Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Writing Group => Topic started by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on June 01, 2004, 07:53:19 PM
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My tax accountant ("Uncle Dan") has informed me that it would very much be worth it for me to sell something, ANYTHING this year, so I could write off WorldCon and a new laptop.
So, that means I need to sell soemthing.
Since a novel won't happen, I need to sell a story. Which means I need to finish up a story. I have several first drafts, and i'm not sure which is best. So I need an elite group of readers to read up to five stories and tell me what is closest to publication.
So.... volunteers? Keep in mind that I want it fast, and I want MOSTLY just a statement of which most deserves immediate attention, though any critical comments toward approval will definitely help.
s'il vous plait?
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I volunteer.
You still have my email I assume?
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I would be up for that.
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I do! (it's the yahoo one, right?) I may even have your married name spelled right!
Though, looking at it, the "display as" feature was NOT updated, so it looks like I have your maiden name. Sorry.
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I remember doing something like this before. Was that novels? Anyway, I don't mind skimming a few stories and giving my impressions.
Hum. Writing off Worldcon this year is going to be tough. As I understand it, you want to earn more than you deduct, because otherwise you are entered into the 'loss' section of being a business owner, which makes a lot of hassles for you. So, you'd not only have to make some cash, you'd have to make enough to cover the laptop and Worlcon--so we're talking several grand here.
If you want that much by the end of the year, it's going to take some serious professional sales--markets paying 10+ cents a word. Not impossible, but those markets can have long review times, and can be rather finicky. That means you'll want to send off five or so short stories before the end of June, I'd say.
That means, fix up ALL five stories and make them as good as you can.
Also, for the laptop, you can always deduct that on a 'depreciation' scale instead of an 'all at once' scale. That's what I chose to do, since it gives me a small deduction every year instead of one big one.
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Yeah, that was novels. And the one I'm writing now wasn't even thought of when I sent those out (none of which were finished... I hope that's not a bad sign).
well, here's what Uncle Dan says
The problem is that before you sell some of you writing it's all pre-operating and non-deductible. As soon as you sell something it's all deductible. You're still an amatuer as so now. The trick is to sell something.
If you sold something, and I mean even a nominal amount, then the fun begins and yes it is worth it.
I hope to do several. Actually, what I hope is enough to get the credit I want, then be able to finish the novel, then work on more of something else.
The deduction goal is $2000. I don't need a nice laptop. In fact, I don't *need* anything more than will run Word. What I'm shooting for is something that will play NWN, which is modest. WorldCon I'm estimating at $6-700. Remember, I don't have to fly, and the car trip to Boston is something like 2 tanks of gas, tops, so my travel expenses are fairly minimal. I'm sure i could get both of them for under $1500, so even at that, and assuming I need to do more, I need to sell 75000 words at two cents a word.... that means like, 10 stories. which is still a lot. If I had the ten cent market, I'd only have to do 2 at that size.
ANyway, i'm charging ahead with "Brijon" for now, till I get more feedback, since it has the most comments from the past.
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I'm partial to "Magroth" so far. It's the most orginal and clever of the three I've read, (I'm going backwards alphabetically).
Also, you seem to be a commitment-phobic when it comes to fonts.
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I'm completely up for reading some stories and ginving my opinion. Particularlylif I can get them in the next half-hour or so. I have four more hours to kill at work with little to do.
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well, they were written at a plethora of different times. Some before I knew what manuscript format.
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There's no way I'll be able to read until Thursday. But I will then if you need me to.
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Yes, I would. The Abridged Speculists should have received a link already.
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If you want to get on IM, I'll tell you all about it, since I'm too lazy to fiddle around with my ill-functioning mail client. Nor can I be bothered to type it here, for reasons that will go unexplained to make me seem more enigmatic.
Yes, I did in fact read them all instead of my book. Be grateful.
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I am grateful. Unfortunately I'm at work. I'll IM you tonight since you wish not to email.
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I shot you an email (zoboo) with my opinion
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yay! you people are great!
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/me is great
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well, so far Jakob appears to be a popular one. I'll move my focus there for a bit, though Fuzzy hasn't commented on it yet. Zref is either loved or hated, I think it's doable, so that's my next target. then I'll move on to magroth, Brijon, and the ruler, in that order.
All that subject to future input.
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Today was supposed to be my day off, but I got called in for a full day of overtime.
Um, so do you want an email? I'll try and get one off to you tonight, k?
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email or here. Either. I've already heard about the worst that can be said about at least one of the stories.
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Oh? So tell us, who were the most critical and most favourable people overall?
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that would take research