So you think you can write

Hell yeah, I think I can write.

Sorry...just got jazzed up watching So You Think You Can Dance. I have always wanted to move like that. I love watching those shows that push people to their limits. It motivates you. So much so that I actually was doing push ups during the commercials. Granted, I can only do like 3 at a time cause all the blood rushes to my face and I try to hyperventilate (do you think that's normal for a push up?). But I try.

The same with my writing. I read because it motivates me to write. There are a couple of reasons I can think of why this happens. The first is that when I read something *really* bad, I get pissed knowing that if something that bad got published then my stuff has a chance, too. Not entirely logical, but motivational nonetheless.

The second reason I find I reading motivational is for the jumpstart. Escaping into someone else's writing is like priming my mind to escape into the world I created in my own writing. I realize I need that transition from reality into my writing bubble. So I take it.

But time is limited. Somedays I don't have time to read. That's when everyone suffers. I almost have a physical need to read, or maybe it's the need for the mental escape. I feel twitchy, anxious, short-tempered, and all-around bitchy when I can't read even a few lines of a new book. That's when pulling out the re-reads takes the edge off. Those are the few books that I liked so much I bought (versus the well-used library card), and read over and over. Just reading a scene from one of those brings the rest of the story to mind and lets me escape into it.

Someday I would love to be the author of someone's go-to re-read book.

How cool would that be.

Back up a sec... (correction to previous post)

While walking to physical therapy this morning, it occurred to me that part of what I wrote in my last post might be misconstrued. Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to say that someone has to be a reader in my genre to "get" what I am writing. Hell, I couldn't even say what genre I am writing in beyond "fantasy". And that encompasses a wide range of sub-genres, just like romance does.

One reason I went back and made changes was because I obviously hadn't done a good job of conveying the mood or tone I had in mind, not because of Kee's personal expectations. If I had done my job correctly, I would have been able to pull her in *despite* her expectations. So obviously I flubbed that somehow.

For now, I am going to go back to my earliest inclinations--to just write what is going on--for the first draft, and then to consciously go back and look for places where more info is needed. I don't think I could sustain that through an entire manuscript, and maybe I'll get better at doing both at the same time as I go, but I think I can manage it scene by scene. It's someplace to start, at least.

Second step, tell it it's the story you're dreaming of

It's been almost a month since the last time I had a chunk to send my seestor to look at. Truly, I am the tortoise of writers.

But I managed to send her another chunk earlier this week, and she's got back to me with her comments, and now I am digesting. Here's what I have come up with:

To be perfectly honest, I did feel a twinge of disappointment initially when I saw that Kee hadn't responded by going into raptures over my glorious prose. ;-) Hey, I am only human and a newbie to boot. Perhaps one day I'll be a hard-bitten writer who doesn't give a crap (actually, I hope not), but not today. But I got over that in about 5 minutes. What's the point in asking for someone's honest opinion if you are not going to listen to it?

I've read before, usually on a more experienced writer's site, that negative reviews are actually the most useful, because they give you another perspective on your work. I've also read that getting feedback from people who don't read in your genre can also be useful, for basically the same reason. I'm not saying that Kee trashed my work, but she was able to point out what wasn't working for her and why.

I found some of the reasons interesting, because she seemed to have a different expectation of the tone than I do. I think part of that goes back to the genre thing I mentioned. She sees that my protagonist is a werewolf, and that leads her, as someone who doesn't read fantasy, to expect certain things. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own ideas about what belongs to which genre. Unfortunately, since this is a work in progress, and one that hasn't been mapped out in advance, I couldn't provide her with a handy blurb to help her set her expectations, the way I could for a finished work I was trying to pitch to an agent or that was being marketed for sale. I have a friend who asked me to read her first 3 chapters recently, and she was able to provide just such a blurb, and it was extremely helpful to me, because then I could tell her if I thought she had hit her target with the actual writing. Maybe that is something I should work on for my manuscript, too, if only for my own use.

In a recent post, I reminded myself "not to be afraid of 'telling'." But I am afraid I had veered too far in the other direction in my more recent writing. And a big chunk of what I had added--she said with a blush--was shamelessly ripped off from my own family. That is *not* the kind of writing I want to perpetrate on the world.

*chop chop chop*

Finally--and the most heinous sin in my personal catalog of writers' sins--I found my last paragraph wallowing in melodrama. Oh. Hell. No.

*chop, douse with gasoline, set on fire, cauterize previous passage*

I know Kee was worried about hurting my feelings or making me mad, but I can do those things to myself with my own writing, thank you very much. But sometimes I need someone to scrape the rose tinting off my glasses so I can see what is right in front of me.

So for that, I tip my hat to you, Kee.