Critiquing

Hi all

I like to critique other writers work. I like to give them the benefit of my limited experience, my point of view. It is after all only an opinion.

If I really like the piece then my crits are very short, more often than not, if I really like it, I'll send a note saying as much and apologise for not offering a crit - why should I try to find fault with something I like - critiquing is not being a critic.

If I find work I like the premise of but has either technical or more ethereal issues, my critique can run into the thousands of words - all very diplomatically chosen although I try not to pull any punches. It's my opinion and the person I'm providing it too paid a whole $0 for it. If they don't agree or don't like it then they can disregard. If I point out things that others have then they disregard at their own peril.

Nothing annoys me more than taking the time to crit something for a stranger and then having that crit critiqued or shot down in flames or worse - being rude in response to it.

If you submit a piece for critique anywhere then you're asking for others opinions. If you don't like that opinion then say thank you for taking the time and move on. If you take the time to argue points then you will loose that person critiquing for you in the future. If you only retain those who say they like your work - you will not learn anything and you will not improve.

I also actively put my work out to crit circles and groups. I want the feedback. I want to learn. I don't always agree with the responses but I take the time to see if each comment is valid from a readers point of view. More often than not it is and i need to find another way to do things - but I refuse to restructure or loose the way I want to convey the piece because I've written it and each writer needs to have their own voice. No point in writing like someone else - just have a look at all the bad press the writer of Eragon has gotten.

Be yourself but be willing to learn. You will learn from critiquing others work too.

The only way to keep getting better at the craft is to write and keep on writing. Critiquing and gaining feedback is part of that.

Okay - I'll get off my soapbox for the moment now. But only for now :)

Good luck with your submissions.

Busy - but not all writing

I have read many articles on the Art of writing over the last year and most of them make the suggestion that a writer should put time aside each day to write. Whether that be 30 minutes or more, it doesn't matter as long as you allow time to write regularly.

I try to write every evening but if I was successful then I would be able to at least blog every evening but I don't. I get side tracked. More to the point, I allow myself to get side tracked.

This week has been a very surreal experience with family deaths, family birthdays (two of those) a life altering epiphany that I'm still coming to terms with, trying to continue my normal work (which currently involves a huge mega-dollar project) and my writing.

Something has to give, and with three children and a need to continue bringing in a pay packet - it tends to be my writing time. Now I find I'm up till odd hours doing some editing or writing but I get something done until later in the week when my batteries finally give up and I've exhausted all my reserves. Then I don't write at all.

I don't write as much now as I did even a month ago. That's not so much through choice. Sometimes life sucks and we have to make choices that we feel we don't want to. At least that's what I thought during the last month. Not anymore.

My life will be what I want it to be and I will be making it great. Sounds simple - not so easy to live up to that statement but I have made the decision that I am going to.

And as part of that - my writing time is now set in stone and blogging will be part of that. I will add a blog entry at least every two days. I will try for everyday but unforeseen things still happen and part of my promise to myself is to get more sleep. If something comes up - I will not be up until all hours, squeezing in some writing. I'll just write more the following day when i have more time.

Stay tuned to this space. The writing works in progress will begin to climb as will the publishing credits and the number of posts.

On checking my counter stats tonight I have found visitors from all over the world. I thank you all for your interest and hope you continue to visit.

Like me - try and make time for your writing everyday and keep those submissions rolling out.

Good luck.

Condolences

I apologise for not having blogged over the last four days - my Aunt passed away after a short fight with cancer. It's obviously hit my mum fairly hard and she's needed her kids support. After all she's done for me over the years - its the least I could.

So apart from my normal stress of home and the additional strain of departing family members, I have managed to do some writing. Well over the last day or so anyway.

I have written three new erotic pieces that are currently being critiqued and will go out the door very soon.

I continue work on my ebook - long hours of research but it'll be worth it.

The new website has been put on hold due to outside influences but it will happen.

I have begun another edit of my novel - version 5 now! I was going to enter the first 5000 words into a competition as I thought I was happy with them (I was half way through the novel on edit 4). When I went back and read it again, I'd found I'd learnt a lot more as a writer and immediately began another edit. It's a long way from seeing the light of day but it will one day.

There is only so much polishing a writer can do before a gem turns to sand and slips through your fingers.

I like that - it sounds almost profound :)

Well I'm heading back to continue writing and editing, I respectfully suggest you do the same.

Keep those submissions flying!

More Ins and Outs

System Failure failed to make the final cut in its submitted for competition. Shame but not the end of the world. It has had the slightest of tweaks done to it and gone straight back out to another market.

I'm working hard on my new e-book. I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of the month. I'm also working hard on creating a second income through providing magazine fillers. I am busy creating, cataloguing and preparing a huge store of fillers so I can begin submitting them to the multitude of magazines out there.

A friend is also preparing an ebook for sale which will reveal more of these secret markets. Keep you eyes and ears open and watching this space - I'll let you all know when it's available and where you can get it from. These little markets can be a great side income while you wait for that big publishing contract.

Good luck with your submissions

New things on the horizon

Hi all.

Today, and for the next few months, is a time of turmoil and change in my life. Lots of different things happening around my personal life which will have profound impacts on me in the months and years ahead but until they're resolved (sometime before Christmas - I hope) I won't comment further on them.

My good friend and crit buddy has mentioned an exceptional deal for me to get a new site and domain - this is still in the negotiation phase but watch this space - Aussie musings will be getting bigger and better.

I have also had an offer to work on a new e-book. I had an idea which seemed a normal extension of something I was already playing with. On mentioning this to an editor friend, they have kindly offered to show me the ropes self publishing and promoting an e-book. Exciting to say the least.

So - apart from my writing, waiting anxiously on acceptance into my course, learning HTML, learning about e-books and self publishing and continuing to ride the current, constant downward spiral of my home life - life is pretty normal :)

I have resubmitted EULA to a new market and continue to work on improving my other shorts. I have finally made a writing timetable to better allocate my time - especially seeing how everything is requiring more time now.

Well - that's it from me for now - back to work.

Good luck with your submissions

A new market consideration

We are writers - we love to write. Some of us prefer to write exclusively in a single genre, most of us dream of retiring early and just making a good living from our words.

More often than not sacrifices have to be made to pay the bills. You've all read that I've dabbled or am at least trying to dabble in the adult markets. There's good money to be made there. I've been let in on another one. Online adult newsletters for adult sex and clothing shops. A lot of them include stories to promote their gear and they're after writers to write it for them. Very lucrative to.

Have a search around some of the online shops that sell the saucy underwear and other like minded places of commerce.

It could be worth your while. Just remember that regardless of the market you write for, you must follow the same rules of good writing. Check all submission guidelines and respect your target audience.

Good luck with your submissions and keep on writing.

Another submission Voodoo galore

I have submitted my piece for the current On The Premise competition. The competition is titled Disguised so the entry must have a character who uses a disguise that is important to the story - not just a quick one paragraph mention.

My story involves a woman traumatised by a sexual assault who looses the ability to have children because of it. She goes on to use the disguise of a nurse with stolen credentials to kidnap a new born from the hospital where she's been receiving counselling from for her assault.

It goes through many levels and over a six month period. I also has a lot of scene breaks in it - way more than recommended for a short story of only 4000 words but there was no other way to tell the story I wanted and with the necessary details without them.

I had my crit buddy go over it and she agreed. The story was sound but the scene breaks are a problem.

The entry had to come in under 5000 words. To play out this story without the scene breaks, a conservative guess would put the length closer to 7000 words - way too many.

I like it the way it is - it's different - let's hope the judges like something different too.

On the new works front - I seriously got stuck into my Voodoo story last night. It currently sits at 1656 words, one woman and two chickens dead. A second woman was being lined up as I finished writing at some ungodly hour last night.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your own submissions.

Another Rejection

This was another piece I'd done sometime ago and jumped the gun when I sent it in. Fey Island Contract was originally written to help me fill in a sub plot I needed to know about within my novel Tiger's Eye.

One of the characters carries some serious magical weaponry and I wanted to explain how he came by them for my own benefit as much as anyone else. So I wrote the short story of his finding his weapons - I have since gone back and looked at what I submitted - very green and very much a first or second draft at best.

So yet another of my original works commences the process of growing up. Again the story idea is sound so it's purely a mechanics thing. The tightening up of structure and dialogue, contractions and pacing. In another 4 or 5 rewrites, I'm sure it will be ready to go back out and face the world.

Above all - never get discouraged. If you polish something long enough, someone will see the gem beneath and accept your baby for publication, somewhere.

Keep on writing and keep on submitting.

Best of luck and thanks for reading.

BT

Zeitgeist

Hi all from a very nervous man. Before you go on to read this blog - go here and watch the movie.

Warning - some of the images are very graphic and the concepts are very disturbing - they're supposed to be. Provoking free thought from today's apathetic population is hard work! Honestly - we're trained not to have it - don't believe me - watch the movie.

It is something you should watch if you want to be fully informed of what "may" be happening in our world!!!!!

The "facts" and the submissions put forward are extremely thought provoking, to say the least. I've had some very strange thoughts leap into my head after watching this that I intend to research further before airing those concerns in the public domain - stay tuned.

For a comprehensive definition of Zeitgeist, have a look here.

If nothing else - for those of you that visit here and are writers (All of you I hope) it will provide a huge amount of stimulation of your muse.

............

On the writing front - EULA was rejected today but I gained some useful and encouraging comments back from the reader. I seem to get the same lady to read my submissions at this particular publication and she is very helpful with her comments. The comments as received are:

"Not bad, conspiracy pieces can be fun but this one doesn't quite hit the mark. The science doesn't seem quite right here, a society advanced enough to colonise Mars should be able to create cloned organs from an individual.
This aside, it's well-paced and entertaining but the ending doesn't deliver the payoff generated by the lengthy build-up.

Hope that's of some help, and better luck next time!"

So now I need to revisit the idea of introducing the Mars colony and dragging back some of the other technology so it's not so "out there" - should be relatively easy to do. Then it will need to be critiqued again and then sent to a new market.

On the bright side, she did say it was well-paced and entertaining so I'm getting better at the mechanics of writing (and story telling)which is very rewarding and encouraging. Past comments on this story have ranged from "What the..." to "I guessed it in paragraph 2."

I've mentioned before that this piece was the first serious piece I worked on over 3000 words and has become a love/hate type of thing. I will sell it somewhere - its just a matter of time and placement. There is a market for every idea somewhere - writers just have to keep submitting until we find it - and I will find EULA's home eventually.

Fiction Factor goes HTML! The very good and informative Fiction Factor (FF) newsletter is going HTML for the first time in its 7 and a half year history. Most writers sites die soon after conception. A very few continue to grow through the consistent good advise and content they host within their pages. Rarely, some continue to stick like the proverbial mud they peddle. I'm huge fan of FF because they have good advise from proven writers. Check their warnings page for the unethical arseholes out there. To get the good oil on writing, make sure you subscribe to this very worthwhile newsletter!

Ok - that's it from me for now - Go back to the top of this blog and click the link for Zeitgeist - if you're too lazy - click here instead :) If you were too lazy to bother doing either than the culprits who are targeted in the movie have already got you! Don't believe me - WATCH THE MOVIE!

OK - I think I've made the point.

Good luck with your writing and keep on submitting that work. (and watch the movie)