Editing session

getting there... editing some of the friendship bits...

Feedback on my book so far is interesting. Four people have said really nice things, and they're all people who's opinion i really care about.


Here are the four most popular criticisms you might get when doing something like this...


1. "You've got too much time on your hands!"

I've thought about what people mean when they say this, and I've figured it really means... "You have no life if you choose to do that with your time."
Obviously the answer is simple. It's your time. It's important to have time for leisure activities, and obviously it's a lot of fun. In the same time, you could spend flicking through channels with the remote, watching something you're not that interested in, or reading or other hobbies.
Yes, this criticism is stupid.


2. People who see progress as a step back.

If you start the day with a clean page, and by the end of it, you've got at least some words on the page you're happy with, then its progress.


3. People who expect you to have finished before you've started.

Yep. This is the commonest one. But I suppose with most long creative projects, people forget what is involved..

"Ive been having fun, trying to write a novel."
"It's really hard to get it published, you know."
- Wohhhhh!


4. People who set you a really high standard for no reason!!

Very common, and quite funny because - i dunno, say i'm your mate from the pub, why does that mean that when I write a book, it SHOULD be amazing.

A conversation I had with a mate.

"I've written 42,000 words now."
"Yes, but anyone could write 42,000 words but that doesn't mean they're 42,000 good words."

that's like saying "I was out drinking for 5 hours last night."
"Ahh yes, but that doesn't mean it was a great night, does it?"

In other words, the problem is .. As a writer, my baseline is of course a blank page and nothing, and I am trying to create things on top.
The starting point of the critic is a really good book LOL

It's like... ok, i'm your mate, but suddenly you're expecting me to be Dan Brown or someone. This i think sadly discourages a lot of people from being creative. The idea that we have to reach some kind of high standard else we shouldn't be doing it.