I feel the same way about sharing the manuscript. So much about writing is the execution. If the idea is shared in a clumsy way it feels like the beta reader or writer friend won’t get it. But if the writing is good, it makes the idea come alive in a way that makes it worth reading. That’s my dilemma. I want the writing to be good to do justice to the ideas, before they get rejected. I think of all the books I love where the 2 line description would not be enticing but the story is still so good because of how it was written.
Yes! It is about the execution. So it's hard to want to share work when I know the execution isn't there yet! And it takes a while for the writing to get there. That's what revision is for. My problem is my work needs so much revision to get to a place I feel good about it!
I'm strange: I don't share work until it's "complete." In other words, it needs to have gone through at least one revision before I'm letting any other eyes near it. But I get paranoid about people seeing minor flaws and editing mistakes. 🤷♀️
I typically share work when I can’t push it any further on my own. It’s good to sit with it for awhile. Maybe I just love to stew, but for me, feedback is only helpful when I’m ready to hear it. For book recommendations, I suggest checking out Claire Keegan’s work. Such beautiful, engaging writing.
I for some reason decided to read GRAPES OF WRATH and am enjoying that. For some reason I was thinking you should try and read a nice, short book, and I thought of LION CROSS POINT by Masatsugu Ono. I have very little memory of the book, but I did enjoy it.
A nice, short book sounds perfect. I’ll check out LION CROSS POINT—thanks for the rec! (Not ready to brave GRAPES OF WRATH, but probably a good one to check out when I’m back to my regular reading habits!)
I feel sort of like GRAPES OF WRATH is almost also a good thing to try—I think either a very short book or a long book will help! But there’s also just a lot of the angst of the times today reflecting from GRAPES for me.
I think part of my making progress on it has also been through the use of a tiny (phone sized) e-reader I imported from China (Inkpalm 5), which has severely lowered the barrier of entry to reading for me over the last week (& I usually also find reading longer books like this is much easier for me to get through on an ereader bc I have less of a sense of how slowly I’m moving through it).
Actually that makes sense—a long book to sink into. An e-reader might be helpful to trick myself into picking up something long. Great idea! (Also, for what it’s worth, your new book would probably help with the slump, but I’m not letting myself buy it until your event in Madison!)
I feel the same way about sharing the manuscript. So much about writing is the execution. If the idea is shared in a clumsy way it feels like the beta reader or writer friend won’t get it. But if the writing is good, it makes the idea come alive in a way that makes it worth reading. That’s my dilemma. I want the writing to be good to do justice to the ideas, before they get rejected. I think of all the books I love where the 2 line description would not be enticing but the story is still so good because of how it was written.
Yes! It is about the execution. So it's hard to want to share work when I know the execution isn't there yet! And it takes a while for the writing to get there. That's what revision is for. My problem is my work needs so much revision to get to a place I feel good about it!
I'm in the same boat about wanting to revise a lot. I'm thinking it's not an uncommon problem.
I'm strange: I don't share work until it's "complete." In other words, it needs to have gone through at least one revision before I'm letting any other eyes near it. But I get paranoid about people seeing minor flaws and editing mistakes. 🤷♀️
I also get paranoid about people seeing minor flaws and editing mistakes, so I understand!
I typically share work when I can’t push it any further on my own. It’s good to sit with it for awhile. Maybe I just love to stew, but for me, feedback is only helpful when I’m ready to hear it. For book recommendations, I suggest checking out Claire Keegan’s work. Such beautiful, engaging writing.
Makes sense. Sitting with it can be so helpful! And great point about feedback only helping when we’re ready for it.
I actually have never read Claire Keegan, so will have to check out one of her books. Thanks for the recommendation!
This captures a familiar feeling for me. Wishing you delight as well!
Thanks, Jen!
I for some reason decided to read GRAPES OF WRATH and am enjoying that. For some reason I was thinking you should try and read a nice, short book, and I thought of LION CROSS POINT by Masatsugu Ono. I have very little memory of the book, but I did enjoy it.
A nice, short book sounds perfect. I’ll check out LION CROSS POINT—thanks for the rec! (Not ready to brave GRAPES OF WRATH, but probably a good one to check out when I’m back to my regular reading habits!)
I feel sort of like GRAPES OF WRATH is almost also a good thing to try—I think either a very short book or a long book will help! But there’s also just a lot of the angst of the times today reflecting from GRAPES for me.
I think part of my making progress on it has also been through the use of a tiny (phone sized) e-reader I imported from China (Inkpalm 5), which has severely lowered the barrier of entry to reading for me over the last week (& I usually also find reading longer books like this is much easier for me to get through on an ereader bc I have less of a sense of how slowly I’m moving through it).
Actually that makes sense—a long book to sink into. An e-reader might be helpful to trick myself into picking up something long. Great idea! (Also, for what it’s worth, your new book would probably help with the slump, but I’m not letting myself buy it until your event in Madison!)
Haha oh no! Well if you want a sneaky ebook copy lemme know, then you can buy the real version in Madison!
Oh my gosh, that's so nice of you! Yes please!