Why I do not participate in the work in progress section

I am not a writer.
I am not an author
I have no work in progress.

I have enough criticism of my perfect work--published by the most honorable and uppity PA.
I have too low a self esteem issues to be publicly reprimanded for my lack of whatever.

Why would you believe someone who read my most perfect book told me she thought my family was a bit strange and that I should have a different ending for them.

Since it is a true book I don't know what different ending I could have had.
I laughed and told her I would let her provide that.

So far, I haven't heard what it will be.
Also, if I thought of a really snazzy idea--someone might steal it.

How about you?

Evidently the person who wanted to give your family a different ending didn't read your book the way it was written: as real life and not fiction.

All families are strange in some way. I think today they call it dysfunctional. Back then, it was called normal, since all families had unusual behavior.

I always wished my famly was like Donna Reed or Father Knows Best. It wasn't! But then, what family was or is.

In some ways, Alice, I feel as you do about the WIP board. But then I think that I need a thicker skin when it comes to critiquing of my work. I am glad I am in a critique group locally. I believe it has given that to me: the thick skin, I mean.

I would love to read anything you write whether you put it on the board, email it to me, or put it in some other form. Just don't stop being you no matter what you do.

Alice, the someone you mentioned sounds like she ate too many sour grapes. Constructive criticism isn't demeaning, and usually has some very specific suggestions for alternative ways to approach a topic. When it comes from a person who knows what they're talking about, and is addressed objectively, it doesn't feel critical at all, but you don't have to post it here, or write another book even. You are an author with a valuable book that people are buying and reading because it is delightful to read and lifts their spirits while it helps them to deal positively with PD or whatever situation they have to deal with.

Ann

Sue and Ann,

Thank you for your kind words.

My caretaker, husband, Dave, is after me to write a children's book.

Go for it!

Ann

Why don't I use the WIP board? Because I don't care what anyone thinks about what I've written and no one sees a story until it's finished.
Like critique groups or classes? Consider this story told by Clark Howard (the mystery and true crime writer, not the money guy). After getting out of the Marines many years ago he enrolled in a college writing course. One day a story he had written was critiqued. The professor thought it was lousy so he and all those in the class laughed and made fun of it. Clark got up, walked out and never returned. What the smart-guy professor and the drones in the class didn't know was that the story had already been purchased by Saturday Evening Post, at that time the highest-paying, most prestigious publication in the business.

Dick,

You are wise. I've posted writing in this section and had it slammed to bits.

But, I've always done something with the comments. Lately when I was told I had no credentials for writing history, I did a study of history writers and found many others didn't either. They were just ordinary people like me interested in imperfect subject matter and new ways of looking at history. I feel a whole lot better and have rewritten without the apologies for not being famous.

Sometimes I go away thinking, "what the heck am I doing?" even on this messageboard. But then I will read a story of mine on the web followed by seven pages of positive comments. Okay, someone put it there without my permission, but at least with my name, but the fact it meant a lot to people keeps me at this endeavor I love. But being an endeavor I love should be enough.

Carol

I started a critique group in my area so that other authors would see they were not alone.

Not picking on poets in particular but....

We have two poets in the group that are real nitpickers. They are cruel, pushy, and very opinionated. They love to critique others but can't take it themselves. Soooooooo....

I decided to bring a poem by an author that has is not too well known but whose work has been applauded for decades. I gave it to them to critique. They asked who it was by and I told them a friend. Well, they tore it apart - big time!

The meter wasn't right. The rhyme was off. Other words should have been used.

When they were all finished, I pulled out the book where I had gotten the poem. Talk about back-pedal! They had all types of reasons why, even though this poet was wrong in his usage, it worked.

Needless to say, I do not submit anything to them. I have learned.

On the other hand, there are a couple of authors who are writing books and their input into, not only the poetry, but everyone's work, is very useful, given with consideration of feelings, and actually helps the work in progress.

So, I guess when submitting something for help one needs to separate the chaff from the wheat. Take what works for you and literally ignore anything else. A writer, no matter the genre, can't have a thin skin if they want help.

Sue Sunshine wrote:

A writer, no matter the genre, can't have a thin skin if they want help.

No truer words were ever spoken. Why, then, do most have skin so thin it's nearly translucent? It's a mystery.

As I have said before, I am not a writer. I am the author of Wooffer.
Sometimes, people offer critisism and it is like judgement of the whole work. I have no problem with anyone telling me what I need to do to improve my style.

My stories are what they are. I need edits. I think that my stories have a good premise. Perhaps they could have been expressed with better words and I do know that the punctuation it atrocious. I am a blurter of stories. So, any of you experts who would like to do the edits before my PA contract is up, raise your hands.

Love,
Betty

There is a difference between criticism and critiquing. There is a fine line, but it is there. Critiquers don't criticize. They give helpful input in a way that aids the writer/author, not put them down. A criticiser is just that: a criticizer. They don't know how to critique. They don't know how to help and still make it positive. All they can do is tear down.

When we ask a group or put our work up for others to see, there is always the chance that not all people seeing it are critiquers. So like in buyer beware, writer/author beware!

Marie Pacha wrote:

Lane said, "No truer words were ever spoken. Why, then, do most have skin so thin it's nearly translucent? It's a mystery."

I think it's because we have to have relatively large egos to presume that someone wants to read what we have written, but often those egos are based on some insecurities. Criticism, especially when it's harsh (and sometimes it should be), puts us in defensive mode and we stand up and speak out for what we wrote and believed. It's a knee-jerk reaction and if we paused and simply said, "criticism noted", we wouldn't gain nearly the attention.

But most of us are passionate about writing, and we just react.

Wow, Marie, that's it exactly.

Carol

I liked Sue's use of a known poet as an exercise for her group, and agree with Marie's observation that those involved ought to have stood by their original comments.

The situation was similar to one I remember from a college English Composition class. The professor brought a poem in for us to critique. The poet was not named. The poem was short, and the circumstances such that I still remember the words:

"The window was unwound but wounded
It's single eye stared through the blind
To hope unwind
The mystic of the mind
That spiraled through the sparrow-hung doorway."

After we spent an hour on our critiques and interpretations, the professor told us that the poem was written by Walt Kelly, and recited by Pogo the Possum in the well-known comic strip.

We had all taken the assignment quite seriously, and had come up with a myriad of interpretations. We learned that no two people ever see a piece of writing quite the same way.

It's a good reminder that we should always take criticisms with a grain of salt.

Betty, the charm of your stories is the way you write them, the words you choose. Don't even think about letting some hot-shot editor change them into English-class generic.