Time to Set Another Goal

by Robison Wells

My writing group likes to make fun of me, because I have a tendency to bring a lot of Chapter One's to critique. You know that story that President Monson likes to tell about the furniture store advertising "Finishers Wanted"--they actually wanted finish carpenters, but President Monson talks about how it's important to finish what you start and endure to the end. Well, President Monson would not be happy with my novel writing.

Granted, like most stereotypes, my writing group's perception of me is a little off. I think I've brought four chapter ones to the group, one of which was a rewrite of one I'd already brought, which means that I've only been working on three different stories. Even so, I think I'm much better at starting a book than finishing one.

I think this is because I have good ideas for scenes and good ideas for characters, but I don't have good ideas for plots. My books have a premise, but not a plot. As you can imagine, this doesn't translate well into 80,000 word stories.

However, the time has come. On Saturday, my brother's family came over to visit, and while we were sitting in the back yard, he made a proposal to me: if I was ready for awesomeness, he would pay my way to the World Fantasy Convention. This convention isn't one of the big media conventions, where thousands of people swarm the hall wearing Jedi robes and Spiderman outfits. This is a convention that is small, but packed with editors and agents. It's where Dan and Brandon Sanderson both met their editors. And, since I would be traveling there this year with Dan and Brandon, who are both published and friends with lots of insiders, it's a potential goldmine for me.

But there's one problem: it's a fantasy convention, and I don't have a single fantasy book. Yes, the very first book I wrote was fantasy, but it was terrible and was lost a few years ago in a harddrive failure. And other than that, I have a few chapters of a sci-fi thing, and half a book of a superhero-YA. So, when I go to World Fantasy and have this great opportunity to meet agents and editors, I won't have anything to give them.

Or will I?

World Fantasy is at the end of October. That gives me two months. And, since I'm unemployed, it gives me two months of full time writing. I can totally pump out a book that fast. I wrote Wake Me When It's Over in two and a half months, and that was while working full time. (On the other hand, I wrote The Counterfeit in two and a half years.)

So, my plan is this: I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm blogging every day about my weight loss plan. This is based on the principle of accountability: that if I am constantly having to report my goals, then I'll be better at fulfilling them (because I don't like to publically announce my suckiness). So, from here on out, I'll be posting a word count every day, along with my dieting status. You'll be able to follow it here. Let's just hope that my writing goes faster than my weight loss.

You can also get updates about me, my diet, my writing, my whiny complaining, and my misanthropy by following me on Twitter. You know you want to. How could something that feels so right be wrong?