My crit group meets every Wednesday night at a midtown coffee bar. We smuggle in a bottle of red and pour covertly at our table in a back alcove. I highly recommend this form of ego lube, by the way, for those rough moments during constructive criticism.
| Img via Desert Living Today |
Leigh, poor thing, is massively pregnant, and the baby bump pulled a ligament in her side. So Karin and I sat down to discuss Leigh's story, sans Leigh.
Comparing our chicken scratch, it became hilariously evident that one of us had been seduced. It had to be the reason why Leigh's pages were, on my end, covered top to bottom in annotations, and on Karin's smothered in hearts and this is so effing good.
It was effing good. I'd wrestled with myself the previous night, staring at my handiwork. Are you trying to make her writing like yours, Lora? Be honest. Come on. Are you doing what's best for her?
The answer, it turned out, was yes. We began unfolding pages, word-by-word, and I realized why mine looked like they'd been hijacked by a cartload of pencil-canoodling critbots.
I'd been reading and line-editing poetry for the previous two hours before sitting down to crit group work. It's like meditation for writers, guys, this fine-tuning of one's senses for the critical consumption of the written word.I was buzzing with hyper-sensitivity by the time I turned to Leigh's story, and no amount of her characteristic sizzling energy could kill my high. I was on fire, y'all. I wanted to bottle up this brain state and market it to practicing writers.
The best I can do is say: Are you editing? Read poetry.
***
So, yes, Wipmadness lovelies, I'm editing. Still. But I'll have Round 2 of the WIP complete by the 1st. Nearly query-ready. Thank you so, so much, beta readers. You know who you are =D
Any mischief managed lately? Where have your WIP and NaNo journeys taken you? Feel free to leave links to any brilliant writerly insights you blogged about this week.
And most important: Who is hosting for December?
UPDATE: Lori Parker is hosting. She'll be welcoming the Wipmadness team on Thursday on her blog.
Hi Lora!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same phase as you - soooooooo close to sending out but just re-doing my first three chapters - again!
Editing people's work is always tricky, right? Plus, everyone is going to have different tastes.
I do feel slightly left out as EVERYONE seems to be doing NaNo. Meh. I hear myself say: where have all the writer's gone? Although, this week bloggers seem to be coming back. : )
I am so in touch with that "am I trying to make her write like me?" question. I don't do that with my students so much, but I do catch myself wandering into that territory with colleagues.
ReplyDeleteAs for the #wipmadness...slow going last week. sick kids, holiday, and my own swollen joints limited my writing time. I was to only one to attend the Nanowrimo write-in, but I got 1000+ words written there :-). Now I am ready to launch into the final couple of chapters.
Freya, a lot of us are sort of doing NaNo...using it to edit or finish a work already in progress...so dot feel left out. We are all still here and just as crazy as ever!
That's interesting - I've become aware of that "am I trying to make it like my own" recently as well. Being a good critiquer is such a fine art and one I'm continually revising too!
ReplyDeleteFor me, I'm waiting. Twiddling toes. Hitting refresh even though I know that's stupid. I tried to get up and start on a newish ms today, and did get up, but then talked myself out of writing. I'm not sure I want to jump into a new world just yet.
Maybe I should write some poetry.
There's no way around it... massive company and stomach illness hijacked my writing time. Then I got sidetracked by the need to move my blog. Now, my characters are giving me a raised eyebrow. "And you are?" I am throwing myself at their mercy.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to host #wipmadness in December, unless someone else is clamoring to do it.
testing the wordpress commenting thing.... why didn't it use my girlparker name? sigh.... loriloraine is girlparker. Trying again.
ReplyDeleteMastering the Art of Critique. I wish someone would write that book. . .
ReplyDeleteToday I am feeling enthusiastic about drafting again. Not sure why, but I'm rolling with it.
Sending good writer wishes for all of you!
I think I'm ready to be sending out now, kthxbai.
ReplyDeleteWell, I finished NaNoWriMo. I dunno what it was about this year, but once I hit 50K, I felt like I was done, and even though I have more ideas for what I worked on, which was surprisingly NOT what I'd planned on working on, I just needed to not be NaNo-ing anymore. I wanted to get to work on other things.
I also finished the rewrites and they feel ready to send out again. They're sitting with a few beta readers right now, but I would like to start sending out queries right now, because it'll be weeks before I expect any "I want to see more" from that, anyway.
I'm also desperately eager to resume reading and put a dent in my *ulp* To Be Read shelf. I need this now.
As for health and fitness and eating? Well, I am feeling well enough that I want to get back out there now. Heading to the gym right after posting this. And there will be sword class up to twice this week. It's all this interconnected glom that feels like it needs to be dealt with at its roots, which are 1) exercise (including weight training, because that will build up my strength); 2) regular sleep (which means making an extra effort to go to bed earlier) and 3) not eating crap. Wilfully not eating crap. Yesterday's Grey Cup celebrations had not-so-lovely consequences, eating-wise. I don't want that anymore.
Good luck with your edits!
Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those edits rollin'...
ReplyDeleteYep, that's where I am too. Still got a long way to go. I'm on first draft edits and I'll want to run through it again before sending to betas. Right now, I'm about 2/3 of the way through. I'm hoping to let betas have it for the month of December and hope they can get feedback to me beginning of January. Otherwise I'll be racing against the clock, if I'm not already, to get it in to Avon by the deadline.
Hi Freya! Good to hear you're nearly there. Those 1st 3 chapts are forever needing tweaks :)
ReplyDeleteMary Ann, I think stepping back and asking that question really is the mark of a good critic, not to toot my own horn or anything. o_O Just being aware that the issue's there is sometimes enough, I think. I'm glad you were able to get a few K in this week, despite the stressors. We'll be cheering you on through the last few chapters!
:D Jaye, I can't wait for you to hit that refresh and see... But I won't jinx it. The muse will come when the time is right, that's what I think about the shiny new project. Do you write poetry? I tried a few times... Godawful stuff.
Lori, looks like you're our new host! Little twitter birds told me you were jumping back into the WIP. Good luck. Characters can be brutal, can't they?
Angelina, Re: "Mastering the Art of Critique." Heck, I'd buy it. Enjoy laying the tracks--my favorite part.
I like your clear-headed goals, Laura. You're moving forward from NaNo, and it just sounds right. Yikes on the querying front, but I'll be there with you soon. Just gotta start the research bit... And we will all be holding our breaths for your success :)
Nice to have an editing partner, Daniel. Keep it up!
Good to know I'm not the only one up to my eyeballs in edits, though I didn't get a thing done this week. Too much turkey and sickness in my neck of the woods too.
ReplyDeleteToday I am playing catch up with my blogging and email and tomorrow I am hitting it hard once more.
Lora, I ask that same question when I am critiquing others work. I'm with Angelina, we need a book:)
Lora - as for poetry - I write really silly limericks - as for reading - I love Mary Oliver. My poems would fall into godawful.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know what poetry you've been reading. Usually, I can't stand the stuff, but if it'll help with editing...
ReplyDeleteHow many edits do you usually go through before you feel its query ready?
@Deana - Ugh, I hear ya on the sickness bit. Our daughter got pink eye ON Thanksgiving morning and then had an allergic reaction to the meds. Now my wife's sick and feverish. We've spent more money on illness this holiday season than we have on gifts so far. :\
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've checked in all month. Life gets hectic around the holidays!
ReplyDeleteLooking over my goals, I'm sorry to say that I failed on two of the three. I didn't read a single physical book (though I did read several e-books) and I didn't track foods for my diet (though I'm doing it again now). I did accomplish the writing goal, however, since I'm not only researching background for my project, but also beginning to work on the plot, setting, and characters.
One out of three is still something, though! Good luck next month, everyone.
Deana, Why do sick bugs have to coincide with holidays?? It's just not fair. Glad you're gonna be able to get back into the groove now.
ReplyDeleteJaye, I'll have to pick up some Mary Oliver :)
Juliana, I don't have one particular fave poet, but I do love Walt Whitman, Christina Rossetti.. more recently was blown away by C.D. Wright's Deep Step Come Shining and Carolyn Forche's Blue Hour collections.
# of edits depends on the project, but because I'm do massive edits while drafting, I think I probably end up doing 3 full edits on the WIP.
Jaime, Glad you could check in! And the writing's the most important goal, right? ;) So who needs food diaries or "real" books? :D Hope December will be a productive month for you.
I managed to read your friend's page and I must say I liked what I read. Please send her my kindest regards :). You are a great friend Lora and definitely someone your friends can count on :).
ReplyDeleteWow, Unikorna, I'm impressed you were able to read the page under all my scribbles :) Thanks for your kind words, and I will certainly pass along your regards to Leigh. <33 Lora
ReplyDelete