The Race

Since getting more focused on writing, I've discovered the WotF forums, which are populated with like-minded individuals. Discussions are lively and informative.

One recent nugget I discovered is the concept of The Race, as it relates to writing. It's something that Dean Wesley Smith points to as the kicking-off point for his career and those of other successful SF/F writers such as Kevin J. Anderson and Geoff Landis. Here's a link to DWS' blog talking about it.

The basic idea is turning Heinlein's Rules of writing into something measurable, by getting points for story submissions. As DWS describes it, you get:

- one point for every short story in the mail.

- three points for every novel proposal or chapters and outline you have out. (Only three points per book, not per submission )

- eight points for every full novel manuscript you have out to market.

And though, when doing this with others, there is an inherent competition to get the high score, the real competition is with yourself. In order to get your score up, you need to write, every day. DWS advises writing and submitting a story every week.

When DWS and his contemporaries were doing this at the beginning of their careers, those in the 50 - 70 range ended up making it as writers. Those that couldn't even generate 10 points never heard of again.

I have 2 points. Nuff said.