Slush Pile

I went to a workshop yesterday called the slush pile. Each participant printed one page on an overhead and a local publisher critiqued it. They were all anonymous. Thank God!

I was so nervous and when mine hit the screen, I tried so hard to pretend that it was not mine. I made notes as he talked and did not look down on the page. I was terrified.

Needless to say he shredded it, but in the end I was thrilled. FINALLY some criticism that I could work with and all of it made sense. I intend to begin rewrites immediately. I realized that there is so much I don’t know and I need to keep learning.

When I read a good book, I just read it. I never thought about tag lines and flow. Now- for better or worse- I am becoming highly attuned it. I am looking for elements that make a great story.

The main areas- I am too wordy (who would have guessed) and I need to work on the flow a lot more. I need to SHOW rather than TELL.