A call for help: Will some members of the NAW who are reading this be willing to volunteer to read a few of my Clarion stories over the course of the next four weeks? One or two apiece maybe? I've come to the realization that by week six, we'll be critiquing stories I wrote in the second week if I continue turning them in so I'm not going to turn in anymore until it's my turn in the queue again. That way, I can get feedback on the story I most want critiqued. I finished a story yesterday and I'm revising it now. I'm taking a day off to revise today and possibly tomorrow as well but I intend to hit the keyboard again on Saturday at warp speed eleven. Everyone here is so overloaded with reading and critiquing that I would not feel right asking for more and I'm growing impatient for additional feedback to confirm/deny this worked and that didn't. I'm experimenting in a vacuum and I would like feedback.

I don't need or want a blow-by-blow critique prior to sending it off to market. Rather, I want to know if experiments I'm trying are succeeding or failing. I want to know what worked, what didn't, and where the story bogged down and confused.

I'm feeling just a little bummed out about not exercising the way I originally intended. In addition to just plain feeling better, I am rather paranoid about slipping back into the days of pain post-auto-accident. As long as my stomach is flat, I feel great. When I don't exercise and the stomach starts sticking out, my back begins protesting and then my shoulders as well. When I gained ten pounds a couple of years ago, I had to literally roll out of bed because I couldn't sit up to get out of bed. I remember that level of pain and I don't want to go there again. I've been trying to stretch, etc. during breaks but that's not exercising and I can't fool myself with that. I must make time to exercise. Today. Just as soon as I revise the story assignment. I can do this. I've gone from zero confidence to warp speed nine in ten days.

We went through four critiques this morning and this is when you see how well people handle both giving and receiving negative critiques. It continues to be a relief to me that others are cautious to focus on story rather than author and to use the I word frequently. I did not enjoy. This did not work for me. I became confused. This is much better, imho, that hearing, This story doesn't work. You did not write a story that entertained. I still haven't quite grasped the art of critiquing as I find it difficult to face the person when giving a critique and I tend to get classic stage fright when all eyes are on me. Even with the cover sheet neatly printed with all my comments, my tongue tends to trip and falter. I'll keep working on it.

I walked down to McDonald's for lunch and then planned to revise the story for tomorrow's submission. Unfortunately, I really, really wanted to revise Fifteen Minutes and thus I dragged out my Sexual Interaction textbook and spent way to much time smoothing it out as best as possible. There is much I could still do with this but I want to move on. The next challenge is to write a horror story and the challenge after that is to write a story with a nice villain and a strong male hero.

Several of the other members went out to dinner with Sean. I stayed in and DID work on the revision. I'm still trying to cut and trim words from it. It needs to be shorter and I'm searching for humor in a few unexpected places.

Jennifer, Mark, and I went out to Meijer after they returned as I needed some more Diet coke, fruit, and a throw for the bed. It's been a little cool and I figure buying something warm will insure hot weather returns. Jennifer and I also split in on a cheap rug to put in front of the shower. Neither of us wants to slip on a wet floor.

I'm impatient to start on something new and I'm looking forward to Friday night when I hope one of the five story starts on my hard drive will develop into a full-blown story.

I'm also planning to walk down to the beauty salon Sunday and have something else done to my hair. I haven't quite decided what yet. It will NOT be a change in hair color. I just got my real color back and have no desire to alter it. I'll probably have 2-4 inches of hair chopped off. It'll make me feel a little lighter and satisfy my need to do something with my hair.