"Putting on the Game Face" |
Female writers…yikes! Most female writers see their creations in exactly the same way as they do their children. If you want to make one mad, do a critique and imply that something needs improving….It’s like saying her kid needs contacts instead of those funny looking glasses... When you do, put on your Kevlar helmet and flak-jacket because you’re going to need it. I recently had a female writer (who is one of my favorites) make a glaring tactical error and request a review. I really like her style and there was this class where we had to write some serial vignettes. Her’s was a great story and I waited anxiously each week for her to post so I could read the latest installment. Anyway at the end of the class was a requirement to pull the whole thing together and I was really impressed with the job she did. So I said to myself…This is an experienced writer, who is also talented, who is so interested in improving her writing skills that she has actually asked me to do a review…so I did one and she was very gracious, acting every bit the lady that she is. Still I suspected something was amiss, like she was rummaging about in her closet for a souvenir she had stashed away....maybe a grenade her little brother sent from Iraq. It came as a reciprocal review, elegantly wrapped in a silk glove…My CRT screen is still smoking….It was a great review and I learned a lot from it and if I liked this young woman before… I 'm even more impressed now. It was actually a review that made me step back and reassess and for an old curmudgeon set in his ways, that is saying something….However, I don’t recommend you make a deliberate attempt to solicit such a review. All you have to do is ask a female writer to reciprocate and then tell her honestly that her son has a wart on his nose….I guarantee you will get a great review…just make sure you're in the basement when the heat-round comes zinging through your lap-top. |