Literary Contortions

Jody Hedlund's article on flexibility inspired another article by Elizabeth Spann Craig. Her article inspired me, as I happened to read it first. Both are excellent and worthy of your time.

Both blog authors are also published authors and write from their publishing experiences. I'm still in the pre-published stage, so I have a different slant on the flexibility focus.

When I started this journey, now about 2 1/2 months ago, I felt totally alone.  I know my forte is brainstorming and building ideas with others, but writing is a solitary career, right?
Gratefully, I learned that I was wrong. Even in the North Texas, there were numerous opportunities to meet other writers and even authors.

I had never realized there were critique groups as well.

With an invitation to two such groups, I sat on cloud nine. I wanted a grueling critique, one that set me up for the excellence I so deeply desired.

To say those women didn't let me down is putting it mildly. I could tell they worried that my feelings were hurt. Amazingly, I didn't feel the least twinge of distress. I compiled their plethora of notes and adjusted my ten pages then took it to the next critique group.

At that point, I honestly thought I had arrived and would knock the socks off of that second group. Uhh . . . not so much. Another pile of notes, some major reconstruction. I could do that and I did.

I took all of the notes from each night and not only adjusted the pages reviewed, but I revised my entire WIP with the suggestions in mind. Twelve revisions in all. After several weeks, it glowed like a new morning, ready to query.

Or not.

All along I struggled with how I would know it was done. If I could just get some eyes on it, fresh eyes that could view it in its entirety. Enter brand new, and might I say AMAZING, critique partner. Filled with happy anticipation, I sent off my first chapter. I hoped for a return of clean white pages, well, maybe a few grammar things here and there. I did not expect pages and pages of red markings. Yikes.

But these notes were good. Exactly what I needed, but I couldn't see it because I know the story too well. I went to work on the pages immediately and took the corrected copies to critique group last night. They loved the new power that my story took. Still, I left with another set of suggestions. It's not soup yet.

But I keep all of my revisions. The differences between my newly reworked pages and the ones I first wrote are exponential. How blessed I am to have these ladies in my life. How determined I am to keep learning and honing my craft so that some day I can be as valuable to them as they are to me.

And I'm still not offended with the suggestions. Even moreso than before. One of my fellow critique group members, Lynne Gentry (whose new book, Reinventing Leona, is linked at the top of this blog) read a book review last night that was posted publicly on Amazon. It wasn't for her book! Yea! But it raked the work over coals of bitter disappointment. The reviewer even said they would even delete the book from their e-book files.

Wow, fate worse than death!

After reading the review, Lynne summed it up. "I'd much rather be raked over the coals privately in a group of nine friends than publicly on Amazon.com."

Me, too. Bring it on!

And I'll keep practicing my literary contortions. My sweet hubby says that this journey isn't about publication, although that might be in the picture. He suggests that this whole thing is about learning and improving something that the Lord has placed in my heart. God has a plan in mind and this is my training period. I hope it includes publication, but either way, it will be a huge success because His purposes are being realized.

Where is God requiring your flexibility? What are is He trying to strengthen in you?