Professional writers write an average of 1600 words a day. I intend to write 1000 words a day, four days a week. I am working on my second novel, even though my first one isn't published yet, because apparently, that's the way we do things around here. I also know that "writing every day" isn't going to work for me, so I'm limiting myself to four days a week. Either I'm putting out 1000 (or more) words of my second novel, or I'm writing a short story to submit to a magazine. My novel falls under the category of "science fiction", and it would boost my resume to be published in any of the top ten sci-fi magazines.
Side note: It has also been suggested to me, as a person with strong religious beliefs, that I could also submit to Guideposts. Although this wouldn't help my long-term goal of finding a traditional publisher for my novel, it would be a publication notch to add to the proverbial belt.
So, step one: What are the top ten sci-fi magazines? I mean, if I'm going to be submitting to them, I need to know who they are, right? I ran a search and came up with two articles that ranked magazines well (in my opinion) based on submissions that won awards, submissions from well-known authors, etc. In other words, it wasn't just a list of "Here's ten magazines and I ranked them from best to worst based on how much I liked them." There was some math and a GREAT deal off effort put into deciding these rankings. That having been said, I was quite surprised at the variation in the lists:
Fantasy and Science Fiction http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/ ranked #1 on one site and #2 on another
Asimov's Science Fiction http://www.asimovs.com/ ranked #1 on one and #3 on another
Analog Science Fiction and Fact http://www.analogsf.co.m/0906/issue_06.shtml ranked #2 on one and #5 on another
Strange Horizons
http://www.strangehorizons.com ranked #4 on one and #7 on another
Clarkesworld Magazine
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ ranked #4 on one and #10 on another
Interzone
http://ttapress.com/interzone/ ranked #6 on one and #8 on another
Subterranean, http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine, ranked #3 on one, not listed on other
Space and Time
Magazine
http://spaceandtimemagazine.com/wp/ ranked #5 on one, not listed on other
Tor.com, http://www.tor.com/stories/prose/, ranked #6 on one, not listed on other
Weird Tales
http://weirdtalesmagazine.com/ ranked #7 on one, not listed on other
Not one of us,
http://not-one-of-us.com ranked #8 on one, not listed on other
Challenger
http://www.challzine.net/ranked #9 on one, not listed on other
Lightspeed, http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/, ranked #10 on one, not listed on other
So the way I figure it, if I can keep up with my writing goals, either I finish my second novel by spring, or I gain at least one credential to add to my cover letter.
I am standing by my statement that if my first novel is not accepted by next November, that I will self-publish, but also that I really, really, really don't want to self-publish, and consider this a "last resort".
