This month I am sharing the same struggle I faced last month: typing all my stories that I’ve written longhand. Last month I realized my short story critiques were too difficult to manage while keeping up with typing the stories. I was too ambitious in thinking that I could manage three critique groups each month and have time to compile a complete typed manuscript!
I’ve shifted once again.
Not only did I cancel one critique group for April, but I’ve decided to cancel two of the three for May. I’m also taking a break from the critique groups until the fall. This means after my one critique group in May, I will be able to focus solely on revisions of my own work.
I’ve shared with friends my struggle to find time to type the stories. They had a few suggestions:
- TaskRabbit or similar service. TaskRabbit is a service that allows you to name a task and a price and someone else can accept it. You might need your groceries picked up or furniture assembled, and the service helps you find someone ready to handle those tasks. Friends recommended that I use a service like this and find someone who will type my handwritten stories. I’m not keen on this idea because I would need to part with the only copy of the stories–my journal!
- Dictation – Some friends suggested that I read the work aloud to my computer or an app and use speech recognition software to type the stories. I don’t feel this is the right option for me because I don’t want the possibility that I’ll need to stop frequently and make corrections if the software has trouble correctly recognizing the words.
- Transcription – Similar to the first option above, friends thought I should hire someone to scan and save my handwritten copies. If my journals were scanned, then I would have a greater peace of mind knowing there is another record of my work. However, I’m not interested in this option because I don’t want to part with my journal.
I’m not opting for any of the suggestions, but thought that you might find these interesting if you find yourself similarly overwhelmed. Fortunately, I am making progress. It’s just not at the speed I expected. Just 2 1/2 stories left to type!
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Tara Lynne — I wouldn’t want to put a journal at risk either. It might be tedious but could you have the Task Rabbit person take snapshots of those journal pages and type from those so you wouldn’t have to part with them?
That’s a good idea. You’re right about the tedious part though. When I think about the time and logistics involved for that, I’m not sure it would be efficient. I need to figure out a better system if I ever write such a large volume by hand all at once.
It’s really hard to to write an entire collection of short stories or poetry. I’ve done both for my two books Squinting Over Water – Stories and The Shadow of A Dog I Can’t Forget. Then along the way, I was sending the stories and poems out for publication and awards. Also almost a full-time job. I admire your ambition to get a full product done but it’s not easy. Definitely not the same as freelancing non-fiction work which is what I think you were doing up ’til now. I’m working on a third and fourth book, The Popular Girl in High School Wasn’t All That – Poem Stories and Little Earthquakes – Fast Lit To Go. I try to put deadlines on myself, but again, good fiction writing takes time…Be patient with yourself and best of luck..Mary Kennedy Eastham
I have the same problem ’cause I write often on journals and don’t have time to type them. But I agree with you, I don’t think these options would work for me as well. When I type, I also rewrite the whole thing – and that’s why it takes so much time to do.
Yes! The self-editing factor def adds more time. When I know I want to come back to something, I write a reminder in the margin so that when I’m typing I’ll have a better focus.
Tara, you just made me have a flashback. Writing short stories longhand, then banging them out on a manual Royal typewriter like Clark Kent used to use on the B&W TV series.
I compose directly on the computer now. Deleting files isn’t as dramatic as throwing wadded paper at the trash can, but I manage. 🙂
(I had a dog who brought me my bad throws to try again. Fun for the whole family.)
What a great memory! I have a Royal (that needs ribbon) and I often wonder what it would be like to type the stories on it. May need to experiment! I love the idea of your dog bringing the earlier drafts back to you. 🙂
There was a limit to how many times I could miss the trash can with the same piece of paper before he quit bringing it back to me, but that seemed to vary. He had style.
Over-ambition seems to be a common denominator among authors. Every month I find I’m revising my plans and schedules for the month because my brain always seems to think I can accomplish more than my frantically typing fingers can carry out. Good luck with continuing on with your short stories! And I hope the swollen hand has subsided. Ouch!
I’m usually pretty accurate when I gauge the time demands of projects. This collection has been an exception. Yes, my hand is all back to normal! 🙂
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