Adventure Land

Oh man, moving from one computer to another is a pain in the A-double dollar sign.

Don’t get me started on why it is a ‘bother’. You don’t realise how many different software programs you use until they aren’t there and you have to download them. Or even better, until you discover that they don’t work on Vista. And you have Vista. Of course. Or the ‘new and improved’ version is different enough that you can’t find the effin print button or do the things the manual says it should. Not that printing is a possibility since our network is in various states of disarray and I’d have to download drivers anyway…

So I went out for coffee with a friend today and since we went to this really cool little cafe that I like, I did my adventure in coffee land thing that I usually do. Today, I forked over $3.25 for a Green Tea Latte. I looooove their Chai Tea Latte, so why not green tea? I go through enough of it at home. So how was it? Well, let’s put it this way…I drank it because I paid $3.25 for it. So what did it taste like you ask? Well, seaweed actually. I know! Seaweed! “Hello? Yes, my green tea latte tastes like seaweed. Um, I know you don’t have to be a mermaid to like seaweed, but um, well, I don’t really care for seaweed in hot milk.” Oh well. Those are the risks you take in coffee adventure land.

Over in blog adventure land, there is this one IP address that keep spamming my blog. At first, I’d get the email saying there was a comment awaiting moderation and my stomach would do that little excited hiccup–you know what I’m talking about, right?–anyway, then I’d open the email and find it was this annoying site again. I’ve gone through the menus trying to see if I can block a URL or IP address. So far, no luck. But there has to be a way! There has to. And I will find a way. Oh yes, I will. I mean, I got spammed 9 times in the past 12 hours. 9! Yes, NINE! By the same site. Honestly, I’d like to march over there and tell them to ‘f**k right off.’ That is if they were within marching distance, which I am pretty sure they are not. So, I will get to the bottom of this even if I have to march electronically. My inner geek has some wicked inner resolve. (It’s the whole ‘inner’ thing twice, which means you’ve gone one ‘inner’ too deep and you’d better seatbelt up honey, cause you’ve gone too deep.)

The Value of Critiques

Isn’t it amazing how many different viewpoints there are in the world?

Isn’t the diversity amazing?

Aren’t the many, many different styles incredible?

In writing, all of the wonderful diversity of human life is there on paper. Ta-da. This is even more so if you include electronic stuff like blogs that don’t have to make their way past an editor or have to prove ‘saleable’ to get out and reach people. Speaking of saleable, how do you make your work more saleable or at least more palatable so you can get an agent or publisher to pull it out of the huge stacks of ‘this is the next great thing’ pile they have clogging up their workspace? How do you make use of all the different styles, opinions, viewpoints and experiences that are out there when you are doing something like writing? How do you use them to your advantage? Well, my answer is, you find some poor sucker to critique your work.

Now, getting someone to critique your work, I must warn, is not for the faint hearted. First of all, you have to be ready. You have to believe in yourself and you have to believe in your work. You have to be strong enough and have been writing long enough that someone else’s harsh words won’t leave you a trembling mess in the corner, afraid to pick up the pen or type another adverb ever again. You have to be ready to straighten your back, don your helmet, stick out your chest and announce, “Bring it on!” When you put your work out there, you can’t assume that everyone is going to be nice. You are asking them to pick apart your words–a part of you. And if they are any good, they are going to do just that.

Second, when you feel you are ready to go looking for a critique partner, you have to find someone you can work with who hopefully has some experience and is trustworthy. These people, ideally know something about your genre and what you are aiming to accomplish. They also have to be willing to take the time out of their day to think about your work and to give you constructive criticism–which means you might not really have the opportunity to be choosy. It can be difficult finding someone who is trustworthy, will protect your work, won’t charge you money, will be helpful and not rewrite your entire work using their voice/style/opinion on how it should all play out.

Third, you have go to be patient and you have to listen. When you get your feedback, read it. Then go away. Think about what they have said in the back of your mind. Ignore the good stuff (after you have gloated around the house for a few minutes) and focus on the poor stuff. See if you can incorporate their improvements/suggestions. It might hurt, sure. But it might hurt because they are right and they have just caused you hours more work on a product you expected to have handed back with a nice red note saying, ‘Ready to go. You are the next best thing.’ In fact, if you get a note like that, you know that they are not being honest. And if they are not being honest, they are not being helpful. The point of a critique is to improve your work. And ideally, you will have two or more people critiquing your work so you can compare what each party thought was good and what needed improvement and make your own final verdict. At the end of the day remember: it is your work, it is your voice, it is your project.

I have two people currently looking over one of my pieces and at times, they find the same flaws and other times, they do not. I take every comment they make into account and ponder it. If I think their ideas will make improvements, I make changes. Sometimes, I tell them, wait and see; the next chapter will answer your questions. And sometimes I write back and ask them for further clarification. Other times, I figure that they haven’t a clue. And sometimes I slap myself up side the head and go, well, yes, that is rather obvious to me now. I must go fix that. But if it is a major suggestion/fix that they bring up, then I sit back and think about it for quite a long time before I make a move–causing the process, at times, to feel agonizingly slow!

Either way, a critique can be an invaluable favour that you receive from someone else–and if you can return the favour–go for it. In the end, I want to be the best writer that I can be, and I can’t do that alone, thus my undying appreciation for my critique partners.

Praise for an Effective Writing Site

Back at the end of December, I joined the online community, Agent Query Connect. This has been fabulous for me. First of all, I don’t really know any local writers or aspiring writers. Second of all, I am not particularly close to any major centres where I can hang out with other writers or even join in on the events hosted by the writers guild I am a member of. Third, I am a little shy about the idea of talking about my writing face to face with ‘real’ people–although I am getting better. And fourth, I squeeze my writing in around my life–ideal for online communities, but not so much for real life communities that get upset if you bring your children along or arrive late or leave early.

Aside from these personal reasons, there are a zillion of professional reasons on why this community is awesome. First of all, there are a pile of people with diverse ideas, diverse backgrounds and a variety of helpfulness. Second, you can pop by as often as you can or desire. Third, you can ask any question and it is likely that someone has an answer. Fourth, you can get a pile of feedback on your own writing. Fifth, it is inspiring. Sixth, it allows you to make contact with other writers and eases the lonliness or isolation of many writers. Seventh, you may even meet an agent over there. Eighth, you can hear all sorts of good stuff before it is published (and possibly encourage the next BIG thing). Ninth, resources of all sorts! Tenth, there are some good laughs.

Are you getting the picture that this site is the best thing I’ve ever stumbled upon? I can’t believe how much this site has helped me grow in the past few months. I feel more confident in my writing, I’ve met other writers, I’ve got some critiques going and I’m finding all sorts of resources all the time. It’s great!

So then the other day I was editing an essay for my husband who was writing a paper on organisational behaviour within the teaching profession and I came across this description of an effective group’s features and it made me think of Agent Query Connect. Here’s the list:

No clear experts, problems are solved as group by dividing tasks among members
Members learn from each other and are willing to share their expertise with the group
Combined experience of the group is leveraged in a given situation
Tendency to make riskier or more creative and innovative decisions
Ability to overcome organisational weaknesses, especially in the area of professional development through helping each other to acquire new skills and expertise
Helpful for newcomers to the organisation
(Hunt, Osborn and Schermerhorn, 2005. Organisational Behaviour.)

The amazing thing is that all of these points describe what I have experienced over at Aqent Query Connect.
So, after reading this and you want to join, it is free–and better than most things you pay for–so go on over and join up. See you there!

Boom! Sociology and Romance: The Link I’ve Been Waiting For

Since the urge first struck to write a romance, I have been shaking my head wondering where this came from. Generally, I am not a super-romantic sort of a girl. So, how did I end up writing and loving chick lit/romance/romantic comedies/women’s fiction? Good question and until now, I did not have the answer.

Then last night, laying in bed while trying to fall asleep, it hit me (like all my great ideas do) with a bang. The answer, was suddenly there like it had been there all the time. Fully formed. Boom.

So, you may ask, what does make an educated, independent sort who is not particularly romantic decide to write romance? Well, it is my background in sociology. Say what? Sociology? I know! How did I not notice before? You see, in university I majored in sociology. I loved doing research and particularly on sex roles, gender roles, feminism, images in the media, and all that fascinating stuff that involved the relationship between men and women as well as perceived images of men and women. Naturally, since I am fascinated with such issues, it has led me to…romance.

Really, when you break it down, the leap isn’t that huge. In sociology I studied sex roles and gender roles. In romance, what are you looking at? Well, sex roles, gender roles and the way they affect the relationship between the two sexes. Boom. There it is. Now I know.

Blogger Gets Published

Cool news!

“Blogger Christian Lander’s STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE, a ‘study’ of
upper-middle-class white people, satirically exposing a culture that
prides itself on individuality and diversity, yet manages to express
these beliefs in exactly the same way (white people: Whole Foods, Wes
Anderson, Starbucks, graduate school, kitchen gadgets, Barack Obama,
Apple products, the movie Juno, expensive sandwiches, etc.), promising
two-thirds new material, to Jane von Mehren at Random House Trade
Paperbacks, with Jill Schwartzman editing, by Erin Malone at the William
Morris Agency (NA).” From Publishers Lunch (Publishers Marketplace)
March 24, 2008.

I thought this was a witty site and guess others have as well. Some of the comments on the site indicate that some people just may take themselves a tad too seriously.

Then again, the idea of someone’s website content being published in book form isn’t that new. For example, The Darwin Awards.

I am also curious about this deal:

“Marie Claire editor Sarah Wexler’s LIVING LARGE, weaving together
first-person reporting and original research to examine America’s
obsession with supersizing — whether its our cars, TVs, meals,
churches, or homes — and the real-world impact of our hunger for all
things big, to Yaniv Soha at St. Martin’s, by Emmanuelle Alspaugh at
Wendy Sherman Associates (NA).” From Publishers Lunch (Publishers
Marketplace) March 24, 2008.

This is something I will want to check out. I wonder if she will talk about how six foot fences are a slow, persistent removal from our neighbours and those that we will need to lean on for help if the economy really does take a nice little (HUGE) nose dive. Right now, we have the wealth to go it alone, but when we no longer have that, our separation is going to hit us hard. Who will we turn to? We are disconnected and turning away from our humanness and filling the void with consumer products and that only makes the hole bigger–thus the need for bigger products to fill that bigger hole.

On a lighter note, here is something fun for the writer inside: shirts! Check it out by clicking here.

As well, for a few hoots and giggles, check out Nathan Bransford’s March 31st blog entry on Mad Lib queries. If you don’t laugh, go get checked out, there is something broken.