Woe, woe, woe . . .

Woe is me!

Once again Friday is here, it's my turn to blog and I'm at a loss. You see, I've done a rather crazy thing, and now I can't make heads or tails of the results. I'm in a writing group called Affairs of the Pen, and this, obviously, is our blog. However, awhile back I realized that I needed something more to help me plow through the first draft to the end. For that reason, I signed up for a writing workshop. So far, so good. We meet weekly, turn in work, submit critiques on other's work, receive little writing mini-lessons, yada, yada, yada. Of course, no one in the workshop reads or writes romance or chick lit. Therefore, I contacted someone that another writer acquaintance had introduced me to via email. I met the writer acquaintance through Writer's Digest's online writing classes last fall. She writes young adult but her friend writes mysteries with strong romantic elements and romantic suspense--sort of. Her friend-- we'll call her Cassie-- and I share a similar quirky sense of humor. She and I have been exchanging our work. She's also in an online writing group. She asked me to join but I said my plate was full. However, when I decided to enter a contest and she gave me feedback in a turnaround time of two days, I agreed to submit my work to her group. Now, honestly, I'm not sure what I think of contests, especially at my stage in the game. I personally think every single person in my writing group writes way better than me -- but I'm nothing if not determined, energetic, persistent and generally up for a daunting challenge. Turns out everyone in Cassie's writing group is a master critiquer. I received five crits in record time. Besides that, four people in my writing workshop re-critiqued my work and Samantha from AoTP sent me some comments this morning. I'm most familiar with Samantha and her critiques, and she always gives sage advice, so I processed her comments pretty quickly. (They were great comments.) The problem is I have so many comments from the others and the opinions are all over the place. I should really be on the treadmill at the moment, attempting to synthesize-- which is why I can't think of a damn thing to blog about. My mind is swirling. I have crits all over my office. . . .

Exhale.

Oh, and did I mention that I gave different portions of my little "test market" different opening scenes, and now I don't what in the hell I'm doing with the opening scene? All the reviews are mixed. Did I also mention that I inadvertently gave everyone slightly different drafts because my computer files are a mess?

Exhale.

Oh, and did I mention I have a stack of crits to do for others?

Exhale.

Why do I this sort of thing to myself? Hmmmm.

Actually, it's all good. I thrive on Herculean tasks and a certain amount of chaos, but I didn't pull it together in time to come up with a fascinating blog topic and now the clock is ticking and the dear husband is getting ready for a gig, and I'm on toddler duty so this is the mess with which I will have to leave you.

If you want something more interesting to think about skip down to Macy's blog on climaxes :)

Or check out the responses of the Bitchery and Stephen King to the media's notion that Cho's creative writing should have been an indication that he was capable of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Or read up on the most romantic stories ever and contribute to the Smart Bitches "official" list.

Or read up on alpha male characters, in general, or tortured alpha males, in specific, at Romancing the blog.

I have to hit the treadmill, before the hubbie takes off or I'm going to have a major headache and I'm going to be preoccupied all night :)

Cheers and happy writing,
Alyson