doing for myself. And, thirdly, because I'm just a little pushed for time, but not because of this project.

The last three years, I've learned I can produce, but I've forgotten I need to do that for myself as well as for everyone else, so I got started doing exactly that, and then decided it was the perfect time to challenge myself...and to do something I've been wanting to try for a while, a kind of combined carrot and stick, if you like.

Will I succeed? To be honest, I don't know, but I think the chances are smaller than I'd like and better than I think, so who knows. I could write this and fail out, tomorrow, or still be going strong. There's only one way to find out.

So, What is The Great Publishing Challenge?

It's a challenge run by Dean Wesley Smith and WMG on Teachable. You can find it here: https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/p/the-great-publishing-challenge

The challenge is to publish a book a month, for the next 12 months with the following conditions:

  • the book must not have been published before;
  • the book can be a novella (20k minimum), a novel, a collection of at least 5 short stories with a forward (stories can have previously been published individually), an omnibus of three or more novels or novellas (which can have been previously published individually);
  • the book must be published wide - i.e. at least on Kobo, Draft2Digital and Amazon;
  • the book can be already written (just not previously published);
  • a link to the book must be sent before the deadline;
  • a paperback copy of the book must be mailed during the month after publication.

The Rewards?

  • a book published for every month you hit the challenge goal;
  • workshop credits to the cost of the challenge if you miss;
  • greater workshop credits if you hit the six- or twelve-month mark.

Value for Me?

I've wanted to do this challenge since I first saw it a few years ago. The attempt is a bucket-list item for me. Once I finish the challenge, to whatever degree, I get to do some courses I've wanted to do for a long time, run by a knowledgeable writer I admire. It's as simple as that, and the added value is I'm already enjoying my writing more because of it. Some people climb mountains...or jump off them...I do...this - and I love it. 

The art below is courtesy of Jake at JCaleb Design.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Australian Insects: An Unknown Caterpillar eating Grevillea flower buds

-
Image
So, this little guy nearly bought it when I caught it eating the still-forming buds on my Robyn grevillea, but then I thought I might like to see which particular butterfly was responsible, so I took some pictures and decided to keep an eye on it, so I knew when it pupated. The first shot - caterpillar happily nibbling on flower buds:  Yup - definitely nibbling: And here's another view. Note the little yellow lumps near its back end. Same day, but it was one of those cloudy days with variegated light. And it kept nibbling for quite some time: Stretching out to get the more tasty tidbits, and using its hind feet to keep a firm grip on the branch. Eventually it looped back on itself... ...and headed into denser foliage. It didn't always move in a straight line... How come caterpillars have more feet than butterflies? Eventually, it got into some much thicker growth (well, for a young grevillea, anyway), meaning it was somewhat prot...
Read more

NEW RELEASE: AUTUMNAL THREAT

-
Image
An alien autumn. An unseen predator. Deadly burrowers and an oncoming winter. And bugs big enough to ride. Joaquin only wants to warn his daughter of a new danger. To keep her safe. To make her understand her mother isn’t coming back, while keeping her alive. But what if he’s wrong? What if Mariam really did survive? What if, when everything looks like it’s going wrong, it’s really going right? Autumnal Threat is Joaquin's story. It is a father's story...and the story of a husband who misses his wife, and wants to keep his daughter safe from a new threat on their frontier world. It's a story of hope, and not giving up, and of family, as well as an exploration of what an alien eco-system might look like. It was a lot of fun to write. You can find links to this newly released, stand-alone, science-fiction short story on this Books2Read page: https://books2read.com/u/mgyopK or read an earlier version in A Collection of Lost Ships and Colonies .  
Read more

Free Read: Forest Connections

-
Today, I managed to settle down and write a response to the latest flash fiction challenge on Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds blog - The Dead Body . There were only two rules: the word limit was 1,000, and the story had to open with a dead body. This is what came out: Forest Connections The body swayed in the trees rocked by storm winds and illuminated by lightning. It was naked, except for the green, leather gloves it wore on both hands—the hands from which it was suspended from the tree. It might have been an attractive body, if there hadn’t been a gaping wound where its stomach should be. Perhaps… but Garamond wasn’t looking at the body, didn’t notice the slender hips or sculpted chest, the beauty of fine-chiselled cheek bones or luxurious fall of hair. Garamond fought his breakfast back into place, swallowed bile, forced his focus to the other trees in the grove, the ground onto which he’d nearly stepped. If it hadn’t been for the crow flying out of the chest cavity...
Read more