It Gets Better!
I brought two chapters of my work in progress to my writers' group last night--and they really liked it. I was so fired up from their comments, I wrote almost another whole chapter last night.
Yes, as a writer, it doesn't get much better than that--both feeling so excited that it flows, and the group liking it.
We work so hard, laboring in solitude, that external validation is very nice sometimes. But I thought I would share the above because maybe people find it weird that a writer with nearly twenty books published--on shelves of bookstores! (let me tell you, that feels weird sometimes)--and who has had some major magazine coverage or blurbs--like Cosmopolitan and US Weekly--would be most validated by two people who read a work in progress that hasn't sold and hasn't even been SHOWN to her agent. But that's the truth. Honest to God.
You know, I remember when I got in Cosmopolitan. I happened to be in NYC. I was standing in Duane Reade, buying other crap when someone--I think my editor--called to tell me I got in. So I bought Cosmo, too. I stood on line and it all felt surreal. Then I turned to the page where they said Spanish Disco was "hilarious." It still felt surreal.
I get fan email every week. I love hearing from people, but they are strangers . . . and in a way, that's validating--I touched them somehow--but that ALSO feels surreal.
And in the end, maybe it's me, or the group dynamic, but knowing my group likes it just resonates inside.
So . . . does anything about writing give you external validation?
Yes, as a writer, it doesn't get much better than that--both feeling so excited that it flows, and the group liking it.
We work so hard, laboring in solitude, that external validation is very nice sometimes. But I thought I would share the above because maybe people find it weird that a writer with nearly twenty books published--on shelves of bookstores! (let me tell you, that feels weird sometimes)--and who has had some major magazine coverage or blurbs--like Cosmopolitan and US Weekly--would be most validated by two people who read a work in progress that hasn't sold and hasn't even been SHOWN to her agent. But that's the truth. Honest to God.
You know, I remember when I got in Cosmopolitan. I happened to be in NYC. I was standing in Duane Reade, buying other crap when someone--I think my editor--called to tell me I got in. So I bought Cosmo, too. I stood on line and it all felt surreal. Then I turned to the page where they said Spanish Disco was "hilarious." It still felt surreal.
I get fan email every week. I love hearing from people, but they are strangers . . . and in a way, that's validating--I touched them somehow--but that ALSO feels surreal.
And in the end, maybe it's me, or the group dynamic, but knowing my group likes it just resonates inside.
So . . . does anything about writing give you external validation?
Labels: external validation, writing groups
posted by Erica Orloff at 9:14 AM
5 Comments:
Awww. My husband is practically tone deaf, knows nothing about music, and still I'm more nervous to play for him than anyone else.
spy:
:-) . . . I "hear" ya (groan). I actually don't like it when my family reads my stuff--but then I am mildly insulted when they don't. So they can't win. :-)
I'll never forget the first time my writing gave me external validation: I had my husband read a couple chapters before I sent them in as my final in a novel writing class (my last final before I graduated). And when he finished, he just said, "Wow. It's like someone else wrote this." LOL.
I know that sounds like a funny way to compliment someone's writing, but I understood what he meant completely...guess we've been married a while, huh? He meant he could see it on the shelves.
There have been surreal moments, too, such as being a finalist in a couple contests (people in other parts of the country actually enjoyed some of the story) and having an editor like it enough to send a revision letter (but she left the house...all part of the business).
And, of course, there's my awesome critique partner, Louise. Her writing blows me away and I always get soooo nervous every time I send her anything! LOL. But when she tells me that something is working or that she loves it, I feel just as you do with your critique partners--all fired up.
Michele:
I would perish without my group. Truly. They are a part of the process.
E
Michele:
I would perish without my group. Truly. They are a part of the process.
E
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