I’ve been writing again.
Then, I made a big mistake. I put up the opening scene of the short story I’m working on up for critiquing… and I’m discouraged by the response. This is my dilemma… there are times when I need to know if I’m going in the right direction, whether it sounds right, whether this former girl guide, goody two shoes can really write steam… and critiques send me in the wrong direction, because that’s not the way it’s “done.” Just because the fictitious rules say you have to explain, doesn’t mean that it’s wrong because I wait until a more appropriate moment… a moment when my hero isn’t ruled by his dick, but by his head. I believe there should be reality in my fiction, and I know no man who will turn down sex with the woman he loves merely because he shouldn’t. Damn the consequences, storm the torpedoes and all that.
So, I’m disheartened. Is it no good? Or should I just plow ahead and finish it the way I’d planned?
The problem is… if I wait for CPs and betas until I’m done, then I’m not in a mood to go back and rewrite the whole thing… I’m done. This is the way I want it. I’d want to know to switch tracks while I’m at the fork, not after I’ve taken the road less travelled. But if the decision to take the fork is the wrong one, and sends me to the pits of despair, then am I really better off?
I think not.
Le Stylo en Rose 
Paige Said:
on June 20, 2006 at 2:56 am
I’ve got one CP, Tiffany Aaron, and while we do show each other little tidbits here and there, we almost always wait until it’s done do to a critique. Anything before that is a Yahell IM brainstorm session. Otherwise I’d never get anything written.
I do belong to a CP group but there are so many varying opinions it gets overwhelming, so I stick with Tiffany.
Maybe you should try that? Just keep writing. Pick one CP. Who knows, it might just work.
miladyinsanity Said:
on June 20, 2006 at 10:50 am
I’ve been where you are, Lara.
My current solution is I get to send out one scene to my pals, and that’s it until I finish, unless I decide to junk that draft.
It’s helped me become more self-reliant writing-wise.
Cy Said:
on June 21, 2006 at 5:06 am
Just dropping in via the “next blog” feature. I think that, given you are evidently capable of such precisely focussed self-criticism, your judgement is probably of advanced specification and, subject to careful evaluation of what the industry professionals tell you about the market, the customer, the reader (who might differ from you in ways you had not imagined) forge ahead and trust yourself. Sloppy stuff is it. No good to me, of course, I am not only an old bloke, but also one who did not question the clinic when they gave me solpiride. cyquick.wordpress.com