If you are going to be a writer, you had better check your ego at the door and develope objectivity. Yep! You can give yourself a few days to celebrate the completion of a project; but, when the euphoria clears, you had better be able to look at your baby with clear eyes .
If you are lucky enough to have a few really good friends, they are guaranteed to tell you where your work needs a little more attention. You can either get your knickers in a twist, and say, "They don't understand. My baby is perfect." Or, you can suck it up, pull your lower lip off the floor and say, "Thank you God, that I have good enough friends that they will tell me the truth about how I can improve this prodigy of mine.
But you're not ready for the suck it up routine! That's understandable. Somebody just told you that your precious child has freckles. What do you do? Well, the first thing that you can do is to look around you, and make a list of the things that you have been neglecting in order to write said precious child. Then attack one item at a time, and check them off when they're completed. Checkmarks can make one feel wonderfully superior. That is exactly the frame of mind that one wants in order to make improvements in child prodigies.
Now I'am off to catch a few dustbunnies, and then make my Science Fiction Short Story, SCARS, even better, thanks to some really good friends' advice. Not only did they understand, but they knew what they were talking about. Thank you my friends for caring that I do my best.
Happy writing
Frances
Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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3 comments:
Here's to really good friends who are not afraid to tell it like it is, yet gentle and supportive in their honesty.
I'd love to read your story when it comes out. :-)
Developing a thick skin is also crucial because reviewers can be pretty harsh. And wouldn't it bite to learn about something that could have been improved *after* the fact.
Oy.
On the surface, writing a book seems like a solitary process, but publishing a book requires so many cooks that it winds up being a collaborative effort.
Jace and Heather, you are both so right. Writing is a learning experience. Part of that learning experience is listening to what others have to say, and carefully deciding if it applies and why. That's tricky. The old saying still holds true, "You can please some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time." Some writers forget that and then lose themselves. They forget that they are one of the people that has to be pleased. Thanks for the encouragement.
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