Gud, I'd say use whatever works for you.

But what do I know? my writing is strictly factual magazine artcles for a trade pub.

Lots of authors clip pictures to use as character inspiration. LOTS.

And erika, I think you have to revise a story until *you're* happy with it. If it doesn't sell after that, put it away for a while and work on the next thing.

I was reading something, somewhere (yes, I'm precise, aren't I?) where an author was quoted saying she was a re-writer - that she'd rewrite and revise until she had something she felt hit the mark.

Of course, this was someone (Judith Viorst perhaps - I read a long article on her) who had books published. I'm sure there are writers who are in a constant state of revision with nothing final.

I came out of Worldcon this year with an epiphany: I have wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, and, goddammit, I am going to make that happen. From the time I wrote and illustrated The Disastrous Dino War, it's all I've ever wanted from my life. I had practically given up on the notion, assuming that I would never see my name in a bookstore. See, I wrote nothing but sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction until I took creative writing courses in college, where they frown upon genre fiction. Granted, I improved greatly as a writer as I wrote these realistic stories, but as a result, I figured that my writing future lay in literary fiction, which was ~*respectable*~. When I started writing plays, however, I fell back into genre without even realizing it: Vishnu Claus, an epic sci-fi drama on a spaceship, superheroes in a bar, a talking beer, a talking bow, etc. It was calling me back. I focused on playwriting because I found a supportive community who would believe in my work and bring it to an audience, and at Worldcon, I realized that I have a similarly supportive community in SFF. Saladin Ahmed let me present "Origin Stories" with him as a show of support for a new author of color in SFF, and I intend to become one. I can be diversity in SFF. I can create diversity in SFF. I haven't written a short story in five years, but my fiction drought is over. It's time to make my dreams come true. Today is my birthday, and it's my gift to myself: this time next year, I'm going to be a published author. Is that too ambitious? Oh well, I'm living by Stina Leicht's motto: Dare to suck.

P-C, I think it's great you want to write again -- when we first met, you were still writing those stories. But write because you have a story to tell, not to "be diversity" in SFF, you know? A mission is the quickest way to write falsely.

Write the story you want to tell, and write it as well as you can. That's the first step.

(I realize I may sound like a huge downer, but setting goals too high is the easiest way to break your own heart. I'm not saying don't dream it -- dream it! do it! -- but don't put a timeline on it.)

I knew I could count on you for a reality check! I just know that the only way anything is going to happen is if I just go for it, and I will find the stories I want to tell; I actually have an idea for a book for the first time ever. And I have always needed some sort of goal to strive for, some glimmer of hope in the distance to spur me on, and I think this is a space where Things Can Happen for Me. My first project is submitting to this anthology, which I was going to do to break my fiction drought anyway, but I hope to keep that momentum going and just keep writing stuff.

I am pretty terrified, but I figured if I tell everyone I'm doing this I will hold myself more accountable for following through and not just being lazy.

Yeah, letting people know you're doing it is a good motivator. And submitting to an anthology (or a contest, or something else with a deadline) is a great way to kickstart yourself. I wrote the first novel I ever actually finished for a contest. Didn't win, but after that I knew I could a) finish a book, and b) make a deadline.

Goals are excellent! Just don't say, "On Sept. 12, 2014 I will looking at my first book in a store!" Because that's unrealistic for a whole lot of reasons.

When Deena started Drollerie, I told myself, "Self, this is it. We trust her to tell us if the work sucks, she won't publish you because we're friends, and you trust her. Put up the words or shut up." And that resulted in strangers paying for my words and putting up glowing reviews of stuff I'd done. I never cashed the royalty checks, they're hanging on my wall over my computer, where I can beam at them.

Goals are excellent! Just don't say, "On Sept. 12, 2014 I will looking at my first book in a store!" Because that's unrealistic for a whole lot of reasons.

Oh hell no! I mean published in an anthology or a magazine or SOMETHING that makes me feel like a Real Writer. (Even if I'm not actually published, if I've actually written things, that'll be good enough. But I figured I'd set a sexier goal for this announcement.)

"Written things" is a good goal. Even submitting to anthologies or magazines, or having a solid project to start shopping to agents. Just give yourself time!