One of my favorite, not sure if I can call them jazz, musical performers is Acoustic Alchemy. They just know how to bring out the mood of every piece without having to use those pesky things called words. When I feel sad, I pull out one of my CDs, well now IPOD, and just listen to the tones and intertwined melodies.
It gets to me. They like to use natural sounds as well and since I am a nature nut... so on and so forth.
So now I have to make a real confession. I downloaded my book on kindle and after reading it for awhile, I found that the story was fun and interesting. I really enjoyed the characters and the humor too. I didn't realize that I used humor in my stories. It was a revelation to me.
What surprised me was that I would add an extra "was" or forget a "to." I am an English Literature major and am very proud of my grammar and spelling skills so I was horrified that I kept adding and dropping important pieces of my sentences. I wondered if it was distracting to other readers. Since no one has said anything to me about it, I suppose that they liked the story, but were distracted by the grammar. So instead of giving me a review they decided not to say anything at all. It is what I would do after all. I know that I had a problem with a writer a couple of years ago. I did review it with the caveat that he showed a lot of potential and I bet that his second and third book would be much better.
The critical voice in my head is pressuring me to go back to that other book and grammarize it. But, if I do that I will stop the writing what I am writing now. I need to get my writing in place. I finally realized that voice is going to bother me until I do it. I have told it (the voice sounds remarkably like my mother when I didn't clean under the fridge with a knife) that when I decide to change the cover (yes, my cover is hand-made) I will edit the book so it will be re-released as a re-edited, re-vised, and re-covered book. So my voice is grumbling at the back of my mind, but is not driving me crazy.
Okay, I admit it. I have voices. So send me to the hospital. Stop. I have already been there with my disease and they don't want me. Too dangerous for my health. Besides they think the voices in my head are caused by the prednisone. So anyway, I have figured out how to fool that critical voice, now I need to convince my other voices that they are safe and want to be put on a blank page. Any ideas?
4 comments:
Drown the voices out with even more off kilter audio influences, I would think. As long as it doesn't involve David Foster.
You can always go back and refurbish anything as a re-release down the line. And have your beta readers be on the look out for that sort of thing in future work.
Thanks Kendall -
Yea - I am not that off-kilter unless you count my operatic influences.
Yes, I will have to be more careful of the finished product next time. I also comfort myself with the fact that if I didn't make mistakes, I wouldn't be published ever. I have be careful with the perfectionist tendencies, gained from my mother.
Cyn
Focus on the task at hand. If you haven't gotten any negative, mean reviews about your grammar, then people are likely not noticing. I'm a stickler for usage and can be, at times, a complete grammar Nazi (especially to myself, more so than to others), but I'm not too bothered by typos and missing words in fiction. I give people the benefit of the doubt. None of us are perfect. Was the story good? That's my main concern!
Thank you JR,
I can be a complete grammar Nazi on my stuff too. Since I have been on chemo, my brain doesn't catch the grammar mistakes like it used to (dangling participle). ;-)
But, from my perspective after not seeing it for a year or more, it was fun and enjoyable. I guess that is all that matters with fiction. Or I hope so.
Cyn
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