Consulting
Have you ever had someone agree to critique your work — and then tear your story to shreds? Or worse, tell you to stop writing because you’ll never be successful?
I have.
It’s painful. It made me never want to face a blank page again.
Let me share a little about what happened to me: A fiction teacher in college had given the class an assignment to write a super-short 250-word story. How could I get an entire story into only 250 words?
But I gave it my best shot. I wrote that little story and rewrote it and rewrote it again. I agonized over it. I polished every word, every sentence, until it seemed like a little gem. Maybe I felt that way because it had been so difficult — and I thought I wasn’t capable of doing it – and now here the story was, something to be proud of.
The day of the class arrived and I turned in my little gem. I could hardly concentrate because of my excitement in knowing my story would be read and critiqued and appreciated and returned to me the following week with constructive comments.
And that was a long week, believe me, while I waited for the next class period. I tried not to think about it too much, but you know how it is. You write something you really like and send it off, hoping against hope that the editor or contest judge will like it, too. Part of you hopes for sudden and overwhelming success, and part of you is afraid to dream that big.
When I sat down at my desk in that college writing class the week we were to get our stories back, I had so many butterflies in my stomach! The class period dragged on forever! Finally, the time came for us to receive our stories back with the teacher’s comments.
I took the paper from him, but my smile quickly turned into a frown — and eventually tears. Across the top of the page was a single statement:
I don’t understand why you wrote this.
There’s no way I can explain the devastation I felt. No encouragement. No helpful critique. Nothing I could get hold of. Nothing to help me understand the problems the teacher saw in my little gem.
No writer should ever have this experience.
This is the experience I remember every time I look at a contest entry or give a critique. This teacher didn’t know me, but he tore me down. He had never read any of my writing, but couldn’t find it in himself to be constructive about the first piece of mine he’d ever read.
I want to help you succeed. And the best thing I can do for you — craftwise — is give you constructive, encouraging feedback on your work.
Every book you write can be the Book of Your Heart. I respect and honor that.
And I know that this is your book, your dream, your drive to make that dream a reality. While it’s always good to listen carefully to what others are saying about the craft, it’s most important to listen to yourself — to honor the inner voice that tells you what’s best for the plot, the character, and the manuscript as a whole.
If you’re looking for an honest, gentle critique of your manuscript, I can help.
Contact me to start the conversation about how you can use my expertise and experience to take the Book of Your Heart to the next level.