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What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

Sonsofthepharaohs

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy
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I'm kind of down on my ability today. I learned I have been making an elementary mistake the entire time I have been writing. No one has ever (until I found you guys on AW) ever pointed it out. I've shared my work on other forums, won writing contests, been through college, did journalism, shared my work to another writer friend who's published, and NO ONE EVER SAID A WORD! Now, I not only have to fix it in my brain so I don't keep making it but in all the stuff I've written.

:(. I'll stop whining now.

OMG, what? What? WHAT is this heinous mistake that has heretofore gone unremarked??
 

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.
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Oh lawdy, the other quick's in this thread! :tongue

I double-space after periods. I can't break the habit; it's too ingrained (though Twitter is making a good try of it, because I am also long-winded . . .).

I visited a pretty big bookstore (Waterstones) at my local shopping centre last week - haven't been to one in ages - and left feeling a little dejected. There were literally thousands of books, besides from having a promoted display, how is it possible to stand out from the crowd??

Remember, the individual genre sections are much smaller! I always go straight to the SFF section, for instance, and usually have time to browse through a good chunk of it seeing what strikes my fancy. :) But most of the time these days I make reading decisions from word of mouth -- recommendations from friends, reviews from book bloggers I like, all that sort of stuff. And then I'll go and order the book, even if it isn't on the shelf. So don't worry too much about not standing out from everyone -- it's more about the people in your particular audience knowing about you, right? (At least, that's what I keep telling myself.) You don't need market saturation; you just need a few fans who like your book enough to talk about it some. :)

I'm kind of down on my ability today. I learned I have been making an elementary mistake the entire time I have been writing.

I feel like that's every day for me, so you're not alone. It's why AW is so awesome. It keeps telling me how wrong I am. ;)

Anyhow. Today I got a LBL back from my second first-round beta, and it was in-fucking-credible. As was the LBL from my first beta. Freakin' terrific, the two of them. I just hope I can do their crits justice. (I didn't think about this beforehand, but I almost feel a weird sort of pressure about it, because their crits are so awesomesauce that I feel like I won't deserve their incredible beta excellence if I can't implement their comments in ways that will make the book 1000x better.) And I suck at editing -- but only one way to get better, right? Right.

Still feels surreal that people who aren't me have read my book. *peeps through hands* They don't know I wrote it, do they?
 

Nina Kaytel

I spell Gray with an 'E''
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I feel better. I got some helpful links, printed them out, and now have them stuck on my desk cabinet with my posted notes of words I always spell wrong. So it is in my face every time I write. :)
 

MilkChocolate

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I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied to me:) I appreciate it.

You guys are awesome and really help me a lot.

I hid the fact that I was writing a novel from almost everyone in my life because from the beginning I've felt like they'll think it's stupid, childish, or just not a reasonable goal.

I am glad I can come here for encouragement. I don't have high expectations of my 'book', but I do want to finish it, and maybe have one other person read it so they can catch the mistakes/ things that don't add up that I am unable to catch.

My best friend's husband offered to read it. haha, he's going to. Be careful what you wish for...

Oh, and thanks for telling me it's okay for the second or third or 100th draft to still suck! That makes me feel a lot better. Because man, it isn't pretty.
 

Atalanta

Bring me a knitting needle.
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Slacked off all day yesterday and got absolutely nothing useful accomplished -- and then had a major revelation about a character issue in my first-draft. I think writers need to slack off more.
 

AllyKitten

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Was getting nowhere in my WIP . Then I got in the shower and the ideas started flooding. Now both my MCs have their own separate goals rather than one doing stuff while the other stumbles around in circles. My best ideas, strangely enough, come to me in the shower. Must be something in the water.
 

buz

edits all posts at least four times
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Was getting nowhere in my WIP . Then I got in the shower and the ideas started flooding. Now both my MCs have their own separate goals rather than one doing stuff while the other stumbles around in circles. My best ideas, strangely enough, come to me in the shower. Must be something in the water.

It's teh nekkid :D
 

kkbe

Huh.
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AlleyKitten: Was getting nowhere in my WIP . Then I got in the shower and the ideas started flooding. Now both my MCs have their own separate goals rather than one doing stuff while the other stumbles around in circles. My best ideas, strangely enough, come to me in the shower. Must be something in the water.
buzhidao: It's teh nekkid :D
I am mulling whilst dry and wearing stuff. Maybe that's the problem.

:)
 

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.
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My laptop burns my thighs.

EMBRACE THE PAIN . . . THE BURN IS THE FIRES OF INSPIRATION

:D

It's looking like I'll have less to do on editing my book than I thought I would, so that's happy-making. Less happy-making is that I still have to do it. Work, work, work.
 

buz

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EMBRACE THE PAIN . . . THE BURN IS THE FIRES OF INSPIRATION

:D

It's looking like I'll have less to do on editing my book than I thought I would, so that's happy-making. Less happy-making is that I still have to do it. Work, work, work.

wah wah..."my book is already awesome and I have to tweak some minor things, woe is me."

:D

I was trying to decide if I should cut out half a book or just a few scenes or trunk it entirely because to hell with it and...I think I've decided to give it a few more months before I look at it again. The shame is still too fresh. :D
 

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.
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wah wah..."my book is already awesome and I have to tweak some minor things, woe is me."

:D

dood, I'm a jus' tryin' to bitch in this thread omigawd! U not letting me whine! An' here I wuz a-thinkin' that's what this thread was fooooooooooor. :tongue

That's what I get for giving you compliments, huh. NOTED.

I was trying to decide if I should cut out half a book or just a few scenes or trunk it entirely because to hell with it and...I think I've decided to give it a few more months before I look at it again. The shame is still too fresh. :D
Are ya writing another book while you're waiting, then? Are ya are ya? (And if you still can't decide what to do when you take it back out, you should send it to MEEEE. *sharpens critting instruments to a deadly edge*)

What have I done? *facepalm *

Knowing the people in this thread, it wasn't you. It really, really wasn't. :chair

I blame it on kalli. :D

Me too! :D
 

Kylabelle

unaccounted for
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Yah okay, Kali is the name of my cat. Who is innocently sitting at the foot of my bed waiting for her dinner.

She is naked but does not write, at least not that I have ever seen.
 

Lana1

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I'm tired of it. It's like a big, black hole of ongoing work, but you know a black hole sucks up everything in it's wake and there's no END to a black hole because it goes on forever (i think).
 

buz

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dood, I'm a jus' tryin' to bitch in this thread omigawd! U not letting me whine! An' here I wuz a-thinkin' that's what this thread was fooooooooooor. :tongue

awwww don't listen to me. I haz teh bitchstupids. (<<actual medical condition; primarily presents as acting like a stupid bitch)

Are ya writing another book while you're waiting, then? Are ya are ya?

yeesss...it's the only WIP I don't hate yet. :p I hit 75k today. aaahhhhh

(And if you still can't decide what to do when you take it back out, you should send it to MEEEE. *sharpens critting instruments to a deadly edge*)

lol, be careful what you volunteer for ;)
 

Kylabelle

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Books. Me, I'm doing good if I can push out a teeny little short story. I have probably written a couple thousand words today but it's all been emails. My energy is consumed right now by a stressful drama in my house, in my life, and I have not yet learned how to keep enough for writing while it's going on and is this intense.

I do appreciate the comic relief very much. :D