Okay, I haven’t been posting as much as I’d hoped. It’s not because I don’t have the time. I don’t have much but I do have moments here and there. It’s because every time I think about blogging, I think “Ugh, not more writing!” We were told early on in the first week, “If you’re not writing, you’re not writing.” And that mantra is starting to take over. Every time I get up to take a break, I think to myself, “I should be writing.” The group went to dinner tonight and I found myself thinking that before the meal was even served.

But, I don’t mean to make it sound worse than it is. I love it. The people here are great (I have to say that, they stalk me) and it is so refreshing to be constantly having conversations that revolve around writing.

So… this week, I got feedback from the class on my now infamous “Serial killer” story. I think it was received pretty well, but had some (what should have been) obvious problems. The worst was, just because you are having fun with the main character doesn’t mean you should forget about all the others.

I also met with Jeanne (the instructor) on Friday and we went over my first three stories. My strengths seem to be plot and interesting characters, so that was encouraging. My weaknesses: I let my protagonists off the hook too easily, I short change my characters and setting when it comes to description, and I break almost every grammar rule there is because I’m an instinctive (read: lazy) writer. So those are the things I’m working on this week.

We also talked about getting ideas that excite me, i.e. that I want to write about. After brainstorming a bit I think we figured out that I get most of my story ideas while I’m driving home from work. In other words, I need a menial task to occupy the analytical part of my mind so that my subconscious can talk to me (or come as close as it ever does). It should have been obvious, but it took someone else to point it out. And no, don’t suggest exercise. All I think about when I exercise is how much I hate exercise and when will it be over?

One of the stories that Jeanne critiqued was 26 pages with a twist at the end that I thought was pretty clever. I looked through her line edits of my manuscript and on page 6 (PAGE 6!) she wrote a comment in the margin that completely nailed the ending. On Page 6. That’s what I’m up against! Ha ha, I was beyond impressed.

My next story will be given to the class on Tuesday for critique on Wednesday so wish me luck!

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