Five Year Project: July update

do you have goalsI’m taking part in Misha and Beth’s Five Year Project and my five-year goal is to write a novel and get it published.

I’ve been sending my historical novel to agents: The Reluctant Scribe, set in the Tang Dynasty of China. This month I made some progress, with one agency asking to see the full manuscript. Unfortunately, they recently decided it wasn’t for them.

There are several other projects I ‘ve been working on. Here’s an update:-

Walking the English Coast, a beginner's guid, author Ruth LivingstoneWalking the English Coast – (non-fiction):

  • Final layout of cover is almost agreed.
  • Pricing of the POD paperback decided.
  • Digital version (split into four ebooks) up and ready to go on Amazon KDP.

It’s all taken considerably longer than I anticipated.

Collection of short stories – (fiction):

I’ve put together a collection of four short stories, which I plan to self publish in the next month or so. Two of the stories have been previously published in magazines, and one of them – The Shed – won first prize in a competition. Am about to send the manuscript off to an editor for proofreading.

NaNoWriMo novel writing winners banner - Ruth LivingstoneThe Orbital Contract – (draft YA sci-fi novel):

Still waiting for some attention. Hopefully I’ll have more progress to report on this next month.

My articleOther writing projects

Last month I had a very short non-fiction piece published in the August issue of BBC Countryfile Magazine. I’ve now been commissioned to write a longer piece about my experience of walking the coast. Deadline August 19th.

Author: Ruth Livingstone

Walker, writer, photographer, blogger, doctor, woman, etc.

12 thoughts on “Five Year Project: July update”

  1. Wow! Congrats on all of your progress and congrats on your commission to write a longer piece! That’s just wonderful. I am looking forward to reading your books. I keep hearing about them each month and it’s just filling me with anticipation. Maybe, when the right agent and right publishing company swoop them up, you’ll have fulfilled some pre-marketing strategies during this wait time and your books will just fly off the shelves!

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  2. Wow, huge congratulations, a commission from Countryfile Magazine is definitely something to scream from the rooftops! And everything else is stepping forward too. Every rejection is getting closer to that acceptance. Good luck for August!

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      1. Oh, and Beth, I’m really sorry but I’m still unable to comment on your blog. It just doesn’t accept my comments using either my WordPress profile or my Google profile. Sorry 😦 I have read your goal update, however, and this is what I was trying to say “Your goals are very challenging, especially the candy one! Hope all goes well with your writing this month.”

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  4. Lots of goings on with your writing. Keep going. I’m also contemplating self-publishing a collection of my short stories, but I want to place them all in magazines first. So far, only about half of my stories have found a home.

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    1. Hi Olga. Do you have problems finding suitable publications for short story submissions? Not much opportunity in the UK now, except through competitions. Always strikes me as a bit odd that we (the authors) have to pay for these submissions with very low chance of publication!

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