Since I am not going to tattoo this on my forehead, or anywhere else on my person, I thought I'd slap it here. Not sure I'll ever abide by "3" or even "5." But still.
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.
~ Robert A. Heinlein, On Writing Speculative Fiction, 1947
12 comments:
One of my favorite books.
I am your first follower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay! Thanks, Liz. I live to be followed.
Yeah, #3 is pretty much impossible! As long as you have #1 and 2!
Going for a trifecta. Not enough of an athlete for the pentathlon.
Good thing rules are meant to be broken. I break most of them. At least I'm following number three and rewritning to editorial specifications. I'm just not sure I'll be able to do it. But if I don't, I might need to break number five as well.
Hi Terri!
Great seeing you today. I have a problem with # 3 also. I am queen of the rewrite to get a scene just as close to perfect as possible, which often interferes with my finishing a manuscript! #5 is good advice, although repeated rejections can be discouraging!
Hey, Wendy! Thanks for stopping by. Loved what I heard so far.
Hey, Terri! Thanks for signing up as a follower on my blog. I posted about today's meeting. I hope you'll stop by again and leave a comment!!
Kathy -- Yes, you can!
Hmmm, sounds very practical and Samuel Johnson-ish. But geared more toward the way many men write, I think....doing their re-writing in their heads. I am more messy and do draft after draft...but my head rarely hurts and writing is a joyous activity about which I would NEVER say it's like "opening a vein!" Yikes, who would want to do anything that was like...oh, yeah, them pesky vampires... I am SO out of touch!
When vamps become so mainstream that Private Practice can do a subplot about a 13-year-old biting another 13-year-old (who thinks it's a sign of eternal love)and giving her Hep-B... you just know that publishers will soon be looking for the next new thing.
Good to see you, Eileen. And glad to hear it's joyous!
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