(no subject)

[demoncougar.livejournal.com]

From LKH's blog...her in italics, me in normal font.



"Edited on STRANGE CANDY today. Hopefully, I'll finish up tomorrow."

Okay...editing a whole book in TWO DAYS? No wonder the things are still so full of errors!

"My head went really ugly during the editing, which it does sometimes. You know, nothing makes you happy, nothing seems right, and you hate it all."

substitute "reading of this book" where the word "editing" is, there...and LKH? That's how your readers feel.

"Every writer I know admits that sometimes you just can't see your own writing clearly."

For god's sake LISTEN TO THEM!!!

"Head going ugly is the opposite problem that you sometimes have when you've finished a glorious muse-driven rush."

No, that's common sense declaring you've fucked up everything.

"You put the writing away, let it, and you, cool off. Then you come back to it with a clearer head. You usually find that the writing is neither as bad as you feared, nor as perfect as you thought. Reality lies somewhere in between."

No, no it does not. It REALLY does not.

Comments

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

If there's ever a sanity hearing she's convicted herself....^_~

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

No, No, Laurel..if you think it sucks, trust me, it sucks. Re-do it. If you think it's wonderful, then you put it aside, and come back...because chances are, that might just suck, too.

-Dira-

[tooimpurenangel.livejournal.com]

heh.

[temperance22.livejournal.com]

wait...editing a whole book in...two...days. What?!? is that even allowed, doesn't she have standards? Why should we even pay 8 dollars for a book that has only been casualy glanced at by its own writer? And i agree...if you think its bad...most likely...it is. Why is she the only person looking this over anyways? ugh...and "strange candy"? I dont even know what to say to that.

[vanity-lost.livejournal.com]

Argh. No no no, you do not edit a whole book in two days. YOU DO NOT. A week, maybe. If you're really good and a card-carrying grammar nazi. Which LKH is not. No, bad Laurita. No sex-fu for you.

Put down that book right now, call your friends and have -them- proof it. Then you can come back when they've finished and proof it again.

And, btw, if the writing isn't as perfect as you thought? You fix it. You fix it and then you start proofing/editing it again. And if it's sucky? You fix it. You fix it and then you start proofing/editing it again. See, there's a pattern here...

[dragonfanguk.livejournal.com]

Her friends can't do it. They might say something wrong. It has to be either Jon or Darla, so that nothing bad is said and everything is word perfect.

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

If you're really good, a card-carrying grammar nazi with the CMS superglued to your hand, AND have absolutely nothing else to do with your time. Sometimes if you try to do critical reading on a piece for too long, the words just stop making sense - especially if it's your own.

>.>
*waves her CMS about wildly*

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Head going ugly where you hate everything?

That's when you highlight and hit delete.

Or, at the very least, put a line across the page and start over.

As for every writer not being able to see their writing clearly - I will agree. This is why I email my friends and get them to read things. This is why I get emails from friends asking me to read things. I can pick things up in other people's writing that I don't have a hope for seeing in my own. Support network is everything.

But oh, no, no, Ms Hamilton has Darla and Jon to bounce things off of. *facepalm*

[sweetpirate.livejournal.com]

I can pick things up in other people's writing that I don't have a hope for seeing in my own.

Hahah, I learned to do that as well. I once skipped like four words in a sentence--every time I read it, my brain automatically placed what I wanted there, so I never noticed...

[dwg.livejournal.com]

One problem I've ben working on is my comma useage. It never was as bad as LKH, but I have a run-on sentence habit and I've been weening myself off them.

Though, from the other side of the fence, it was funny to get handed a paragraph that began a story, first thing I said was, "You spelt toaster wrong." My poor friend forgot the A.

Link Fix

[naeko.livejournal.com]

The blog being flogged here can be found at http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php/site/ugly_and_blissful/