Take it, and Like it!

Criticism.

Rejection.

Someone debating the validity of your Genius.

How dare they, you ask??

The greatest gift a writer can get (besides cash or liquor) is honest feedback on his/her work.

How many of you have been writing since you were in high school or earlier?

How many were told they were brilliant by English teachers and/or relatives?

And how many of were unpleasantly surprised later in life to find out that ... yeah, not so much?

Welcome to the life of a writer.

That twirly feeling in your stomach is the beginning of a new and wonderful thing called Self Awareness. It is this discomfiting understanding that your first drafts are crap that will set you apart from the other wannabes and make you shine. Trust me :). It's true!

I was that kid who was told by all the teachers that everything they write might as well be inked in unicorn snot and angel tears because it's so amazing, and so thought (of course) this was true. Embarrassing, I know.

I very clearly remember my first week in college. There was an online poetry critique group that you could submit to, so of course I sent my Pearls of Awesomeness over, expecting them to praise me, tell me how amazing I was, and then ask me to tear their lesser works apart for them.

I'll never forget what happened next. They gave ME criticism! My themes were vague. The endings of my sentences weren't snappy enough. I was wordy. I was wasting words... Needless to say, I almost had a heart attack.

"But... I'm brilliant! Everyone says so!" I thought, shaking my fist at the computer screen.

This was when I first wondered if maybe my gradeschool teachers were liar-pantses, and I had a lot of work to do after all.

Thank goodness for criticism!

Without it, we would never know our shortcomings and would have no clue how to recognize them on our own. Criticism is the mirror that tells us when we have spinach in our teeth.

There is a theory that goes something like this: Competence is inversely proportional to confidence.

Have you ever noticed how the people who are worst at something are the ones that think they're the best? Think karaoke. Think middle-school poetry. Think... William Hung from American Idol. This is absolutely true for writing as well. The people that don't think they have any room for improvement are the ones who suck the most. They suck, because they never realize they have room to grow, so they simply don't bother on improving themselves. These are also crazy people.

Let's face it. Even Shakespeare probably sucked at first. He and Christopher Marlow probably had a critique group and helped sharpen one another's skills.

I guess my point through all this rambling, is that learning to accept and even love constructive criticism has made me a vastly better writer. I learn more and more each day, and crave feedback that can shine a light on something I've yet to learn. Hooray for people who care for me enough to tell me the truth :). I love you all!

There is a great discussion over at author Nicola Morgan's blog about when to either let your WIP die, or when to give it CPR and revise. I'm quoted there talking a little bit about my own journey with LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, which is very cool! If it weren't for the couple of rejections I received, I never would have gotten critiques, never would have revised, and wouldn't have this shiny, sparkly new version that I swear is 10X better than I ever thought it could be.

Criticism is a gift :).

Do you treat it that way?

Progress Update!

Hi, All,

I hope this evening finds you well! Yes, it's that time again--time for an update so I can show you that I'm not just a slacker, blogging away all of my writing time ;).

This week I've been going nuts on my revisions (in a good way), and feel like I've been accomplishing a lot. Have any of you ever noticed that when you add a new scene to beef up your story that it comes out about 10 times stronger than your "first draft" writing? What's up with that? I think it must have something to do with the fact that I know how the story goes, unlike when I was writing the rest. I know how it starts, ends, everyone's motivations, and most importantly exactly what I want to add to that part of the story.

I once read somewhere someone saying "I'm not a good writer, but I'm a great re-writer." I really feel that way this week, and it's encouraging. Also, it's encouraging that no one has to get it right the first time.

Here are some other great quotes to sum up my week:

"The waste basket is the writer's best friend." --Isaac Bashevis Singer

"The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal." --Elia Kazan

"Even the best writer has to erase." --Spanish proverb

"The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say." --Anais Nin

Hooray for the DELETE key, that keeps us all grounded! Isn't it nice to know that all writers both strive for the same outcome that we do, and struggle along the way?

I've also been blessed with the challenge of critiquing other people's manuscripts, which is just a lot of fun, and a great way to procrastinate. All in all, I've been a busy gal, and loving every minute of it.

I'd love to hear from you guys what you're up to with any works in progress!

Happy Wednesday!

Celebrating Critical Mothers

I did the unthinkable recently and gave my mother a copy of my manuscript (LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS) and asked her to read it and tell me what she thought. There is a running gag out there among literary agents and writers alike that it doesn't count if your mother or spouse love your book, because they are going to love it no matter what.

However, I know better. Maybe I'm an exception, maybe I've been cursed/blessed, but for whatever reason, my mother has always been honest with me about my writing.

So I handed it over, all 308 pages of it in a big, black binder and waited in white-knucked anticipation.

All I could think for weeks was whether or not she'd gotten to the part with the cannibalism. Or the part with the sexy nakedness. Or the part where... well, you get the picture.

Isn't it funny how we write this stuff, hoping to have it published and shown to thousands and thousands of people, and yet we get extra nervous about our family seeing it?

The verdict finally came in this weekend.

Instead of saying she loved it and she wanted my autograph, Mom told me she had "opinions," and then let me have it. Luckily, "it" was a slew of very helpful suggestions and a list of the parts that just weren't working for her. No, the end didn't explain everything satisfactorily, and no, she wasn't sad when the supposed-to-be-sad bit occured. No, she didn't like how fill-in-the-blank went down. And here are ways I can make it better.

Needless to say, although I was a tiny bit disappointed that I hadn't written a perfect book despite my best efforts, I was THRILLED that she would be so honest with me and give me the tough feedback I needed.

Thanks to my mom and my awesome husband, I am having Re-Write Week and feeling very encouraged and excited about my new-and-improved novel. I feel so blessed that I have a mom who trusts me enough to know I won't go crazy on her if she tells me the truth.

Critical moms truly are gangsta as hell.