What writing/editing/publishing questions do you have?

Sometimes you may have something you'd like to ask, but you don't want to start a new thread about it, so now we have a mega all-purpose thread for that. Feel free to ask anything here, and you don't have to be first because I already started it for you.

Some example questions might be:

I have tons of story ideas, how do I choose which one to write?

And if someone asked that I would reply with, "search your feelings. Do you feel drawn to one over the others? Cast away logic. Cast away reason. Which story do you most feel like writing right now? Then write that story."

"If this doesn't work for you, then write down one-sentence summaries for each idea, cut them up, stick 'em in a bowl, shake it, and pull one out. Whichever idea you pull out is the one you write."


Or maybe your problem is the opposite, and you can't think of anything to write about. Where can you find ideas?

My reply to this query would be, "you're probably putting too much pressure on yourself right now and that's why you're freezing up and going blank. You don't have to write the next Pulitzer. If you're just starting out your stuff will prolly suck compared to what you can do once you have more practice and experience behind you. But you can't get to the really great stuff until you first write the not-so-hot stuff. So give yourself permission to write suckily, and just write whatever comes into your head. Story ideas are everywhere. And the internet is full of writing prompts. You can always go online and do a search for writing prompts, find one that sounds interesting and just write it. Don't worry if the words aren't coming out as smoothly as you'd like. Just get them out. You can spit and polish them later."


Your turn? Either ask a question you have or supply an answer to something you have already conquered.