Check-In – Day 18

[samuraiter]

Holiday shopping? Who has time for that? ... What have you been doing?

— Thinking. Maybe a little, maybe a lot.
— Writing.
— Outlining, planning, and / or prewriting.
— Researching and / or revisiting canon.
— Editing.
— Sending things to the beta.
— Posting!
— Relaxing, taking a break, etc.
— Other stuff-ing. Look at the comments.

Questions: Do you have a favorite comment or review that you have received over the years?

Comments

[frogfarm]

Posted a chapter of one WIP, closing in on finishing one from the other; decided at the last to end on more of a bang than planned, which has helped me get a better idea of how the rest of the story should go. Now trying to make more progress on unrelated shorts while hoping I have at least twenty years left with the use of my hands.

My absolute favorite comments have always been the small handful that are actual reviews and go into all sorts of detail regarding what they like about the story and how well it works (and occasionally doesn't). Those precious few aside, I've gotten some incredibly funny and charming ones over the years and it's hard to pick. But I think I have to go with this one from the woman in my life of thirty-plus years, which I would have chosen even if she were a total stranger I'd never met:

Sometimes I can't believe that you write this stuff, because it's too good.

[linaewen]

I've been doing a little bit of everything, writing, planning, prewriting, editing.

I think one of my favorite reviews was actually one where a reader was very critical of the direction I was taking my story! This was a reader I had interacted with before on a number of occasions, and our relationship was such that, even though I was surprised at her reaction, I knew she was never critical without reason, so I took a closer look at what I was doing. I realized she was right, and that my characters were acting out of character! I did a lot of fresh planning, as a result, and figured out how to change the plan from there, and the story was immensely better for it.