Help! I've Fallen ...

... into a writing slump, and I can't get up!

Although that's not as entirely true as it was this weekend. This weekend I received back the first beta read on my historical fantasy adventure, and it was so encouraging. Not just because she said nice things about my main characters and overall story (although that was awesome), but because she provided me with some solid things I could work on instead of the nebulous "something about this isn't right" that had been floating around my brain for the last few months. So now I'm getting excited to get back into editing.

Aside from that, though, I have been having problems. I have very minor edits to make on the three shorts closest to being publication-ready. I am almost finished with the major edits on the novella. The two spy shorts still need work, but I don't feel guilty about putting those on the back burner until I've finished my spy research.

So I've really no reason to be in a slump. Everything is moving along - slowly, true, but still moving. I've even started working with cover designers for the three almost-ready shorts!

And yet, and yet, and yet.

To be frank, homeschooling is kicking my butt. None of this is complicated stuff (I'm doing kindergarten and preschool, for heaven's sake), and my girls are eating it up, but I find myself struggling every day to stick to a schedule, to follow the lesson plan (we were at the library on Saturday and I suddenly realized with panic that I had NO IDEA what books I was supposed to pick up for this week's school, because I'd forgotten to check the lesson plan for this week). It will get easier (my mantra!), I know. I'm hoping by November to finally have my feet under me.

And it's going well, for the most part. We're getting together with a couple other homeschooling families once a week. Joy is reading everything she can get her hands on; Grace is consistently recognizing the alphabet and getting better with phonics; both of them love numbers ("Math is my FAVORITE," Joy tells me enthusiastically, every single day); Joy will happily spend hours covering any blank surface she can find (including the walls) with pictures as she teaches herself to draw; we go through the house and point out shapes of everything; we read and talk and do basic science projects and look at famous art pieces and listen to classical music ... they are eating it up. And when I can keep myself on track, I love it, too. I just get derailed way too easily.

And when the homeschooling gets overwhelming, everything else goes by the wayside, too. Especially writing!

I am seeing glimmers of hope. Aside from the aforementioned beta-read-encouragement, I was able to get a few hours to myself this weekend just to sit and breathe and recharge - something essential to this introvert mamma who is constantly surrounded by daily clamor of two little people always, always needing her (and occasionally one larger person, when he's home from work). I picked up Grace's quilt last night and made considerable progress on that while watching Once Upon a Time and Revenge (which last is actually boring me and I'm not planning on watching anymore - why is there no Downton or Sherlock on Sundays at nine right now??), which I had been procrastinating terribly on ever since the Olympics. I even pulled out my in-progress felt leaf banner I started making last year and never finished, and made HUGE strides on that (my goal is to get it done in time to use as decorating for Joy's birthday in November). I've been able to think about my stories without flinching.

And I got up almost a full hour before my littles this very morning, which allowed me some time to read my Bible, pray, write a blog post, breathe, and think. Always a good way to start the week!

So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm just hoping the tunnel doesn't twist and curve TOO many more times before I get there!

How do you get yourself out of slumps - writing or otherwise? If you are a typically disorganized person, how do you force yourself to stick to a schedule (my schedule is deliberately basic and simple, and yet I STILL can't seem to follow it)? Any homeschooling parents out there with any advice for me in getting through this first year with my sanity intact?

Moving Right Along

Three of three!

I'm cruising through these edits. Short stories go so much faster than novels! Even the Olympics haven't been enough to slow me down - though granted, much of what they're showing right now doesn't interest me greatly. If it weren't the Olympics, I would never voluntarily watch any sort of volleyball, beach or court. Water polo isn't high on my list of favorite sports to watch, either.

I do, however, find myself on the edge of my seat for every. single. rowing. event. Seriously, I start out watching casually, and the next thing I know, I'm holding my breath, clutching my hands together, making little inarticulate squeaks every time positions change at all. Not much editing happening during those (also, it's ridiculous how happy I am to hear Terry Gannon commentate on all the rowing events. I grew up listening to Terry Gannon, Dick Button, and Peggy Fleming commentate on all ABC's figure skating events, and every time I hear any one of them now it just brings back my happy teen years).

Carl and I enjoy watching the gymnastics together, and oohing and gasping over it all. We are in full agreement that having either one of our littles take up competitive gymnastics would put us in early graves. Any other sport, I think, would be fine, but gymnastics makes me sweat.

Anyway. Back to the editing. The nice thing, I'm finding, about editing so many short stories in a row is that it is much easier to see my repeated problem motifs and correct them than it is in a novel. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but that's how it works for me. I am starting to see and correct some of those problems myself now, even before the CPs have pointed it out, and that's definitely a good thing.

Two more stories to be critiqued and edited, and then I send the whole shebang off to my copyeditor. I hate to sound like a broken record in all my posts here - but I'm excited.

I'm taking today off - spending the day with some college friends, including one who now lives down south and only makes it back to the area once a year. Eleven kids under the age of six and five adults - yikes!

I'm pretty sure it won't just be the kids running around like chickens with their heads chopped off.

Tomorrow will be getting those last two stories in good enough shape for CPs to look at them. Things are most definitely progressing!

Edits and Quilts

My week off is done! I started editing yesterday, in between watching the Olympics and grumbling over NBC's terrible coverage. I keep telling myself to be thankful we can watch any of the events at all, but somehow I keep finding myself on Twitter, complaining again. Then I virtuously tell myself that if enough of us complain publicly, NBC will have to take note and make changes before Sochi, and therefore I am doing America in general a service.

As Jane Austen says, "how quick come the reasons for approving what we like."

I'm actually quite pleased with the way the edits are coming along. One story in particular needs a lot of work, but the other two are fairly smooth sailing. Which is good, because as soon as these three are ready to send to my copy-editor, I'll have two more ready for critiquing and then editing.

I'm still trying to figure out the cover design. Do I hire someone to do that for me, or do I handle it myself? I'm not too shabby of a photographer, and I actually have a very clear idea of what I want for the cover, but the problem is in finding a model, and then handling all the editing aspect of it. I don't have Photoshop, and iPhoto (and even PicMonkey) is very limited! Any advice, already-published writers out there?

Even with the shoddy coverage from NBC, the Olympics are definitely inspiring me. If these athletes can do everything that they can, do that huge push to fulfill a lifelong dream ... then I can figure out all these nit-picky details to take that first step on the road of my lifelong dream.

And, as is usual with me, my brain is already teeming with ideas for new projects. Three connected novellas! Two similar-themed but not-really-connected novelettes! A collection of fantasy stories and artwork from other unpublished/new writers/artists organized by me! And, oh yeah, my novels. Can't forget those.

I don't really mind having so many creative plots at my fingertips. Even if I only accomplish half of them, that's still pretty major.

In the meantime, I am holding myself sternly on the task at hand before I let myself get carried away with new projects.

(Grace's sunshine quilt is coming along nicely, by the way. I sit down to watch the Olympics and just start tying, and before I know it, I've got several blocks done. I might actually have it finished by the end of the Olympics at this rate! Here's a picture of it in its pinned state - the lighting doesn't do it justice at all, but you still can get an idea of how cute it is.)

You can see why we call it the sunshine quilt!

Collaboration and Community

I've been spending most of my time this weekend (and Monday) getting my short stories ready to send to the lovely, lovely people who volunteered to critique them for me (and attempting to clean my house, burning out the belt on my vacuum, deciding to forget housecleaning and making baked doughnuts with the kids instead), but I did scratch out enough time to read through The Floating Admiral.

Have you heard of it? It's a joint effort by the Detection Club (some notable members: Agatha Christie, GK Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, Freeman Wills Croft ... etc) to see if they could detect a mystery without knowing the end. Each person wrote one chapter, and then handed it off to the next without any hints. Anthony Berkeley had the unenviable task as the end of trying to make sense of the preceding tangle of clues and evidence, and wrapping it up in a tidy solution (which he did BRILLIANTLY), and then in an appendix at the back, each author revealed his or her own solution.

It was fascinating. I loved it. Both as a mystery fan and a writer. As a mystery fan, it was delightful to see each writer try to guess where the previous writer had been pointing, and to contrast the different styles of writing and detection. As a writer, I loved seeing the way they played off each other and used each other to make their own writing stronger. My favorite part, honestly, was the appendix where they all revealed their solutions, because it showed so plainly the way each of them crafted their stories (Agatha Christie's solution, by the way, was the most preposterous, and yet you KNOW that if she had written the entire thing, we would have swallowed it without hesitation). From Sayers' complex and tidy backstory and timetable to Clemence Dane's frank admittance that it was all a muddle to him and he just tried to leave it open so that Berkeley could finish it off in any way he pleased, it was great.

Trying to read it as one cohesive detective story would be fairly exhausting, and judging by some of the negative reviews I've read of this, that's where many people go wrong. Reading it for the enjoyment of seeing all these authors work together and blend their many different styles (the main detective in the story, Inspector Rudge, ends up being a character of so many layers and great depth, simply because he is written by so many different people - just watching his character develop was half the fun for me) is the way to go with this story.

I've been plotting a joint fanfiction story with two of my good friends (Adrienne and Cathy, we really need to get moving on this!), consisting of letters and journal entries between three cousins. It's not the same premise as The Floating Admiral, but much of the idea is the same - we each have our own idea of our character's story, and the fun and challenge will be weaving them together into something cohesive.

This is one of those aspects of writing that thrills me. As much as I love crafting stories and bringing characters to life on my own, I also love the thought of being part of a community of writers. The very idea of the Detection Club makes me happy, much like the Inklings (if given the option of going back in time and sitting in on only one meeting of those two groups, I'd be hard-pressed to pick between them). Can you imagine if the Inklings had written a joint-effort fantasy like the Detection Club did with The Floating Admiral? It would have been amazing and hysterical, all at once.

Twitter and blogs are a wonderful way to build writers' communities; one of the reasons I'm thrilled to have critique partners for my short stories is because it is yet another way to build that same sense of community. Ultimately, though, nothing quite beats in-person meetings of a regular sort, to discuss and laugh and help each other become better writers.

Maybe someday - for now, I'm thankful, so very thankful, for these internet communities I can call my own.

Objective

I promise, this is my last navel-gazing post for a while. Really.

It's just, I think I've had a breakthrough in figuring out some of my frustrations with where I'm at with my writing (and a lot of other areas of life) right now.

It isn't so much that publication is my goal. But I DO want to be read by others, and this is a major reason why:

When I love something, I want to do it as well as I possibly can. I don't have to be the absolute best at something, but I want to do it as best as I can. I love to write stories, and I want to write good stories. And the problem is that for so long, only people who love (or at least like) me have been reading my writing and commenting on it. And they're nice to me. Not since college have I had someone completely objective reading my work and commenting on it (I'm assuming that the objective readers on ff.net are the ones who simply don't comment), and so I no longer know from someone else's perspective what my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer (aside from the grammatical weaknesses Laura pointed out on my last piece she critiqued. I do know my technical writing issues, just not the creative aspect so much).

I'm the same way with music. When I was taking voice lessons, my awesome teacher never hesitated to tell me when something was good and when it needed work. Occasionally by banging her head on the piano keys, but hey, it got the message across (there was also the threat of  "if you sing like you've swallowed your tongue ONE MORE TIME I'm reaching in your mouth myself and pulling your tongue," which was remarkably effective). Since stopping lessons, I'm kind of adrift - not sure anymore of my strengths as a singer and my weaknesses.

I don't need to be the next JK Rowling. Nor do I need to be a concert vocalist or the next American Idol (or whatever current singing-related show is popular now - I can't keep up). What I do need is to be the very best Louise I can be at whatever it is I do. Somehow.

Objectivity. It's a beautiful thing. And it can be so hard to gain when you don't have someone outside of yourself assisting you. My husband is always happy to help me where he can, but he's my husband, he has to be nice to me. I'm pretty sure that was in our vows.

Naturally, realizing all this doesn't help me actually gain that needed objectivity to my own skills, but it does at least help me from feeling generally "I suck"-ish about said skills. Which is good.

So. Knowledge gained. Good thing. Next step, finding those objective observers. Which will take more work, but hey. I'm never scared of lofty goals so long as they are defined. It's the vague ones that scare me.

A Bird's-Eye Look at Editing

Easter is over, the eggs are hunted, the family has gone back to their respective houses, the fridge is chock full of ham and sundries, the coffee/tea stash is seriously depleted, and it's time to start thinking about editing again.

I have adopted a methodical practice for editing this particular MS. First, I printed out the rough draft, and went through it with a pencil, marking specific changes as well as leaving just general comments like "awkward phrasing; fix it," or "this whole passage sucks; change it," or if I was feeling kindly toward myself "insert more about specific reasons here."

Next stage is the one I'm in now, putting the suggested changes into the document.

The next stage is the one I'm dreading, and the reason I read Line by Line: copy-editing. This is the mind-numbing part where I go through and look critically at each line, pulling it apart to see if it is as concise (in case you haven't gathered as much from my blog posts, I'm a rambly writer), understandable, and lovely as possible.

Then will come one final look-through, and then I will send it out to my beta readers. Assuming I have beta readers at that point, that is. Anyone want to volunteer for that? I'm always happy to read others' work in exchange. (and yes, I know it's not considered etiquette to beg for betas in this way. What can I say, I've been looking for a critique group for over a year now with no luck, and I'm desperate. Also, my tongue is rather in my cheek, though that doesn't mean I'd refuse if anyone offered to become a critique partner with me!)

After the betas tear it apart and send it back and I stop sobbing into my pillow over all their suggested improvements, I'll go through it again, fixing the problems they saw in it. Then I send it back to them, and then we decide if it's good to go out for submission, or if it needs yet more work.

It's a fairly exhaustive (and exhausting) process, and it's more intensive than I've ever attempted with any of my other finished MSS. However, of those, one was never meant for publication, but was simply finished as "my first finished novel;" one is languishing in a closed file; and one I've ended up tearing apart, breaking down, and starting it again from scratch. So I'm thinking that a more severe editing process might, in fact, be helpful for me. And after reading on Shannon Hale's blog that some of her works go through nine drafts, I really don't feel this is too over-the-top.

I'm planning on this taking a long time. I'd been feeling an almost panicked need to get this MS done, to get it out there as quickly as possible so that by the time Carl was ready to go back to school I could maybe, possibly, be helping the family finances. However, by working so hard and feeling so rushed, I was losing a lot of the joy that characterized the first writing of this story in the first place, and more importantly, was finding it harder and harder to enjoy being with my family, because every moment spent with them was a moment I wasn't writing.

Um, bad priorities.

So I've accepted that for right now, my role is not to assist in bringing in any extra money when Carl is in school, at least not through my writing. Depending on his schedule, I can always go back to retail - after eight years before my marriage, I'm pretty comfortable there - once he's in school, and help out that way. Right now, I'm going to slow down the frenetic pace I'd been applying to the writing, enjoy it, enjoy my family, enjoy life as it is right now, and take as long as I need to in order to make this story as close to perfect as I can, while still savoring being mumsie to my two little chickadees.

What does your editing process look like?

Brother Cadfael, or, What Makes a Good Series

I think I first discovered Brother Cadfael through PBS, the series they did based on the books by Ellis Peters. It only took me a few episodes, though, before I was determined to find the books and read through them. That was years and years ago, and I have yet to read the entire series. That is not, however, due to a lack of interest; rather, I am reading them and collecting them as slowly as possible so as to prolong my enjoyment in them as long as possible.

So what is it about this mystery series, featuring a medieval monk with an adventurous past and an insatiable curiosity, that intrigues me so?

Aside from the brilliantly-drawn Cadfael himself, there are a few other reasons:

Good recurring characters: Not just Cadfael, but all the other recurring characters in the series are three-dimensional. They pursue their own lives, their own interests, have things happen to them, and interact with Our Hero very naturally.

Good side characters: These aren't so much recurring characters as a nice bit of continuity - the goldsmith, for one, who features in one story, and then a few stories later we hear of him again in passing. Same with the corvisor's son, and many others. Since these mysteries are all set in medieval times, when travel was difficult and most people lived and died in the same place their entire lives, this makes everything more believable, and contributes to the sense of feeling at home in Shrewsbury each time you read.

Good fleshing out of all characters: And to finish off the character studies - even the one-shot characters, the ones who only feature in one mystery and then vanish forever, are well-developed. Very few of them are flat or cardboard - in fact, that is one of my complaints about the PBS series, because they tend to reduce many of the one-shot characters to wooden caricatures instead of the real people Peters made them to be.

On to more specifics ...

Good job moving from Abbott Heribert (lazy and easygoing) and Prior Robert (hard and uncompromising) to Father Radalfus: The first couple of books had the Father Abbott as a simple-hearted, simple-minded soul, easy for Cadfael to manipulate so he could do whatever he wanted in solving mysteries. In contrast, the Prior was cold, proud, and had a strong dislike for Cadfael, and went out of his way to make things difficult for the monk. Pretty stereotyped, wouldn't you agree? But then Peters had Heribert demoted and brought in a new Abbott - Radalfus, who is clever, wise, just, uncompromising, understanding, and savvy. At times he is more than willing to give Cadfael freedom, but other times he imposes strict restrictions on him, and there's nothing Cadfael can do about it. Prior Robert is reduced to a minor nuisance, and the entire situation is saved from mundane to clever.

Good with changing Cadfael's helpers frequently - both introducing new sidekicks and keeping true to established canon: Cadfael tends to get novices as his helpers, and as they grow and pursue their studies, they move on, and he is supplied with a new assistant. This helps to keep things fresh and change things up without having to kill anyone off, and also makes sense given the Benedictine order. Another area where the PBS series slipped up - their Brother Oswin had the LONGEST novitiate known to man!

It's not a perfect series - I get frustrated when book after book features a "villain" who is not truly guilty of desiring evil, but was just misguided. That works for one or two, but after a while it gets old. This was especially true in the book where a boy murdered an injured, helpless old man, but it was excused by Cadfael as "he was mad with love and grief." Um, sorry, don't buy that as a reason to let him escape to Wales. Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in mercy triumphing over justice, but there are limits.

There are other flaws as well, but overall, it is a thoroughly enchanting series.

And I haven't even mentioned the best part yet! Hugh Beringar is EXCELLENT. No mere Watson to Cadfael's Holmes (although Martin Freeman would make an awesome Hugh, but then, what role wouldn't he be awesome in?), Hugh is clever and dangerous in his own right. He and Cadfael aren't always on the same side - Cadfael serves the church, while Hugh serves the king and law of England - but they respect each other and work well together. And Hugh is a brilliant swordsman, too, which automatically gives him an extra 50 Points of Awesomeness.

Are you familiar with Brother Cadfael? What are some series that set up good examples of ways to keep the writing fresh and exciting for readers no matter how many books are in the series? Do you agree that, in murder mysteries of any sort, every now and then the villain HAS to be villainous?

The Secret

I have discovered a secret!

Want to hear it?

It's a good one.

It is ...

How to give your ego a healthy deflating.

What is this trick?

Give your work to someone else - someone honest - to critique.

I sent a couple of short stories to a writer friend yesterday. She sent the first one back covered in notes. Now notice - I am THANKFUL that she did that. So very, very thankful for a true assessment that was also gracious. Because how will I ever improve if I don't know where I'm falling short? And how can I ever hope to get published if my writing is not as tight and clean as possible? So thank you, Andrea, for your meticulous and honest assessment (and also for the kind words at the start about what you liked!). And thank you also for pricking my ego (not that you yourself pricked it - seeing the amount of work still required on something I thought fairly tight pricked it. Just to be clear.).

You see, it's been a little while since I've had anything fit to send to anyone for critiquing. And in that time, I'd been starting to feel pretty good - even safe - about my writing.

I'm not saying I'm suddenly thinking I'm not a good writer - but that I didn't even realize how complacent I was getting about my writing until someone else looked at it.

Self-esteem = good. Complacency = bad.

I know I am a good writer. I also know I can be a better writer. It was that latter part that, without me realizing it, had been starting to slip. And it took a 3000-word story covered in honest (and for the most part very basic grammar and phrasing) corrections to jolt me out of that and remind me that hey, this is real work, lady, and writing cleanly is just as important as creating compelling characters.

So, that is my self-discovery for the week. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some editing to do.

Betraying Your Characters

I don't usually write book reviews, but occasionally, on Goodreads, I'll leave a review if I really have something that I think is worth saying. Something positive, that is. A lifetime of having "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" ingrained into me prevents me from leaving negative reviews. If I don't like a book, I usually just don't talk about it.

Until the last book I reviewed. I gave it one star, and I left a heartfelt, decidedly un-positive review. Why? What made me feel so strongly about this particular book that I had to say something?

Some people who reviewed it said that the author betrayed her readers, but it wasn't that that left me with such a sour taste in my mouth.

The author betrayed her characters.

This was the third book in a trilogy. She had spent the first two books building up her characters in a certain way, and then, in this final book, she completely ripped them out of their old selves - the ones she still included. Some characters who had been built up in such a way as to expect them to play a major role in this book just faded from the pages. Certain relationships that had been teased at - well, I was going to say that they fizzled, but in fact, they weren't even there. And the characters that did carry over?

They were not themselves.

Not the main character, and not the secondary characters.

And the story? It was flat. I can only imagine because the author had to fight with her characters every step of the way, forcing them to conform to her vision instead of letting them be themselves, and their revenge was to make the story boring.

To me, as a writer, this is one of the worst things you can do - force your characters to act, well, out-of-character. It is a betrayal of them, and ends up being a betrayal of yourself as well, because, of course, the characters have sprung from you.

I make no secret of the fact that all of my stories are character-driven rather than plot-driven. To me, it is the characters that make the plot - people interacting with each other and with events. So perhaps I make a bigger deal of this than it really is. An improbable plot? I can shrug off with a laugh. Wrenching your characters out of themselves and turning them into puppets?

Outrage. Outrage to the point where I'm not sure I'll ever read anything new from this author again, even though I've enjoyed almost all of her other books. If her own characters can't trust her, how can I?

And so I had to vent, even to the point of leaving a negative review (sorry Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and all my aunts and uncles - sometimes you just gotta say something not-nice). (Although you will notice I didn't link to the review - you can find it if you look, but I'm not going to make it too easy. I still have some principles!)

What are the writing crimes you cannot forgive in yourself or any other author?

Finding My Ark

This has been an up-and-down week for me.

I wrote a children's picture book. WHEEE!

I got the typical "oh that's nice" response or, worse, no response at all from family and friends when I tried to share my excitement. WAHHH.

One friend immediately asked about illustrations, and we started collaborating that night. WHEEE!

Trying to figure out the best way to self-publish that offered me electronic options AND the freedom to offer print books to indie bookstores and local galleries on my own AND didn't cost the sky completely and totally freaked me out. WAHHH.

I had a beautifully positive response from the few friends who did get excited for me, and my first critique partner. WHEEE!

My husband and I had one of those conversations where no one is mad at the other, but everyone ends up feeling lousy afterward (nothing to do with writing). WAHHH.

And then I got sick.

And it's been raining for what feels like 40 days and 40 nights.

So, I'm finding an ark.

Today I'm going to wear nice clothes, bake cookies, play loud and fun music, laugh with my girls, work on sewing their skirts I cut out last week, and throw encouragement at everyone I can find, even if it is just online. I will hide myself from discouragement in joy. And hopefully when I emerge, the waters will have receded.

Just as soon as the two-year-old stops her wailing for no reason in the background.

What is your "ark" - where do you go, what do you do to rest and recover from discouragement or disappointment, or just plain blah-ness? Are you living in an area that's been getting drowned, like me, or are you one of the ones suffering from drought? If you are, I so wish I could send you some of our wet!

Query, Revised

Thank you all so much for your words of advice and encouragement. Here, without further ado, is the revised text of The Query:

Dear Agent,

Nobody expected Tesni of Glynbach to be the one to rescue her younger sister from the evil witch - not even Tesni herself. As the eldest of three sisters, born in a land where nobody stepped outside fairy-tale convention, Tesni was supposed to hate Elain, not want to save her. But when weak-chinned Prince Aled cannot rescue his true love, it is Tesni who defies tradition and travels across the land to fulfill the witch’s five impossible tasks. With a few stalwart friends by her side, Tesni quests to collect each of the demanded magical items, seeing much that surprises her, and learning some important truths about herself. In the end, she must decide if love for her sister is enough to make the greatest sacrifice of all - to leave her home and family forever. Can happily-ever-after happen even to an Eldest-of-Three?

The Eldest Sister is my 70,000 word young adult fantasy novel. With a strong and conflicted female protagonist and a plot which highlights sacrifice and undeserved grace, The Eldest Sister is likely to appeal to readers of such authors as Lloyd Alexander, Shannon Hale, and Robin McKinley.

I have had two award-winning short stories and two poems published in the 2003 edition of Grasse Roots, the State University of New York at Canton’s literary magazine.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Louise Ayers

Better, yes or no? Personally, I think it's not only more interesting, but carries more of my authentic "voice," rather than being dull and formal. Does it make you want to read the story?

ETA: Apparently one or two people have tried to leave a comment, but nothing has shown up yet. If you've tried, I didn't delete it! Maybe Blogger just has a bug? Anyway, hopefully if you try again, the comments will go through this time.

Critiques and Connections

I had a lovely long phone conversation with my dear friend Laura two evenings ago (while taping up our tattered board books so they can last another couple years, hopefully), talking about, among other things, writing. Laura does technical writing for her job, and enjoys fiction on the side, while I can't imagine ever attempting any kind of technical writing. However, our interests and experience blend enough that talking with her always leaves me eager to get to work on whatever project I currently have going as soon as we're off the phone (which admittedly doesn't often happen, because usually we talk so long that I go to bed as soon as we're done).

Which, in turn, led me to thinking about the importance of having at least one person to bounce ideas, rough drafts, plots, dilemmas, et cetera off of. I have often heard of the importance of joining a critique group, and I think that is marvelous, if you have the option, but even if you can't find a good critique group, at least have one person you can use as a sounding board.

Unfortunately, I'm preaching at myself mostly here, because my options for sounding boards are: Laura, with whom I talk (sadly) only once in a blue moon; Carl (my husband), who is always willing to listen, but whose interests lie more in theology and philosophy, and so doesn't have much experience regarding fiction (especially YA fantasy); my mother, who loves to talk about research, but is so immersed in her own studies that we rarely get a chance to do more than just share with each other our current projects; and my father, who is the most encouraging person I know but has the delightful habit of thinking everything I write is wonderful.

Put all together, and I end up having a fairly broad base, but it's not quite the same as having one person (or more) serve as a knowledgable, critical judge. Not to mention that all of the above, save perhaps for my husband, always err on the side of kindness, which is lovely but not always helpful for preparing for the harsh reality of attempting to get published (Carl has always believed that truth is kinder than a false statement, which is why I have always, even before we were married, been able to rely on him for an honest opinion).

One of my goals through blogging, Twitter, and other social media is to start making connections with other writers, and hopefully eventually meet some people who will act as a good sounding board, and for whom I can do the same.

Are you part of a critique group? Do you know of any good online groups to join? Do you have one person whose judgement you trust enough to submit your works to, or do you have to spread it out over a disparate group of friends and family, like I do? Do you find your friends and family to be too kind when it comes to your work, or are they able to put aside personal feelings and be objective? Have you made good connections through blogging and social media, or is this more a shot in the dark?