Thursday, April 26, 2012

Fear of Flying Solo

I'm having a hard time admitting to this. No, I haven't got writer's block. At least not exactly. 'Thoeba' will be out in June, and my beta readers are reporting favorable opinions about 'Aphrodite's War'. It's time to start writing 'Chasing Monsters'. In fact, I've started the character resumes and the outline. The problem is...I'm nervous. This will be the first time since I started writing Thoeba that I will have no critique partners. I will be writing my novel without anyone to tell me when I'm being cartoony, or how I could tighten my sentence a little more. There will be no one there to check my grammar or give me kudos for a nice turn of phrase. I'll be going at this alone and it scares me a bit. What if I compose the entire book and find out it sucks and I can't write without someone holding my hand? What if I discover I'm really not that talented? I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of the nest and somebody is fixing to kick me in the pants. Still, I'm a big believer in change being a good thing. In a lot of ways this will make me a better writer. I will be forced to rely on myself rather than anybody else. It will give me a more critical eye. I will learn a new kind of discipline. Besides, this ties right in with my tendency to do things BECAUSE I'm afraid of them. There are hundreds of writers out there who've never even HAD the benefit of crit partners. I'm going to count myself as fortunate, and use all the valuable things I learned from Suzanne, Jan, and Dawn. It's time to jump off the branch head-first.

4 comments:

  1. While I admire your "leap of faith" and believe whole heartedly in your talent, I hope you know you can ALWAYS send me something to review...and I will always provide you with honest feedback. Your eyes alone have a hard time picking up everything. Write the book, yes, and do it with the knowledge that you are awesome...but never put pressure on yourself to catch everything. Whether it's a formal critique partner or just a friend, it's important to have someone there...not just to tell you if you've made an error...but to also remind you of when you're genius. Us writers need some of that ego boosting.

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    1. Thanks soooo much Dawn! For everything. Glad I can still count on you. (((SQUISHES)))

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  2. Count me in if you need a crit partner! I've always loved reading other MSs to give an opinion! Let me know. :)

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  3. Awesome Jack! I may take you up on that sometime soon. You know I write paranormal romance, right?

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