Have you ever noticed

Have you ever noticed that no matter how much time you spend proofing and/or editing a piece, the second it lands in print you end up finding something you’ve missed- a comma, or maybe you were supposed to type ‘then’ but only have ‘the’.

I’m not sure where these little imperfections originate, but I do know that I’ve seen them in many professionally edited and published volumes, in Classic books, in modern romances, even in other magazines. So I think its fairly safe to say that everyone suffers from this problem.

The question then becomes simple: How do you deal with them? I used to fight them, sending my work around to a list of various people, each skilled at detecting a different type of error. But these days, I’m less uptight about it, freer with my words. You’d be surprised how much personal happiness you can find when you let go of those little imperfections, embrace them even.

They’re going to happen. You can’t stop them. Tha is the beauty of it all.

Yes, I know, my ‘that’ is a ‘tha’ but somehow, today, it just doesn’t bother me.

Talkabout Thursday

Pack your bags, we’re going on a trip! I’m going to take you to Dramaquill’s Blog– a wondrous place for writers.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most importantly, you’ll nod your head and say, “me too!”

Writer, Jacqueline McMahon blogs about the one thing we all love more than anything else (right?)- writing.

Jacqueline is a playwright as well as…well- she’s just a writer, much like the rest of us.  She’s published pieces in a variety of locations- everything from magazines to anthologies, and has one of the most entertaining blogs I’ve had the pleasure of stumbling across.

Seriously- no matter how far or near you are in your career, take a few minutes and head over to Dramaquill’s Blog – you won’t regret it!

Alone in a Crowd

I’m suffering from a painful form of writers block today: waiting for a review.  Every so often, I reach a point in the piece I am working on (no matter if its my novel or an article) where I can’t seem to move forward without getting the opinion of someone I trust. I’m not really sure why this happens. The majority of the time I’m given the green light with the piece the way its written, yet until that feedback comes in I seem frozen inside a random fold in the space-time vortex- one that prevents any further work.

Worse yet are days like today, when I have two separate pieces waiting for feedback. Sure, I’m pleased to have finished them, yet none of the people I trust are around to read. I feel abandoned, isolated and lonely.

This situation doesn’t happen often, but when it does its quite painful.  I go through an inner struggle that could only be described as the cliche angle and demon fighting over how to proceed. The good girl says to be smart and patient, while the little devil child cries out that we aren’t alone- we’re ONLINE!  She then sends powerful urges to take a risk and simply post my piece online at one of the forums I visit.

When faced with this dilemma, I have always mustered up my willpower and resisted. The fear attached to allowing other people online to read something that isn’t publication ready is strong in me. I’m also very leery of posting something only to find it in a bazillion other locations by the end of the day- with the name of someone else in the author spot.

I can’t help but wonder, though, if I’m alone in this.  Do other writers go through this need for a feedback process? Are they as afraid of posting online as I am?

So, today I’m doing research on a new project rather than finalizing the edits on the two completed pieces.  Maybe I’ll even spend some time dreaming up some crazy characters to include in NaNoWriMo, which I’ve committed to this year.