Objectivity in Art and Authorship

In my spare (Spare???) time, I like to draw. Portraits mostly. Sometimes wildlife too. I learned somewhere that after I think I'm done with a piece, I need to turn it 180 degrees and finish it upside-down.

What this does is fool your brain into re-looking at what you've drawn as the series of pencil lines it is, rather than a representation of something which your brain will "fix" into the intended image. The brain is an amazing thing. It will "fix" a thing, or fill in the blanks, without conscious effort so that you see what is meant to be, rather than what is. That's why a lot of us writers miss misspelled words without spellcheck. It's also why we have such a hard time editing our own work. Because we know what's meant to be there.

In the course of my work, I have found that it's much easier to critique others than to edit my own material. When you write a story, you're too close to see its flaws. Regaining objectivity is an important step in editing your own work. Sometimes you need to toss that manuscript in a drawer for a month. Sometimes you need to hand it over to your critique partners and let them have at it. Sometimes you just need to forget you're the one who wrote it.

Whatever method you use, if you do it right that "switch" goes back off in your brain and the work becomes what it is: a series of words on your computer screen or paper. And if you play it right, you pay attention to how the words flow. You notice how this work will affect your audience, and not what the words mean to you. And then you can edit with objectivity, sacrificing words or whole chapters for pacing if it's needed, or adding words to deepen or strengthen the story. Tough stuff. Never let it be said that writers aren't a brave lot.

I just wish I could turn a whole story 180 degrees and edit it upside-down.

Happy Fourth Of July

Just taking a moment to wish all Americans a safe and happy Fourth of July. Here in NY, it's threatening rain, but my family is home and we all get to celebrate a nice day together. That's enough for me!

Who Loves Hulu? I Do! Do You?

Sorry, couldn't resist the Seuss-ism. :)

I have, over the past week, grown quite attached to Hulu, a website where you can watch selected TV shows and movies for free. Yes, free. There are periodic, short "commercial" interruptions, but the entire movie or show is intact (whole seasons of TV shows, in fact). Since I am too cheap/busy to pay for cable (not wanting to shell out $60.00/month for a hundred channels I won't watch anyway), Hulu is my new entertainment best friend.

I can now watch some of my favorite episodes of "Buffy" and "Angel" again (sold off my DVDs after not watching them for so long), and feed my new obsession, "Burn Notice." Not to mention catching up on "House." "NCIS," I can watch on CBS.com, if I miss it on TV. "NCIS," I would watch in a hole in the earth and fed on stale bread and muddy water. (Michael Weatherly ... Sorry, where was I?)

The drawback, of course, is having to use my computer for writing. Oh, technology, you slippery slope of entertainment goodness. Guess I better go. And write. Really, I swear.

RWAChange

There's a new Yahoo group called RWAChange out there, and you romance writers who are E-published or interested in E-publishing might want to join in. The mission of this group is to help effect positive changes within RWA, a way for authors who don't feel they're being heard to have a voice in what goes on within RWA pertaining to digital publishing. It's been up for six days and it's already over 500 members strong.

Its focus is not to disparage RWA, but to help it become an organization which all of its members, including the E-published ones, can be proud to support. I have high hopes for this organization's efforts. Already the communication has been extensive and positive.

More on RWA vs. E-Publishing - It All Comes Down To Money

Here's RWA President Diane Pershing's response to Deirdre Knight's article on RWA's E-publishing position. I'm disappointed in RWA's foot-stamping, I'm-not-changing-my-mind stance on this issue.

Any time it comes up, E-pubbed authors and advocates of E-published authors have been extremely vocal about RWA's need for change on this issue. Having served on the board several times for my local RWA chapter, I can tell you that any time a concern comes up, my local chapter does its best to address it and make its concerned members as happy as possible. In the end, no matter how you slice it, it makes more financial sense to make your customers happy. Anyone who runs a business knows that. No happy members (customers) means no dues, means less money for the organization.

RWA may not founder by losing some disgruntled members, but it will feel the difference, considering they felt they had to raise the dues by $10.00 recently. I don't fault them the rise in dues, as businesses need operating funds, but I do feel that I am paying for services which have not been a help to me in the path to publication since shortly after my initial foray into the pursuit. The best help I have gotten has come from members of my local chapter, books on craft, the library, and workshops that are open to anyone, RWA member or not, for a slightly higher fee.

Nationals may be different, of course, but with my other bills (and a very active toddler), it's hard to justify spending that kind of money getting there and staying there. I find it more useful to stay home and write. If I don't have product to sell (a finished manuscript), I'm wasting my time anyway!

Between RWA and my local chapter, I spend an annual $110.00, $85.00 of which goes to RWA. I wish to God there was a way to keep my local chapter without having to spend the dues on RWA, because CNY Romance Writers has been an enormous help and support to me and I love them. But my return for that $85.00 investment in RWA has not been sufficient for a few years now. So it is with regret that I've decided I can't justify the cost anymore. I will have to leave RWA, and my local chapter once my RWA membership runs out. I would rather put that money into other methods of remaining educated about what's going on in publishing.

It's a sad, tough decision which I have wrestled with for a year now, but I've come to the realization that it's time to move on from RWA. I'm thankful for the friends that I have made in my local chapter, and I wish I could stick with CNYRW. Perhaps when/if RWA outgrows this prejudice against non-vanity small presses, and forms a better way for individual members to be heard, I may rejoin.

If they don't, I'll still write.

About That Word Count Meter...

Well, I think I am getting more used to the word-count meter. I've even decided to put one up on the blog. At some point. I've been checking in with it, and it actually is motivating me to write so I can see that percentage go up.

The problem now is, continuing to be sure that the words I put there count. Not just writing to write, but to make the words matter. I still have to cut away any deadwood that slows pacing. You've got to sacrifice your words for the good of the story, so to speak.

So look for one of those little gadgets in the sidebar soon. :)

More on RWA vs. the E-Publishing Community

Deirdre Knight of The Knight Agency speaks out against RWA's position on E-publishing on a recent news item from ESPAN, the Electronic and Small Print Authors' Network (a chapter of RWA). The article is lucid, articulate, and well done. Have a look - and thanks Deirdre for your insights!

The Digital Age and RWA: A Call for Change