My writing week 2(13)

Hi all,

For most days last week I performed all the writerly things that I think a writer should do. I wrote, edited, critiqued and read nearly every day. I also managed to write a couple of blog posts including a book review, joined in an online discussion about the proposed new 12 month rule for imported books, and kept up to date with what was going on in the world by reading The Age. Now I just need to spend more time writing, editing, critiquing and reading.

I am still fiddling with the last chapter of Stalking Tigers. It has failed its editing diet, gaining 2,000 words, and now sits at 7,200 words, which is a bit long so I might have to try and split it into two chapters. At this rate the novel will have reached an obese 180,000 words by the time I have finished editing it.

I critiqued a story for critters.com and another for a friend, while reading the rules for the OWWW workshop and also notes on how they like their pieces critiqued. Their notes on critiquing have already started to change the way I critique. Before I usually just mentioned anything that I thought might be a problem in the story, concentrating on the plot, themes, grammar and potential markets. I never really mentioned whether the start grabbed me unless it did or took too long to start, or told the author my impressions of the characters, unless I found them unbelievable or inconsistent. I only mentioned the ending if it didn't work or surprised me. So my critiques are about to become more substantial. Having said that, I have received many critiques and read many critiques of stories I also critiqued, and I have always felt that my critiques are better than the majority as most critiques tend to be line edits at best and at worst a simple I liked/hated it.

I think I have finally got my head around the parallel importation laws after reading half a dozen articles about them in The Age and participating in the above mentioned discussion, so I will hopefully have a post about the proposed changes later this week.

Graham.