The short answer is not much and a lot.
My writing has slowed somewhat while I'm searching for a workshopping home. The ones that have the people I like are less active for crits. The active critter sites are too comfortable for my style of writing. So, I have my feet in more than one pool trying to find the best fit in all directions.
On the home front, my brother and I (including our spouses) have purchased a small manufactured home for my parents. I've been doing quite a bit of running around getting that together. The fun part is the house we ended up getting is literally right across the street from mine. Do I want my parents that close? Damn straight, I do! They've been living way out in the country, so that any trip to the doctor or shopping is a thirty mile round trip. Not good. The house they've been in (a rental) has only a wood stove for heat. Double not good. It's definitely time for them to move into town and get a bit closer to services and have the advantage of a nice furnace in the winter.
My husband and I did just have a quick two-day trip to Ashland, Oregon's Shakespearean Festival. This is world-class theater, winning Tony award and so on. If you ever get in the vicinity of southern Oregon, then check it out. Buy tickets ahead of time, though. While you can get some at the door, most performances are sold out months in advance. We saw "A Winters Tale" (Shakespeare) and "The Importance of Being Ernest" (Oscar Wilde). See, there's more than the Bard offered. At the end of August, we'll be taking the granddaughters down for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Hey, they chose the play, not me!
There, now I've caught my vast reading audience up to date. I wish I had more story sales to report, but it's been a very dry month from that standpoint.
The Cellophane Queen: 'Cause you can look right through me, Walk right by me and never know I'm there...
With East of the Web no more and it's members scattered across the internet universe, I feel your pain. There is nothing like it. However, it's forced me to be more active in my own writing. Without the fantastic group, I'm learning to depend more on my own abilities and read my own work through a critical lens. I've been critiquing other published work, writing in the margins, but it doesn't feel the same. We use to help one another and the feed back was a two-way street. Marva, if you find a good group, let me know. Let all of us know.
ReplyDeleteI know it's hard to find a group where one feels at home. EotW was really good that way.
ReplyDeleteI just doesn't seem likely that either Gene's or Will's tries are going to work out. We simply do not have enough people on either site.
There is always Rob's group (Critical Mass), but I don't feel too welcome there. Not because the people aren't nice, but the general feel of the group is both British and running more toward horror, lit fic.
At Scrawl, you can actually get some decent crits and the people there are fun, but they only have one short story thread to toss every genre in. I don't feel my kid's stuff would work very well there.
I am evaluating Critique Circle. It's much more structured and you are guaranteed to get crits because critting is how you earn points that allow you to post. It takes 3 points to post and you can get 1 point for each crit. And, they have structured crit templates to use, which I think work fairly well.
www.critquecircle.com
EotW closing was sad. I must admit I miss the comaraderie. Fantastic for that kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteAll good things must come to an end, or so they say.
:o)
Shell or Bloom (not Michelle, I know):
ReplyDeleteYes, EotW did seem to have a certain charisma to it.
At the end, I was put off by one member deciding to slash at me for being "too easy" as a critter. I think I'm still feeling a little down on that last, negative send-off. Let's just say, I will avoid any site that has that particular person on it.