Writer's Triathlon

Happy Tuesday All,

Wow, it's really been awhile and I apologize. I'm still polishing, but getting closer to being done. Should be done soon (I hope).

Someone once told me that writing wasn't a sprint that it was a marathon.

I thought about that and decided that it was more than a marathon. It was a triathlon.

Now why do I say that? Because each stage of writing has its own events and a triathlon has 3 events and I can break down the basic outline for getting a book out into 3 events (this is a very simplistic breakdown, by the way):

Event One:  Writing/Brainstorming.  -- This is the idea and warm up...maybe it's a simple event or maybe it takes awhile.

Event Two:  Editing . Editing is its own event because there's many stages to it. I'm going to use swimming references:  Freestyle--your basic edits / Breaststroke -- more complicated, maybe a critique partner's comments or something to that effect / The Butterfly--the extra complicated, in-depth, polishing, and shaping up the story for that final event.

Event Three:  Querying and publishing. Technically these could be 2 separate events, but since this is a triathlon and generally--if you're blessed and lucky querying leads to publishing. This is where you write those query letters and send them off to agents and editors. This is where the whole contract signing, proofing and ARC-reading and finally publishing comes in.

You reach the Finish Line is when it's all completed and a person can actually buy your book off the shelf. (Of course this includes a whole different event--which is usually things like promotion and book tours and the like).

The bottom line? It takes time. It's not like you sit down and it's written and polished in 2 days. It's a process and you have to take that time so you put out your best work. After all, you wouldn't want to send out anything less than as best as you can possibly do. Which is why there's the process. It's designed to help writers put forth the best effort/writing they can.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Have A Tip-Top Tuesday!