Warm, Squishy Feeling
Last night was the first time since I have began my current work-in-progress (the Pirate story) that someone other than myself has read my story. I felt I finally had something to show off, and I let my wife read it, stressing I was less concerned with grammar than if the story was entertaining. I would have let the baby read the story, too, but she was napping. Overall, my wife enjoyed the story, laughing at the parts she was supposed to and even asking some helpful questions. The icing on the cake, though, was when she told me that I was developing a certain voice in my writing, something that let her know the story was mine. This was always one of my worries, that I didn’t have a style of my own.
After she read the story, I let my wife know that I still had some more writing left on the story. She was surprised because the story as it read left off at a pretty cool cliffhanger. She asked me where the story would go from there, and I quickly came up with an idea that we both felt would work well. It was at that point, I felt really excited inside, the first time I have really thought that I might have a good story on my hands. Man, I love that feeling. At this point, it will be a race to see if I can finish this thing by Jan. 31.
Bitter Cold
This morning I woke up and got ready for work as usual. It seemed a little colder in my house, but I figured this was no big deal as it is always cold in my house in the morning (I turn the thermostat to 60 degrees at night). As I stepped outside, I recognized it was cold, but no big deal. Into my wife’s Beetle I went and started it up. It was at that point I tried to change the channel on the XM Radio and the radio said,”You know what, you left me here in the cold all night and I don’t think I wanna change channels. Oh, and by the way, don’t bother with the volume either”. I glanced at the temperature reading above my head and it said 9 degrees. Ouch! About ten minutes into the commute the heat finally kicked on and the radio eventually cooperated. I had been waiting for a while for the cold and snow to finally hit us in Pennsylvania, and now that it has I am realizing it might not have been such a great idea. 
Filed under: Writing
RSS - Posts
Because I have a bi-monthly writing group for criticism and reader’s responses, I used to think that I didn’t need to have my husband read things. I also felt, strangely, that I whatever I showed him needed to be supremely “done”. But then I realized that he is a great reader for me, because he isn’t a writer. He asks great questions, and enjoys recognizing some details from our shared experience that show up in my work. And he no longer feels that he is “the last to see” my work!
Good luck on finishing up the pirate story in time. I officially gave up today. I have a lot of really rough draft pieces and zero time this weekend. I will be writing a post on all my excuses soon.
First, I always have my wife read the first draft. (I rub her shoulders while I read over them.) She knows it’s a first draft, so she mainly looks for plot issues, voice, and other gaping holes I overlooked. Sometimes she even finds land mines I mistakenly left for the reader. She helps me defuse those messy problems. She also asks some great questions. Then, because she loves me, she reads the finished product. It’s a nice way to share what I do, but it’s even better for me. Her comments are the best first comments I could ask for, and not because she’s nice– usually she very critical.
Second, good luck with your story. I’ve sent of my pirate story. Thanks for posting a link. But don’t worry, my story is void of any “arr”s, parrots, peg legs, hook hands, eye patches, and Johnny Depp style Captain Jacks. Likely, it won’t work in a special pirate editions, but it mail sail elsewhere. We’ll see. Again, good luck on getting that story done.
I should let my hubby read my stuff, but he’s usually one of the last to see it — I think it’s harder to let him read it because I value his opinion so much. Less threatening to get feedback from people who don’t mean so much to me. Does that sound dumb?!
Congrats on your “voice” emerging. Very cool.
Shari
http://sharigreen.wordpress.com
Please keep warm, Struggling Writer.
My husband refuses to read what I have written… But he knows loads of stuff so he is good to ask questions. One throwaway remark he made six years ago formed the basis of this ms I’m currently redrafting. So I can’t get too mad at him for not wanting to read my writing!
Wah, I bet the baby-o would have loved to read your story! Kiko’s current thing is to crumple up any paper he finds and try to “wash” me with it… Oh dear!
Bryan – that’s great your wife is such a good editor for you. I know I have trouble being impartial to my own writing sometimes. Also, you never know, the magazine may enjoy a different style story.
Shari – thanks for the comment. I understand what you mean by “Less threatening to get feedback from people who don’t mean so much to me.”
Helen – that is cool that you can ask questions of your husband and that it produced the idea for your writing. Our daughter loves paper as well, and in fact ate some of my wife’s birthday wrapping paper last week
My wife is the perfect reader in so many ways. Last night at dinner I laid out the main story line of my pirate story (which is the second, completely different version that I started last Monday when the previous version refused to work) and she was interested but very confused.
So I’ve got a long way to go before Wednesday. Luckily, she is good at the part where I need somebody to step in and take all of the commas I have put in and stick them where they actually should go. I’m going to need that tomorrow night.
The old VW Beetles had a real rough time of it in the cold, which really surprised me, because I think of German winters as cold. Have they fixed that problem in the newer ones, or is this one of the older ones?
Caveblogem – you have a month to work on your story now (see my newest post). I had an old Beetle with a non-existent heater and you are correct that it wasn’t great in the snow. Of course, it was 27 years old by the time I had it. The New Beetle is great in the snow and has a great heater. Actually, the New Beelte is build on a VW Golf chassis anyhow.