I think maybe there's not much to say about it. I made the decision very suddenly, packed, hired a mover, and went. Seriously, that's all there was to it. I couldn't even put together a drabble, because there's so little to say.

What was your last straw that made you decide to move? Why L.A.?

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And how did your family and your non-Bronzer friends react?

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Thanks for this.

I'm just sayin. 'Cause it's true.

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How much should you know about your idea before you pitch it? Because, being Spec Girl in my usual writing life, I know the pain of eating, sleeping and living a particular subject, only to have somebody say "Know what? Don't care." Would like to possibly avoid. Can I just write the magazine and say "What about a piece about X for your Special Issue?" or are they always wanting hypothetical word lengths and etc.

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I've heard advice along the lines of Don't Write Anything Until It's Sold for magazine submissions, erika, but I don't know if it's really viable.

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or are they always wanting hypothetical word lengths and etc.

Could you estimate a word length and make yourself stick to it, later?

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I suppose, but it can be hard to pick one that makes sense, sometimes.

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Could you estimate a word length and make yourself stick to it, later?

I suppose, but it can be hard to pick one that makes sense, sometimes.

Is this a magazine that has pieces/features that are usually a certain length? If you're pitching to a certain area of the magazine, can you estimate that way?

In the end, I think you have to give them an estimate, and then figure out how to cut or expand based on what they want.

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Sail, -t --

I have more pages. You want?

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Actually, I have another question.

How do people decide how much to write? More specifically, setting weekly or daily goals? AmyLiz has indicated that most books in the genre I am writing in, paranormal romance or erotica are about 80,000 words or roughly 400 pages. I have 40 pages and I've set myself a goal of 2 pages a day, at least 5 days a week. Which I haven't done in the last week (sick) but I hammered out 4.5 pages in the last two days.

Now, I am proud of myself because my main goal -- my ulimate goal -- is to write a book. Beginning, middle, end, done. And I am hardly the queen of consistency, so right now my focus is on setting up habit.

However, since I am a freakish Virgo, my mind always goes to the better, more part of things.

How do others set up goals for long-term lengthy projects? If I was writing a long research paper, I would have no problem saying "X pages per night; due on this date; revisions two weeks before."

But a novel? I am adrift.

EDIT: And for a taste of part of the reason I am asking this question, upon re-reading I thought, "4.5 pages? In 2 days? That's PATHETIC." Cause I'm used to writing 4.5 pages of research or narrative essays or something similar in like 2 hours. So I'm trying to get a norm, if there be such a beast.

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