90% perspiration, 5% inspiration, and 5% threat of physical violence
In a bid to keep himself on the straight and narrow with regard to his writing, my friend Drew (an aspiring sci-fi novelist) has made a pact with his friend Josh. Each week, if Drew is unable to produce at least five pages of text, Josh is allowed to "kick [Drew] in the beanbag." Given that I do not often see Drew doubled over in pain, I'm going to guess that he's able to deliver this most weeks. He feels productive, he loves to talk about his projects, and we're all super-proud of him for keeping up such a steady pace.
It occurred to me that I could use something like that. Granted, I'm a girl and therefore do not have a beanbag, but some sort of writing buddy to keep me honest could be tremendously helpful as far as maintaining my productivity.
Fortuitously, while discussing all things writerly with my friends Sharon and Margarita (fellow writers both), we realized that all three of us were lacking two things in our writerly development - 1) nobody is kicking us in the metaphorical beanbag if we don't produce, and 2) nobody is giving us any constructive criticism.
You would think that critics are a dime a dozen, especially in New York. But none of us can seem to get anybody to rip our work apart with the intent of making it better. We've all done writing groups (Sharon and I actually met in a writing group!) but I've never gotten anything but damned with faint praise when I bring writing to the group. The smiling-nodding "yeah, that was really good" could mean one of two things - a) I actually AM good and they don't feel qualified to critique me or b) they're being nice and there's nothing that can be done to make me into a writer of consequence. And if one more person tells me they liked the way my piece "flowed", I'm going to start kicking beanbags left and right.
Me, though, I like nothing better - I even wonder sometimes if I'd be a better editor than I am a writer. I always loved it when I could offer up something really helpful to a fellow writing-grouper, and hell, I'd proofread your stuff for free just because I'm the rare sort of person who reads the Chicago Manual of Style recreationally.
So the three of us brainstormed for awhile - between my encyclopedic grammar brain, Margarita's knack for fitting together plot elements, and Sharon's ear for dialogue, we could all bring different editorial skills to the table, and we all need to be pushed. So we have concluded that we need to form a little mini writing group. We're not afraid to be harsh with each other and we're not afraid to get all Gunnery Sergeant Hartman on each other if we don't produce the requisite number of pages.
I think this will be good for me. I shall keep you posted.
In other news, the first installment of the Barbes Reading Series has been nailed down. Sunday, September 18th at 6 p.m. - Robyn Schneider, Nick Mamatas, and Jonathan Ames are scheduled to read. It's going to be fantastic. Cookies will be served.
It occurred to me that I could use something like that. Granted, I'm a girl and therefore do not have a beanbag, but some sort of writing buddy to keep me honest could be tremendously helpful as far as maintaining my productivity.
Fortuitously, while discussing all things writerly with my friends Sharon and Margarita (fellow writers both), we realized that all three of us were lacking two things in our writerly development - 1) nobody is kicking us in the metaphorical beanbag if we don't produce, and 2) nobody is giving us any constructive criticism.
You would think that critics are a dime a dozen, especially in New York. But none of us can seem to get anybody to rip our work apart with the intent of making it better. We've all done writing groups (Sharon and I actually met in a writing group!) but I've never gotten anything but damned with faint praise when I bring writing to the group. The smiling-nodding "yeah, that was really good" could mean one of two things - a) I actually AM good and they don't feel qualified to critique me or b) they're being nice and there's nothing that can be done to make me into a writer of consequence. And if one more person tells me they liked the way my piece "flowed", I'm going to start kicking beanbags left and right.
Me, though, I like nothing better - I even wonder sometimes if I'd be a better editor than I am a writer. I always loved it when I could offer up something really helpful to a fellow writing-grouper, and hell, I'd proofread your stuff for free just because I'm the rare sort of person who reads the Chicago Manual of Style recreationally.
So the three of us brainstormed for awhile - between my encyclopedic grammar brain, Margarita's knack for fitting together plot elements, and Sharon's ear for dialogue, we could all bring different editorial skills to the table, and we all need to be pushed. So we have concluded that we need to form a little mini writing group. We're not afraid to be harsh with each other and we're not afraid to get all Gunnery Sergeant Hartman on each other if we don't produce the requisite number of pages.
I think this will be good for me. I shall keep you posted.
In other news, the first installment of the Barbes Reading Series has been nailed down. Sunday, September 18th at 6 p.m. - Robyn Schneider, Nick Mamatas, and Jonathan Ames are scheduled to read. It's going to be fantastic. Cookies will be served.
2 Comments:
That's a wonderful trio of readers to kick it off. Good going!
I am going to write something on my blog at some point about how to constructively critique a friend's writing. My writing group is eight years old, so we 'get it,' but many people don't know how to be helpful. Saying 'it's good' or 'it sucks' doesn't help. Saying how to improve it does.
When will you be writing about your KGB appearance?
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