*crickets*
So...hi there.
I miss people, but I'm not generally the kind of person who starts conversations, so I haven't done much about that. Especially awkward is how lots of things have changed for me in a relatively short period of time, and trying to "catch up" would be kind of obnoxiously time-consuming.
To anyone who has e-mailed me in recent months and not received a reply--I apologize. I probably got the e-mail, read it once, planned to respond to it later, then never got back to it. I'm not actually at my computer as often as I'd like to be--check that, I'm at my computer frequently, but only for short bursts at a time. When I DO have a ton of time at my computer, I usually spend it writing. I don't have the long stretches of time I used to to devote to responding to e-mails the way I'd like to. Maybe I should adopt a more Twitter-esque method to e-mail replies.
I hope people are doing well. I want to stomp on just about all of civilization, but that's not new. =) Otherwise I am generally okay. Can't sleep tonight, which is probably why I'm unwisely blabbering on LiveJournal about nothing in particular.
Wish I knew more people where I live. The fact I'm a hermit to begin with is pretty bad, no knowing or making any real attempt to seek out friends in my area has not helped my social skills at all. I found myself kind of e-stalking some dude I saw on a forum who lists his location as Raleigh, finding his Twitter and FourSquare, just because I find him entertaining in post text and think he might be cool to hang out with. I've never said a word to him, though. Creeper much, Luna? Caught myself doing that and decided it was very unhealthy, so LJ it is.
So the beta reading thing was kind of a bust. I got a lot of useful feedback, but too much of it conflicted and it was hard to sort through. I think it will be a lot better if I just finish the damn book and let people read the whole thing before critiquing.
A note of advice, though: if a writer sends you a piece of work and asks you to critique it, I don't care if they give you specific instructions to tear it apart piece by piece. Don't swear at them in your response. Don't call entire paragraphs of their work "sloppy" (even if that's what you think). Don't say "I didn't spare your feelings in this because I respect you and I would assume you want me to be completely honest with you." Don't do that. You're not being smart or classy. You're being a condescending dick, and your feedback is all but useless because your tone makes it damn near impossible to discern your rage!opinions from objective observation. If you really hate something, just say "this style really isn't my thing." Not "this is the kind of self-congratulating and wildly masturbatory nonsense I'd expect from a thirty year old living in his mom's basement." See the subtle difference? It's a useful one. ;)
In other news, I'm gonna be 31 this year. Huh.
I miss people, but I'm not generally the kind of person who starts conversations, so I haven't done much about that. Especially awkward is how lots of things have changed for me in a relatively short period of time, and trying to "catch up" would be kind of obnoxiously time-consuming.
To anyone who has e-mailed me in recent months and not received a reply--I apologize. I probably got the e-mail, read it once, planned to respond to it later, then never got back to it. I'm not actually at my computer as often as I'd like to be--check that, I'm at my computer frequently, but only for short bursts at a time. When I DO have a ton of time at my computer, I usually spend it writing. I don't have the long stretches of time I used to to devote to responding to e-mails the way I'd like to. Maybe I should adopt a more Twitter-esque method to e-mail replies.
I hope people are doing well. I want to stomp on just about all of civilization, but that's not new. =) Otherwise I am generally okay. Can't sleep tonight, which is probably why I'm unwisely blabbering on LiveJournal about nothing in particular.
Wish I knew more people where I live. The fact I'm a hermit to begin with is pretty bad, no knowing or making any real attempt to seek out friends in my area has not helped my social skills at all. I found myself kind of e-stalking some dude I saw on a forum who lists his location as Raleigh, finding his Twitter and FourSquare, just because I find him entertaining in post text and think he might be cool to hang out with. I've never said a word to him, though. Creeper much, Luna? Caught myself doing that and decided it was very unhealthy, so LJ it is.
So the beta reading thing was kind of a bust. I got a lot of useful feedback, but too much of it conflicted and it was hard to sort through. I think it will be a lot better if I just finish the damn book and let people read the whole thing before critiquing.
A note of advice, though: if a writer sends you a piece of work and asks you to critique it, I don't care if they give you specific instructions to tear it apart piece by piece. Don't swear at them in your response. Don't call entire paragraphs of their work "sloppy" (even if that's what you think). Don't say "I didn't spare your feelings in this because I respect you and I would assume you want me to be completely honest with you." Don't do that. You're not being smart or classy. You're being a condescending dick, and your feedback is all but useless because your tone makes it damn near impossible to discern your rage!opinions from objective observation. If you really hate something, just say "this style really isn't my thing." Not "this is the kind of self-congratulating and wildly masturbatory nonsense I'd expect from a thirty year old living in his mom's basement." See the subtle difference? It's a useful one. ;)
In other news, I'm gonna be 31 this year. Huh.