cj Miscellany

cj Sez: Yesterday, the world remembered D-Day, June 6, 1944—the day Allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy in defense of freedom. I remember especially an uncle who was injured on those bloody sands and a dear friend, who travelled with Patton and with whom I am privileged to be able to still connect. Sa-Lute to America’s heroes and thank you.

Following up on last week’s post

The toon is from my Facebook page.

I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating: Critiques are a must for serious writers. We’re way too close to our manuscripts to be subjective. Despite our best intentions, we can’t judge, proofread, or edit our own words, at least not thoroughly and objectively. We read past things. Sometimes the words we intended aren’t even on the page. Objective critique partners are able to find those missing words, poorly constructed sentences, punctuation errors, missing story threads, plot holes, and all the etceteras that the subjective writer misses.

It’s true that finding compatible critique partners is often very hard. Shared likability and a mutual respect for expertise are required by/for/from each other. But your manuscript deserves/needs critiques, so connecting with a critique group is definitely worth the effort.

Your (and my own) role in a critique group is to remember the rules for critiquing. The most important one is: Be kind. Second: Find a way to start the critique with something positive. (Writers have fragile, creative egos, but you know that.) Third: Be truthful. It won’t help any writer if you praise something that is poorly written. I truly understand that no one likes to hear their baby manuscript is ugly, but speaking from experience, if we’re going to be successful writers, we have to develop a rhino hide in order to continue writing despite criticism—whether unwarranted or warranted—and despite the feared agent rejections.

 

Okay, time to quit this tome and get back to transcribing my notes from the Southern Christian Writers Conference that I attended over the weekend. I’ll tell you more about that next week, but in the meantime, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
DEADLY STAR (Publisher: Crimson Romance)  
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P.S. Congratulations to prolific author Carolyn Haines on the release of the latest must-read book in her Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery series. BONE TO BE WILD is number 15 in this series!

 

PPS:  Still waiting for publisher Crimson Romance to send me the edits they want for my newest romantic suspense, CONFLUENCE OF TERROR.  The anticipation is making me nervous. ::grin::