Critique Partners

When I first started writing, I wasn't ready to share. It took a long time before I was willing to show my first novel to another person. My first readers were family - my sister, brother and a cousin. They each had different view points. And each time they said something about a character I felt a combination of astonishment and violation.

They were talking about the people in my head! Frightening and exhilarating.

Then I discovered online peer review. I was lucky to stumble on to two excellent sites - Critters for my Scifi and American Zoetrope for my screenwriting. I learned a lot from reading other people's materials. There's a mixed bag of writers out there and you get quite a range of reviews. Some helpful and some just slinging words at you to fulfill their review requirements to get their own stuff posted. I dutifully did my reviews and posted nervously.

There's a mix of dread and glee when you start posting for the first time. What if they hate it? What if they love it? Should I tell them I'm a newbie? Will they be mean?

Then the critiques come in. It's hard to tell, at first, who knows what they're doing and who's making it up as they go. But eventually you get a feel for a good critique. And that teaches you how to be better at yours. At Critters, I shied away from the novel excerpts. It was too much of a commitment. And what if I committed to reading the whole thing and it was a bomb? What if the people committed to read mine were a smidge below me in skill level?

Eventually, the online stuff just wasn't enough for me. I started checking around and found a critique group in the area. I have to say, at this point in my journey, that face to face is the best. We debate, we brainstorm, we gossip. I have a deadline to get work out to them. And best of all, I have a support group of aspiring writers.

Electricity

The power went out while I was in the shower this morning. No problem, the bathroom window let in enough light to find the shampoo and the hot water is gas.

But then I had a Hitchcock moment. What if someone cut the power to the house and was breaking in? There I was all wet and soapy and starting to freak out. Then logic kicked in. First of all, it's daylight. What advantage is there to cutting the power? Secondly, it's still warm enough that all the windows are wide open. If someone really wanted to break in - they'd only have to cut the screen.

To do what? Take my 3 year old computer? Surely not the 10 year old laptop that my sister plays games on. Not much in the way of burglar-bait in this house.

So that leaves my imagination (and shows like Criminal Minds) to get me all nervous again. I suds up and rinse in record time, wrap up in a towel and peek into the hallway. Nothing out of the ordinary. Whew.

Power outages are fairly common in my neighborhood. They rarely last long. This one went for 3 hours.
 
No electricity meant brushing my teeth in the near dark, expecting the power to return any second. Luckily, I have a gas stove. I cooked up some oatmeal, made a big cup of tea and was forced to have a leisurely breakfast in the sun room.

It's a bluesky Carolina day. The sun is shining after days of drizzle. The maples are touched with red and the dogwoods with burgundy. As I watched, a few leaves sailed away through the branches. I had a moment of great gratitude for my snug little house in its quiet neighborhood tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains, for my job that gives me free time to write, for just plain being alive on a beautiful day. Thanks power outage.

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A plan

An article I read on marketing said to prepare a 12 month plan. Plans are good. I don't have anything to market as yet, but it seemed like a good thing to do. Although 12 months was a bit too much for me. Just 6 months of forecasting works better in my world.

I made a table - the month, due when, task. Very organized.

Sometimes I get totally overwhelmed with what I think I should be doing. In one very hectic job, in addition to putting any and every task on the calendar, I also marked on the calendar when it was time to worry about something. Then it was out of my head and I could concentrate on other things. Hopefully this would keep me on track and progressing without too many wild tangents. Without a plan I find myself spending way too much time researching things I suddenly think I need.

I filled up my table with everything I wanted to do in a month for my writing-work. It was surprising how fast the months filled up. And even more surprising was the goals that popped up. I wrote down that the re-write of the first book should be done in 3 months. Wow. Now I know some people say they can write from scratch in that time, so I should be able to finish my re-write. Right?

Then right there on the page was looking for an agent, writing the synopsis and query... I guess some part of me believes this is all going to happen! Exciting and daunting at the same time. Of course this means I need to buckle down and actually write. But now I have a plan and that's the first step to making it all happen.

Child of Fire by Harry Connolly

The fact that he has a quote from Jim Butcher would have sold me on this book. I found it browsing through Goodreads. And a wonderful find it is.

The description made it sound a lot like Jim Butcher's books, so I was curious how Connolly's world would compare. Very different. There are similarities, in the same way that any urban fantasy must have - real-world people unused to magic, practitioners of magic that go dark and a ruling body that says who gets to use magic.

The plot is fast paced and the minor characters have adequate depth. I like the main character, Ray Lilly. He changes, almost against his will over the course of the book. It's a matter of regaining a moral compass. He doesn't necessarily want to be a better person, but he knows he has to. I will definitely read the rest of the series.

So Harry, write faster!

Art as business

I am an artist. My largest body of work is watercolor landscapes. I stopped marketing my art years ago because it was just too hard. This was before the Internet, which meant poring through art magazines and shipping slides off to juries for shows, fairs and galleries. While I was working as a freelance scenic artist, I concentrated on trying to get income from my paintings. I was a little successful. And I learned a lot about art as a business.

It's hard.

Art is subjective. There is no way to predict an audience. A painting that I might be especially proud of can be interpreted in any number of ways. Once I did a bold, loose painting of a sunset over the Kansas plains. It was a bit abstract in that it was just blocks of color. My sister said it made her think of car accidents. I did a pastel of a mother peeking into a room on a sleeping child and many people see it as the moment before a murder. Who'd want to put that on their wall?

Very subjective.

Writing is the same way. There is a ton of Urban Fantasy out there right now. And I'd probably tell you I never read it, but I love the Dresden Files.

Totally subjective.

So now I am back to learning the business of art, in this case writing. I have all the financial stuff down - I come from a family of accountants. Not that it is an issue, since I have no income from art right now. It's the marketing and prep for sales that will be the biggest learning curve. Here I had hoped I was getting into an industry where I could just be creative. Ha.

There's a lot of information out there on how to be successful, but it's a slow slog thru that stuff. A lot of it won't make sense until I get there. I'm more of a hands-on kind of person. Don't give me the details until I can put them to use or they just clutter my brain and confuse me.

I'm building in time for research every day, but some days it just overwhelms me and I end up not writing. Which is a bad thing. Got to go one step at a time. Finish the book, then worry about how to sell it.

An experiment

I am eager to try out Smashwords and yet don't have anything ready to publish. Sooo...after reading David Farlands articles about enhanced e-books I decided to try an experiment.

An illustrated flash.

Because, really, who will pay good money for just a flash, and that's all I've got that is ready to go to "print" right now. I'm pretty excited about it. I started the illustrations yesterday. I think there will be 6 or 7 of them. That's one drawing every 100 words. And it has occurred to me that I could also sell the illustrations...

But, it is a totally unknown market for me. I have no idea if it will sell at all. Aside from maybe a few pity-buys by relatives and friends. I told my sister it is like doing a craft fair. Who knows what will sell.

I consider this a dry run for the mystery - White Lies. It's out to family readers right now. Then it will go to the group, to be read as a whole. Then, gulp, it might be ready to go to Smashwords. So this will put me through the process - formatting, bookcover, isbn, the whole 9 yards! Whew.

And at the same time, I am trying to sort through my bible for the Scifi story. It's been awhile since I was in that world. I am so glad that I was ridiculously meticulous in making my star charts and planet notes. Although, I am noticing some sizable gaps that may need to be addressed right away.

Busy, busy, busy! I just wish some of it was earning me a little money.