Finish novel. Send out to publisher. Get accepted. Rinse and repeat!

As an unpublished author, I have a lot of trouble writing longer fiction. Shorter fiction is a lot easier, though, and I think that putting together a collection of short stories is an achievable goal. First, I will choose a set of thematically similar short stories. If I have fewer than twelve stories that fit the theme well, I will write more stories until I have enough, at a rate of one story a week. I will reread and revise the stories to address any technical deficiencies and weaknesses in the storytelling. I will send the collection of stories to at least three different people to solicit opinions on how well the stories work together and technical aspects of the stories themselves. I will revise as needed. I will contact a professional editor to edit the collection and make corrections as needed. I will contact an agent to sell the manuscript, or send it myself to various publishing venues. While I wait for responses, I will keep writing, and submit the stories which didn't make it into the collection to appropriate venues. And, if necessary, I will start the process over again.

I consider myself an author, but I am not yet published, and I have a hard time seeing through the process of writing a novel length story beginning to end. I have too many stories to tell to keep them all in my head. First I will narrow down the topics, and choose a specific story. I will establish a rough outline of the plot: the beginning, middle and end. I will develop character biographies and conduct brief "interviews" with each character to make sure these are the people I want in the story before I begin, and so that I will have a touchstone of consistency to write them. Once I have down the groundwork, I will write the story, skipping ahead or behind as needed. I will write at least 6000 words a week, which for me is a reasonable (or even low) word count, and will provide enough pressure for me to get things down on the page. After I have a first draft, I will walk away from the story for two weeks and not touch it, and then come back and read it, taking note of plot holes, inconsistencies in the setting or the character actions, technical errors, and weak points in dialog. I will revise the story, aiming to correct these deficiencies. I will send the story to at least three other people to read and offer constructive criticism. I will revise the story as needed, even up to rewriting it. I will contact a professional editor to have the story edited, and I will follow their advice. I will either send the manuscript to an agent or submit it myself to appropriate publishing venues - I will submit the story to at least three publishers. I will start another story while I wait to hear from the publishers, and I will take rejection as a sign that I need work, not that I should never write again. I will continue the submissions process until either the story is sold and published, or I am convinced that it is unsalable. If the outcome is negative, I will start over and keep trying until I publish a novel.