One Small Exciting Experience: Attempt #2

Hello World!

I haven’t written in a while, because in uploading my last entry, I lost what I’d written. I’ve learned an important lesson: write in Word and then transfer it over here. I’m through being mad now, so I’m back.

One of the hardest things about writing my book is getting critical feedback. It’s probably best in a writers’ group, but I’m not yet in one. So I sent my first few chapters to my sister and a close friend, and printed them out for my husband, expecting lots of great feedback. My friend and sister said only, “It was good. I liked it.” When pressed, they added that they’d like to read more -- the sum total of their feedback.

My husband, on the other hand, is a good copy editor. At that time, however, it was too early, since I’d just have to edit again after my rewrite(s). His search for troubled wording yielded one rather important and humorous find – I called my two main women “mystery lovers” when they were actually platonic friends who both loved mysteries. Go figure.

At Christmas, I gave my sister and my mom the finished rough draft to read. My mother has not finished it, but my sister again said she liked it. I read it aloud to my husband who gave me some good feedback on conversations between characters. (Thank You!)

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was changing protagonists during my rewrite. When I told my sister, she suddenly worried about the characters and events that she wanted to keep. Ah! At last!

At a recent retreat, my friend told me she usually takes things as they come, and has difficulty imagining them as different. When I asked what she recalled, over six months later, she still remembered my farmer character. Excellent!

So now, at least, I have a fair idea of what worked. That’s very helpful as I discard or change the rest. Thank you all. I’m on my way!