Admittedly I have a long way to go, but my first blog post for all of the world to see is now up on the Thresholds Short Story Forum. Many thanks to all of the wonderful writers and readers I've met on the Forum and elsewhere (you know who you are) for their great encouragement. And let's not forget the magic ingredient that will make every writer a better writer if only they'd do it more often: WRITING AND MORE WRITING. That's it - this is the magic formula - one I wished I had understood a long time ago. I can already see a great improvement in my writing. I was so self-conscious when I first started, wanting to impress, wanting to sound intelligent. Now I can simply be.
Here's the link: http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/?p=7989
A Picture I Took By My Bus Stop (I will have to look up the name)
I think these are Clematis (but don't quote me!) - This picture was taken by my bus stop
I just read your article and I loved it! (I didn't both to create an account to comment, I figured I would comment here! :) ) But, I have recently gotten my "aha" moment with a short story.
ReplyDeleteI have had this short story rejected time after time and WOW it is exhausting. Finally, I read an article that said, "with each rejection, write back to the editor or write an email requesting feedback, even if they don't say they give it."
Well, in a recent rejection...I did ask for it. And I did get it. And sadly, when I got the feedback, I was NOT surprised at all.
I wrote this story and I was so pleased by the beginning...so pleased by the ending...yet..the middle, I felt was lacking. But I thought the rest was strong enough to make the weak middle be ignored. But I was wrong. Because the person who gave me feedback told me that the middle was not strong enough and didn't unfold the same way the beginning did.
How strange is it that I knew what was wrong and didn't even bother to fix it?
Thanks for reading Nicole. I'm so glad you liked my post. I'm sorry your story was rejected (it's not easy developing a tough skin!) but when it comes to our own writing we can become so deluded. We hang on to what's good thinking the bad will not be noticed. It's not strange at all that you submitted the story anyway. Denial works wonders, especially with our writing! Sometimes the only way you'll get clarity is if you step away from it for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently working on another story that has the same problem you describe above. After six months though, I finally rewrote the middle section. I can't tell you how enamored I was with it despite stumbling on it every time I got near it. After six-months my love affair with the section fizzled and I finally saw the light. I admitted the truth to myself - the middle had to go - it was sucking life out of the rest of my story. I just hope and pray that I'm right. I'm about to send it off again. Keep your fingers crossed!
Congratulations, Dora Dee.
ReplyDeleteThank you Donna! I want to catch up with you too but I'm still in the middle of my bathroom remodeling (it's coming great though) + work has kept me busy too since I was out for a week.
ReplyDelete