Thursday, July 06, 2006
Wedding Preps and Stella Crits
It was a scorching day by 10am. All signs are looking good for cracking weather for this Saturday's wedding.
I had to collect my kilt at lunchtime and the heat made the journey thoroughly unbearable. The sweat was literally pouring off me as if someone were holding a can of water over my head. I'm not kidding. I was boiling, and when I went in to a card shop I saw the assistant freeze with terror at the prospect of me shaking my head and covering the place in water.
I got the kilt back and one of Fiona's friends kindly offered to take it up with her tonight along with Laura's Bridesmaid dress and Gail's outfit. We're going up by train tomorrow, which I think will be a beautiful journey from Waverly Station into deepest Perthshire.
My sister rang a little later. Nerves have finally hit her for the first time. I think it's because this is the first day she has had nothing to do and people are starting to gather at the hotel. She can't wait for us to arrive as she thinks that will put her more at ease.
Congratulations to my pal Devon Ellington who's blog, Ink In My Coffee, just reached the 1000-post milestone. A press release just went out to celebrate this amazing achievement, which I recommend you have a read of by clicking here.
I got through a couple of chapters of AFTDF and updated my submission log now that everything is away. The rest of the day was spent getting everything organised for the weekend.
My pal Dave has had a read through of Stella and returned with some great comments. He does a bit of reading so it's good to get a 'readers' perspective. Then, just as I was tying everything up for tonight, my crit buddy got back to me with a full review of Stella. She's only had it a couple of weeks and has got it back to me already, making me feel a tad guilty about holding on to her novel mss for two months or thereabouts before I returned with her crit.
I had a quick scan of the returned mss and the beauty of having an independent writer read your work is crystal clear. There are areas within the book that lay in my subconscious as not being quite right which were made clear to me. And the holes and supporting evidence not provided where there should be, are now gapingly obvious and in need of attention.
I'll give it my fuller attention when I get back from the wedding, but immense thanks goes out to my crit partner for doing this for me. It's a great thing when there is a respect between two authors that allows there to be praise where justified and also criticism where it is badly needed and no offence or bad feeling is taken. Not all authors are like that, I've discovered, but I'm a firm believer that if you can't learn from your peers then you are never going to win in this game.
I'll be back on Sunday night with some pictures of me in my kilt for all the American ladies that read my blog. I know how much you love a Scotsman in a kilt!
I had to collect my kilt at lunchtime and the heat made the journey thoroughly unbearable. The sweat was literally pouring off me as if someone were holding a can of water over my head. I'm not kidding. I was boiling, and when I went in to a card shop I saw the assistant freeze with terror at the prospect of me shaking my head and covering the place in water.
I got the kilt back and one of Fiona's friends kindly offered to take it up with her tonight along with Laura's Bridesmaid dress and Gail's outfit. We're going up by train tomorrow, which I think will be a beautiful journey from Waverly Station into deepest Perthshire.
My sister rang a little later. Nerves have finally hit her for the first time. I think it's because this is the first day she has had nothing to do and people are starting to gather at the hotel. She can't wait for us to arrive as she thinks that will put her more at ease.
Congratulations to my pal Devon Ellington who's blog, Ink In My Coffee, just reached the 1000-post milestone. A press release just went out to celebrate this amazing achievement, which I recommend you have a read of by clicking here.
I got through a couple of chapters of AFTDF and updated my submission log now that everything is away. The rest of the day was spent getting everything organised for the weekend.
My pal Dave has had a read through of Stella and returned with some great comments. He does a bit of reading so it's good to get a 'readers' perspective. Then, just as I was tying everything up for tonight, my crit buddy got back to me with a full review of Stella. She's only had it a couple of weeks and has got it back to me already, making me feel a tad guilty about holding on to her novel mss for two months or thereabouts before I returned with her crit.
I had a quick scan of the returned mss and the beauty of having an independent writer read your work is crystal clear. There are areas within the book that lay in my subconscious as not being quite right which were made clear to me. And the holes and supporting evidence not provided where there should be, are now gapingly obvious and in need of attention.
I'll give it my fuller attention when I get back from the wedding, but immense thanks goes out to my crit partner for doing this for me. It's a great thing when there is a respect between two authors that allows there to be praise where justified and also criticism where it is badly needed and no offence or bad feeling is taken. Not all authors are like that, I've discovered, but I'm a firm believer that if you can't learn from your peers then you are never going to win in this game.
I'll be back on Sunday night with some pictures of me in my kilt for all the American ladies that read my blog. I know how much you love a Scotsman in a kilt!
Colin 10:56 pm
1 Comments:
Really liked the comment about crit partners - that's how I feel too - whether or not the crit partner is a writer, there's nothing like blunt, pure honesty to sharpen one's pencil and skills.
