Man, it’s been far too long since I’ve had a chance to sit down and blog like a normal human being.

I’ve had a long month of writing conferences, car accidents, moves and kidney stones. I plan on rejoining the blogging world very, very soon. I just wanted to let everyone know I’m not dead – I just came close. I have exciting news about Pink Fish Press as well as some personal and NaNoWriMo developments.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I have maintained a personal blog since before the time the word “blog” existed, back when they were referred to as “online journals”. It’s interesting to go back to my early 20’s and watch the drama of my life unfold, and then wonder why I couldn’t put two words together coherently. I wanted to be a writer at that time too, but boy am I glad I waited until my late 20’s to take my writing seriously.

Anyhow, I never thought anyone would read them, and no one has beyond my personal friends. It’s just a blog, and it didn’t make me famous or get me a book deal. As a matter of fact, if anyone went back and read it they would run screaming from the insanity of my life. I also dislike blogging for the fact that it takes time away from my actual writing. As a matter of fact, if I was not sitting here writing this right now I could be working on my in-progress novel. On the other side of things, I love blogging because it keeps me connected to the rest of the world. I love reading and hearing feedback from other writers and readers.

All of this comes from the fact I recently watched “Julie and Julia”. While I loved the movie as a whole, I was irritated by some of the points made by the main character. She states “I could write a blog, I have thoughts!” Exactly the problem tiny little red-headed lady, everyone has thoughts and everyone can blog. It doesn’t mean that the entirety of the virtual world is going to flock to your blog and send Random House executives knocking down your door. I think a blog has to augment your actual writing talent.

I recently had a conversation online with a writer that went something like this:

Me: So, what do you write?

Other Writer: Oh, I have so many ideas, but I don’t actually have a book I’m working on. I spend a lot of time on my blog.

Me: …

But hey, who am I to judge? Whatever keeps you writing. And, yes, before I sign off, I do realize the irony of the fact I’m railing against bloggers as writers.. in my blog. Like I said, I have a love-hate relationship, and this part of me loves connecting with like minded individuals. I just wanted to make the point that everyone blogs, and bloggers are not special. Take your talent for the written word and cultivate it into a novel or book or short story. Show the world what you’re made of, and heck post it on your blog!

By the way, there’s a new interview coming soon! I got a little behind on my workload, but I can’t wait to post the new one.

Renda

Boy, I love the internet. Recently I noticed on Inked’s Amazon.com page that under the “customer who viewed this also viewed this” section was something called “Fresh Whole Rabbit”. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The picture, as a vegetarian, is horrifying.

However, this did provide interesting read through of the comments. My favorite included:

I’ll keep this short and sweet. We ordered one of these rabbits for our children this Easter and boy what a surprise. It is NOT a living rabbit. Someone has killed this rabbit and skinned it, I suppose for eating. Anyway, our children were traumatized and Easter is not the same holiday that it used to be for us. On the upside, we don’t have to fill their Easter baskets anymore as we told them the Easter bunny was killed by Amazon.

P.S. The rabbit tasted very good.

God bless you internet, for all your laughs.

P.S. I have a blog post mostly written about my thoughts on “blogging to get famous” (as I just watched Julie and Julia) and I’ll be posting my thoughts soon.

It is up to you and your feedback partner how you would like to communicate as well as how often. I suggest once a week over email and once a month in person (if possible), but communicate with your partner and decide on a firm date that you will be meeting or emailing.

Once you have a scheduled time, it’s important to decide how you would like utilize your time together. I suggest reading and responding to each others current projects, as well as some of the discussion topics I have included below.

Remember, setting up feedback partners is an excellent way to get feedback, make friends, fellowship with other people who have similar interests and writing styles. Make sure you use this time to the best benefit for you and your partner.

Topics For Discussion For Feedback Partners

Touching Base:

• Describe your writing activities since the last meeting in terms of pages written, parts of a project completed, or hurdles overcome.
• If you haven’t written much since the last meeting, you could talk about the kinds of pre-writing activities you have undertaken (research, reading, editing previous work, meeting with a professor or adviser, etc.). Or you could talk about the obstacles to writing that have hindered your progress (writer’s block, having three tests this week, needing to gather more data before you can write, etc.).
• Explain how work that was discussed during the last meeting is now evolving in response to group comments. You might explain which comments you chose to act on, or tell how a section of the piece has been reorganized or rethought in response to the group’s feedback.
• Share your writing plans for the coming week or two so that your group members will know what kinds of writing they will see and so that you can help one another stick to your goals.

Brainstorming as part of the process

• Writing groups can provide not only feedback and a forum in which to share work, but also creative problem-solving for your writing troubles. Your group might try some of these brainstorming ideas:
• Identify a writing problem that one person is having. Ask each group member to free-write possible solutions.
• Cut up a copy of a paper that needs organizational changes so that each section, main idea, or paragraph is on its own slip of paper. As a group, move the pieces of paper around and discuss possible options for reorganizing the work.
• After reading a piece, generate a list of items that the group might like to know more about. Organize these questions into categories for the author to consider.

Responding to other people’s writing can be difficult. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Say something positive about the piece. Even if a piece of writing needs a lot of work, there is usually something good that can be pointed out – the nugget of a great idea, a particularly well-turned phrase, the beginnings of a good organizational structure, or a thorough understanding of the material.
• Critique the writing, not the writer. Instead of saying, “You aren’t very good at conclusions,” say, “This conclusion didn’t really work for me.”
• Speak from your own perspective, using phrases like, “My reaction to this was …” or “I found this to be …” rather than “this part of the paper is …”. Acknowledge that there may be a variety of opinions about the piece of writing.
• Remember that you are in a writing group to help one another improve. It does not help the writer if you see problems with a piece of writing but don’t mention them because you’re afraid of hurting his/her feelings. Usually a writer would rather hear about a problem from the friendly, supportive members of his/her writing group than hand in a paper with problems and hear about them (with a poor grade!) from a professor.
• Talk about the way you responded as you were reading. Sometimes it’s easier and more helpful to say, “When I read this sentence, I wasn’t sure if the paragraph was going to be about this or about that” than it is to say, “This sentence was confusing.” It can be helpful to have the whole group read the first paragraph and then predict the rest of the paper before reading further. It will help the writer to know what you expected when you began the paper and how those expectations changed as you read.
• Be specific. Instead of just saying, “The organization needs work,” try to figure out where and why the organization broke down. Perhaps you could suggest a different order for the ideas in the paper or think of the kind of transition that might help make the jumps between ideas more logical.
• Whatever you say, imagine yourself on the receiving end of the comment. If this were your work, what would be helpful to you? How would you want people to provide you with criticism?
• Prioritize and sort your comments for the writer. What interfered the most when you read the paper or what was the hardest part of the paper to understand? Sometimes it is helpful to break down your comments into a list of “big things” and a list of “little things” that the writer could do to improve.
• Tailor your comments to the writer and his/her needs. Ask what kind of feedback would be helpful and try to provide that. Ask the writer what sections s/he is most worried about. Avoid suggesting hours and hours of revision for papers that you know are due the same day as your meeting. You can still point out bigger problems, but focus on what can be done between the meeting and the due date.
• Write out key points that you want to share with the writer. This will help you remember them and also provide a written record of your feedback.

Please share the trailer with the entire internet (if at all possible).

If you love the song as much as I do, you can download it exclusively here on RendaDodge.com. The song is a cover of “Blackbird” by The Beatles, preformed by Wyatt Hebert. Right Click, Save As for  .mp3.