Letting Your Baby Go #AmWriting

07 May 2018 42 Comments

by Ritu in #AmWriting, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #AmWriting, Alpha Readers, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, letting go

You’ll be proud of me, I hope.

#AmWriting new

My 18-year-old baby, my WIP which was granted adult status this year, had it’s first read through by me. I sat there in the sunshine yesterday, completing it, post -t marking chapters, and scrawling on the pages where I could see corrections that needed to be made.

Then I opened the document up on my screen and proceeded to correct. Some were grammatical errors, some, were where the words made no sense. There were a couple of names mixed up and some capitalizations that needed to be added.

It was hard rereading my own words. I felt the first few chapters really showed my naivete as a writer, but, considering I was much younger at the time, it wasn’t too bad!

I cut a couple of waffley chunks and identified a few others, but was loathe to lose them yet.

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Saved, on my hard drive, two pen drives, the Cloud and emailed to myself, I shut the screen down, and had a well-earned sleep.

But that isn’t all I need to do, is it?

Really, I need to be that parent who is ready to let their child spread their wings!

We had a few ‘play-dates’ earlier on, so to speak, when I posted the first few chapters on the blog, eager for your feedback, but I still hadn’t let go fully. (Mind you, I hadn’t written it all at that stage either!

But, I knew I needed another opinion. From people I trusted. Those who I know would be honest, and/or read work in this genre regularly.

Charli Mills, head rancher at the Carrot Ranch, suggested I go for some Alpha readers.

Now, I’d heard of Beta readers, but Alpha?

These were the ones who would look at my unadulterated manuscript, and give me feedback on the characters, and plot, spot gapping holes in the story, etc…

It was time to let my WIP out on its first residential…

And I waved goodbye to it, twice, this morning.

Now I’m like that nervous mother, pacing, wondering whether it’s behaving, leaving a good impression, did it get there in one piece?

And I shall be eagerly awaiting that email to say how it’s doing too…

Unlike a true residential, I don’t know when it’ll be back with me, to peruse the comments… so, until then, I’ll have to wait, impatiently…

Oh, God!

Will they like it? Will it be ripped to shreds? Have I wasted eighteen years of my creative life? Should I just give up hope now?

I needed to keep myself busy, so I did the obvious thing on this glorious Bank Holiday – I got my nails done!

And I wrote this post… And I’ll be off to visit the in-laws soon too.

Then school will keep me busy.

And the run up to the Bash…

But, will it stop me from constantly checking my emails and messages? I don’t think so!

Oh man, then I’ll rewrite, and have to send it to an Editor or Beta readers, and do it all over again!!!!!!!

This is going to be some wait…

Have a wonderful Monday Peeps!

#SoCS May 5/18 – Letter

05 May 2018 71 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #StreamofConsciousnessSaturday, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Letter, Mail, Postman, Socs

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “letter.” Use it in your post or theme your post on any meaning of the word “letter.” Enjoy!

I love receiving letters in the mail.

Not the constant bills and junk mail that see their way into our post, but real, proper letters.

When I was a young girl, there was no such thing as email, and even when it was first widely available, it wasn’t immediate, because most of us had dial-up connections, and I think if you are in my age bracket, you will be able to remember the pain of hearing that screeching as the internet connected, and if you were lucky, you could access that haloed mail!

After that, you got mobiles with text messages, and the likes of WhatsApp etc. joined the ranks of communication. Straight away messages and calls. Heck, you could even video call, and see someone halfway around the world!

Of course, I use all these methods of keeping in touch with a lot of my family and friends now, but I sure miss the joy of opening an envelope to read a hand-written letter and the art of crafting a letter to send to a loved one.

My family were all over the world, so I used to (or my parents did, anyway!) stock up on airmail letters, so I could write to my cousins. I would tell them all my news and ask the relevant questions, then go to the post office to pay for my stamps.

I knew it could take a week or more for the letter to reach its destination, and then there would be a delay of a few weeks for a reply to come.

But the excitement of getting that letter, in your name!

Then there were the ones to my Hubby Dearest when he was still my fiance! Pages and pages of soppy romantic “I miss you and I love you’s”… I would know when the reply was due, because he’d have told me on the phone that he was sending a letter. I would wait by the letterbox. The mail was more regular in it’s delivery time then. I knew exactly when the postman would be visiting.

Then I’d hide my precious mail, and read it in my room, all alone, feeling all gooey inside, before rushing off to pen a reply!

Oh yes, those feelings of a real letter!

I think today’s generation really miss out by just having this messaging available to them. They don’t learn the art of patience, or gratitude either. They don’t have as many reasons to keep their handwriting skills tip top, or even the knowledge of how to write a letter.

And they miss out on the joy of receiving a letter in the post.

I didn’t want my kids to miss out, so they have, on occasion, written to their grandparents, and their uncle in Finland, and been really thrilled to receive the responses. It was funny watching them wait, expecting a reply that same day, or the next… sorry dears, even in this day and age unless we paid for courier delivery, that wasn’t likely!

And recently Lil Princess has had the pleasure of a pen pal as her best friend moved away from the area, so she was so happy to get a letter from her! They write, intermittently, to each other, and I’m so glad she’s keeping letter writing alive for another generation!

What about you? Do you miss receiving letters, or do you still write them?

Happy Saturday Peeps!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-5-18/

May 3 – Flash Fiction – Lines

04 May 2018 50 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #CarrotRanch, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Charli Mills, Flash Fiction, Lines

Charli’s prompt this week:

May 3, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) use a line in your story. You can think of the variation of the word meaning, or you can think of visual references. Go where the prompt leads.

Lines

“Here’s ten pence.”
“Sorry, do I know you?”
“Call your mum. Tell her you’re not coming home.”
“What?”
“You must be so tired.”
“Huh?”
“Because you’ve been running through my dreams all night.”
“Just stop.”
“I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I have yours?”
“Seriously?”
“Kiss me if I’m wrong, but dinosaurs still exist, right?”
“Oh God!”
“Can I follow you home? Cause my parents always told me to follow my dreams.”
“You know, if you’d just asked me out, I’d have probably said yes. But after those cheesy pick-up lines, I really don’t think so!”