For better or worse, writing 500 critiques (502 to be exact) is a milestone, so I thought I’d ruminate over what benefits I might have received from doing all that reading of submissions and writing of criticisms. First, I’ve typed a lot of words. 311,926 to be exact. That averages out to about 625 words …
When prepping a manuscript for submission, whether for an agent, editor, publisher, or even a critique group, I prefer to have my submission as clean and perfect as possible. I was inspired to become a better proofreader and revisor by the Agatha Award-winning book Don’t Murder Your Mystery http://bellarosabooks.com/dontmurderyourmystery/ by Chris Roerden http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ChrisRoerden . She’s a well-know, highly-respected …
Little did I know what I was getting into when I started writing my novel. All the stuff you have to do besides actually write: study the craft, get critiqued, critique others, read blogs, learn about the publishing business, agents, editors, writing conferences, pitch slams (huh?), etc., etc., etc. Then there’s querying. Ugh! Hours and …
1. The business of writing is diametrically opposed to the art of writing. 2. I’m not nearly as bad a “serious” writer as I thought I was. The corollary: I’m not nearly as good a “serious” writer as I think I am. 3. Modern technology makes writing, editing, revising, evaluating and preparing manuscripts incredibly easy. …
I did it! Finally finished the novel I’ve been working on. Great, you say, when will it be published? Oh, no, no, no. It’s not ‘finished’ finished, as in completed and ready to be printed. I meant the story has been written from beginning to end, in chapters, with some semblance of plot, character development, tension and …
While perusing blogs, surfing the internet and checking out profiles on Critique Circle- my online writing group- I’ve noticed (perhaps arbitrarily) that very few writers mention “old classics” as being influences on their writing. They may not even mention classics as books they number among their personal favorites. For sake of discussion, let’s call a …
I’ve written seriously for about 2 years (yet to be published) and joined an online critique group soon after that. On that website I have become one of the more active participants. I mainly read a lot of submissions and critiquing them. I’ve submitted a fair amount of work myself. So, I’ve given and received …
