Critters Bar closes...

I'm saddened (but not shocked) to hear that the writing workshop Critters Bar has served its last drink and closed its doors for good. I'd like to wish all of its patrons the best of luck with their future endeavours, writing-related or otherwise. Onwards - to good and perhaps better things...

Starts with a sigh, ends with a high (of sorts)

*sigh*

On the workshopping site I frequent, Clean Until the Final Act has gone down like a sack of onions. I would have said potatoes but onions have more layers, which if you read on will make a little more sense. It appears all the subtleties have been spectacularly overlooked and the story is just a predictable revenge tale. Rather unfortunate, to put it mildly. But I don’t see the point of trying to explain. After all, can I be there to point out to every potential reader that, for example, there may be a reason why Triggerman Joe’s speech is all italicised? No. Or that one of the themes is the (ab)use of religion as a means to an end (in this case violence)? Again, no. So, um why bother? Besides, maybe the story, which I had high hopes for—the highest, in fact—does indeed stink. I don’t think so, but then I wrote the damn thing. Time or rejection slips will tell...

My usual reaction to a small disaster such as Clean Until is to do an about turn and head in the opposite direction. So, my densely-written treatise on religion/religious motivation segues into a simple tale about a boy who sees sharks. Oh, and dead people. Well, actually it’s one dead person. His brother. Anyway, instead of taking three weeks to write the first draft of this story, it’s down in just two sittings. Admittedly, it’s rough, as in unreadable-to-anyone-but-me rough, but all the elements of what I call the surface story are there, in place. All they need now is some care, attention, and much polish. The title, if anyone is interested, is probably one of my best: Sand Between a Dead Boy’s Toes. I think the finished story may live up to that and at the same time heal the wound caused by the response to Clean Until...

Premature Evaluation

I went back and forth on it, but I finally did it. I posted chapter six of The Ballerina, the Boy, and the Thing in the Water on a writers' workshop site, stood back, and waited for the lions to start tearing...

Call me self-destructive, but that's what I did. Why? Because sometimes (quite often, in fact) I am weak-willed and low on self-belief. It's the amateur in me, I guess, seeking praise and encouragement. A quick pick-me-up during a quiet time. Often, it can prove to be a costly mistake.

This time I was lucky. On the whole, the feedback was positive and encouraging, especially considering that what they read was an excerpt from a much longer work and therefore difficult to slide comfortably into.

I had shied away from letting anyone read or hear more than a few sentences or paragraphs from this, my latest attempt at a novel. I've been burned in the past, see. Some time ago, I began writing a horror tale, The Black Tree. Even got a cover designed for it by the hubby of a friend - and dare I say fan? - of mine. Eight thousand words in, I decided to post everything I'd written so far on a workshop site. The first two people who read it were, it is fair to say, not that impressed. They weren't nasty about it, just...unenthusiastic. Since then, two or three others have read the opening chapters and expressed the exact opposite opinion. Typical. For the record, I'm currently with the second group. However, at the time, those initial responses tainted the entire project for me, gave the thing an air of time wasted and, were I to continue with it, potentially more time wasted. So, I shelved the book. A stupid stupid mistake.

I guess what I am trying to say here is beware allowing yourself to slip into the mindset of the amateur. Try to avoid premature evaluation. Spoils the whole process. It can sneak up on any one of us, too, if we're not careful, especially when we've been out of the game for a while (like me recently - I've been "on hiatus" due to illness and a simple enjoyment of married life, though some might compare one thing to the other...) Anyway, this overeager mindset can make us do things that could potentially threaten the completion of our project, be it a short story or a novel. As I said, I was lucky this time. People enjoyed the excerpt. But unless you're an egomaniac - which I'm not - or thick-skinned - which I am but some shots still get through - then green-gilled newbies and weak-momented old-timers alike should heed this simple advice:

FINISH THE DAMN THING FIRST.

It is harder to turn one's back on a finished (first draft, at least) and potentially strong project than it is to abandon an unfinished and ostensibly weak one. Finish the damn thing first.

So, with that in mind, what did I do after posting Chapter Six and exposing my work to a potential mauling? I went ahead and posted the opening salvo of my latest and yet-to-be-finished short story!

Finish the damn thing first.