conference tip #3
Swallow your pride.
Cliche, I know. Yet if you want to gain anything from a writer’s conference, especially if you participate in a critique, you have to learn to set aside your feelings.
It’s tough sometimes to listen to others review, and dissect, your writing. Even when you know your work needs critique and you understand the value of having your work reviewed by other pairs of eyes besides your own, it’s still embarrassing when someone tells you something you’ve struggled to get on paper doesn’t work.
Example — I wrote a lengthy feature at work the other day. Actually, it was night. I’d had a long day at work, couldn’t get to the feature assignment until the evening, and was pressed for time to get it done. Thanks to divine intervention and a large diet Coke, I was able to focus. I finished the story in time to go home and catch the 10:00 news. I printed copies of my story and left them on my co-workers’ desks. Then I sent e-mails asking them to give the story a read-through and to let me know what changes were needed.
The following day, I asked for their suggestions. One was to cut what they described as an “awkward phrase.” Another error was worse – I’d left an important fact out of the story. It was one that I was not aware of (actually, I should have remembered it but didn’t). Fortunately, it was something my co-workers recalled. If I’d left it out of the story, it would have been like leaving the bacon out of a BLT.
I’ll be the first to admit, I was embarrassed about the awkward phrase, and more distressed that I’d omitted the Very Important Fact. I know my face turned red as a beet and my voice quivered with every other question after that.
However, I was so glad my co-workers read my story and found those errors. Better to be embarrassed before, than after, publication! My co-workers are amazingly gifted writers. They have strengths in areas I don’t. I trust them to tell me straight up when they see a problem, and thank goodness they do. I re-worded the awkward phrase and added the necessary fact to the story.
Of course there’s a difference between news writing and writing for children. Yet the value of critique is just as important for a picture book manuscript as for a spot news story. Whether your manuscript is being critiqued by an experienced agent or editor, or another writer has taken a red pen to your novel, listen to their comments and consider them. If you hear the same criticisms, it’s likely that part of your work needs revision. If you’re hearing the same compliments, consider yourself fortunate.
Critiques will help you become a better writer. I promise.