Here are ten quick tips for writers (not necessarily in order of usefulness and not necessarily complete). Feel free to ignore what doesn’t work for you. Remember: ‘Follow no rule off a cliff.’ – C.J. Cherryh. Besides these are not rules – they’re more like guidelines.

1. Finish what you write. If you can finish a novel you’ll be ahead of more than 90% of wannabe novelists.
2. Don’t mix up editing and revision. When you’ve finished your first draft, put it away for a few weeks (or a few months if you have the luxury of time and you’re not chasing a deadline – though write something else in the interim). When you come back to it, the distance will give you perspective. Your first revision shouldn’t be merely tickling words to find a better way of saying something, but it should be structural: fixing plot holes, deepening characters, backtracking to…

Writing advice is great – when it works for you. When it doesn’t, find another way of doing things.

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” —W. Somerset Maugham:

“Follow no rule off a cliff”—CJ Cherryh

Accepted Wisdom says: Write every day.

I say: Except when you can’t. It’s all about balance. Come on, guys, life sometimes gets in the way. Some days just have your name on the shit-list from the get-go. You have a dentist’s appointment and come home feeling like you’ve been kicked in the chops by a donkey. Your kid is sick and clingy, so you have to do the mum/dad thing because that’s what being a mum/dad is all about. The washing machine repair man is due at 9.00 a.m., the central heating’s on the fritz and you have a dinner party for fourteen people to prepare…

I thought I’d toss out some thoughts on the editing process – or rather my editing process because every writer has their own way of dealing with edits, and if it works, then it’s the right way. No two writers are like or follow the exact same process.

There are two phases of content/structural editing. The first is my own, done before sending the first draft of my manuscript to my editor at DAW. The second is the edit based on what my editor wants me to alter or add (more on that later).

At this stage I want to stop and tell you that a few days ago my lovely editor at DAW, Sheila E Gilbert, was awarded the Hugo award for Best Editor, Long Form. I am absolutely thrilled for her because she’s been in this business a long time and is vastly experienced and a terrific editor…

This is the second part in a two-part blog post by Deborah Walker. You’ll find the first part here: How to sell a lot of SF/F Short Story Reprints – Part 1. See the original on Deborah’s Blog here.

Deborah writes:

This is the second post on reprints. The first post can be found here. The take home message was more submissions will probably lead to more sales.

This post comes with the same proviso. Every writer is different. Your mileage will vary. And if you disagree with me, do feel free to comment, because I’m interested in different opinions.

So after having made 67 reprint sales this year. (Yes, it’s gone up from the last post). I thought I’d share my process with you. This is how I make my reprint sales, I hope you’ll find it interesting.

Selecting a Reprint Venue

Once you’ve found your reprint venue…

Please welcome Deborah Walker to the guest spot on the Milford blog for the first of a two-parter on selling reprint stories. Subscribe to the blog so that you don’t miss Part 2 which will be up in a couple of weeks.

What’s a reprint?

When you sell a short story to a venue you’ll usually sell first rights with or without an exclusivity period. This means that once any exclusivity period is over, you’re free to sell the story to another venue as a reprint. Between zero and 12 months are common exclusivity periods.

Occasionally a venue will ask for all rights. That means you won’t be able to resell your story as a reprint. That’s your call. But remember that you can negotiate. I know of one short story publisher who requests to buy all rights as standard, but who will immediately offer a first rights contract if…