I saw this on another writer’s blog  It’s a very, very, large group,* and yet it has great therapeutic potential, as in “I know some of those people who sometimes think their writing sucks are future NYT Bestseller list chart toppers, so maybe I am too, because I sometimes think my writing sucks.”

So here’s my (actually straightforward) answer to this month’s question. One thing I’ve learned since I started writing is that if you write 8500 words and throw all of them out, you’ve still written something. I read about an author who had written 85,000 words of the third book of a trilogy (first two already published), threw them out, and started over. Realized she want to tell a different character’s story. Yes, the new version was a hit.

*As in “All of us”

Good part: My fantastically gifted daughter-in-law took time out from her thousand-hour-a-week work schedule to critique three chapters of my manuscript. She said many very nice things and also pointed out some potentially fatal (yet fixable) shortcomings.

Bad part: My brain turned on and wouldn’t turn off. I wrote until 3:30 and got up at 7:30. Almost afraid to review my changes, which, though they seemed brilliant at the time, may read more like, “See Spot run. Run, Spot. Run!”

Very complimentary letter from an agent who says she’s not the right fit for me but asks me to query a different agent and use her name.

When someone says your manuscript needs a lot of editing for grammar and punctuation, say (with a tiny bit of disdain), “No. That’s my style.”

You know you’re in trouble when a reader calls a line stark and devastating…except it was supposed to be funny.

After 5 days in Canada, where everything was wonderful except the coffee and I was having too much fun* to focus on my writing, I have returned to my favorite writing spot. The coffee is actually coffee-colored, as opposed to translucent. I’m able to concentrate despite the young guy doing a job interview at the next table. He just told the recruiter he has lived in “lots of interesting places” especially Dayton, Ohio and Nebraska.”**

*Not that kind of fun. Theatre, family, winery visits, three-hour dinners.

 

**Direct quote

You keep nagging me to fill out the “Where do you work” section in my profile. If I said “Bump ‘n Grind” it would be the truth, but probably a little misleading. Fellow writers will understand.*

*As well as anyone in Silver Spring who loves coffee.