Musings

The updates are late because the Internet at home went pffft! at the most opportune of moments. Here are some quick musings:

1. Turning off your Internet really gets much writing done. So to aspiring writers, my tip to you is surf less and write more!
2. Had my short story critiqued along with three other stories last Saturday from the Lit Critters. The reception was awful and being separated from the text for several months, I agree that it’s crap*. One helpful thing to bear in mind is that as an author, I’m interested in getting my work critiqued because I know there’s room for improvement. If I thought the story was perfect, I wouldn’t have it critiqued, I’d shop it around to publishing markets.
3. While my story didn’t fare good, that’s not to say that was the case for the other three authors. The other two needed some revisions before they became good stories. One story however was so amazingly written that I think it’s ready for the international market and might even be nominated for an award pending some revision on the author’s part (which is to say while it’s already a great story, it’s this close to being the best story out there).
4. One pet peeve of mine is hearing other aspiring (and even existing) writers thinking that they can’t compete with other writers and use it as an excuse not to submit to writing markets and/or competitions. Guys and gals, while it’s great that you’re honest about your skill level, you’ll never get better unless you try. You’ve given up even the battle has started**. When my aforementioned story did not work, I said that I still didn’t have the chops to narrate the story effectively but I qualified it by stating “for now”. Just because I can’t do something skillfully now doesn’t mean I’ll remain that way forever. I’m striving to get better (although whether that happens one year from now or ten years from now remains to be seen) and I’m not using intimidation as my excuse not to submit to other markets or –gasp- not to write at all. Besides, who knows, you might be better than you think.

*Which is to say it’s unpublishable in its current form but nothing revision and editing (although in this case I think an entire rewrite is needed) will fix.

**Also, what are you saying about the “competition”? That previously unpublished writers have no talent? People have to start somewhere!