Digging out of a Rut

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I just returned from a brief vacation to San Antonio to visit my aunt and her two massively fat cats. I've been editing my three short stories this week and hope that by the time I return to school, they may be ready to send out to various magazines.

As far as the "Hard Lessons" post is concerned I've been working on this as well. The problem, in brief, was that my narration style had gone very "anonymous." I couldn't tell my voice from the narrators in a few short stories, and I knew my critic-friend was right when she said that if I did not stop this habit now, I would probably never be able to stop it. And the fear for me was that I might find myself writing the same characters for the rest of my writing life - so the effort to get myself out of this rut has been tremendous. And needless to say, it has paid off in so many ways.

I'll let you know more about this as it progresses, but just know that whatever problems there was, I feel like I am steadily gaining ground on it. My posts may be scattered for the next few weeks, seeing as how the end of the term is rushing down on us with a mountain of tests, papers, book reports and short stories as well as portfolios. I will be posting links to various other writers' blog within this week, so be looking for that in the sidebar.

Last note: my Into Print professor recommended a book called Chapter by Chapter, and while I have only made my way through the first three exercises, I strongly (repeat, strongly) recommend it for anyone even interested in writing. What I have done so far as helped tremendously in my own work - so at least go check it out.

So say we all.
Bri

On Hard Lessons

Tonight, I discussed one of my short stories with my very best friend and harshest critic (a very good thing to have in a best friend), and came to a startling and agonizing realization. I don't really want to expound on it here, but I will say that I discovered a very great weakness in my writing.

The thing is that my friend has read everything I've written for the past six years and while some less familiar readers probably would not have noticed it, she did. She pointed it out because she realized I needed to see it early in my writing career and not before I was so far into the rut of the problem that I could never get out. I offer my most humble thanks.

I will be gone to San Antonio for the next few days and I'll be working over three or four stories while I'm there. If you don't hear from me for a few days, that's why. I might be able to write up something tomorrow, but I need some time to think over what we talked about tonight. When I have a more coherent idea of exactly what I need to say, I'll let you know.

So say we all.
Bri