100 Pages and . . . Stuff

So, I've been doing the read through of the rough draft that's out to beta readers because I want to submit this manuscript to a contest.

I have 100 pages left to read. This has been an interesting experience. First, I'm reading the rough in .pdf format so I can't change things as I find them. If I was reading the document in Word, then I'd be changing things here/there/everywhere and not getting the essence of whether the story flows or not.

Yeah, I'm noticing mistakes. Mistakes happen. Such is life.

I also know, when I sit down for the actual revision stage, I'll find those mistakes.

I have printed off a few different pages where I needed to make notes. A few, i.e., less than 10. I think that's pretty good.

I also think, in the future, I'll always do my read through this way since I'm less tempted to start changing things because I really can't change things in PDF format.

Project Runway - what can we learn from Project Runway?

BE TRUE TO OURSELVES!

Last night, one of the designers didn't go with her instinct she, as she put it, lost herself somewhere. She wasn't listening to her inner voice.

We need to listen to our inner voice. We need to believe in ourselves. If we don't, then like this person on PR last night, we'll come very close to losing the competition.

We screw up our lives when we don't listen to our instinct, when we pay attention to what other people our saying/doing, versus what we know we should be doing.

Case in point: one designer last night told another designer that his/her outfit looked like it was a madame (i.e., street walker) outfit. The designer in question really began to doubt his vision and couldn't get the image of a hooker dress out of his mind. In the end, he stuck with his gut and didn't change things.

Now, back to the person who said the dress looked, basically, like a hooker dress: personally, I think said designer did it on purpose because it's all about the competition. Later on in the episode, said designer was like "oh, maybe I shouldn't have said anything" . . . Yeah, ya think?

Which, brings me to the second lesson from PR: sometimes people aren't going to like our work, they're going to criticize our work and we, as is part of human nature, are going to think "OMG, I just wrote the biggest piece of crap ever!" Then, hopefully, we're going to take a step back, realize that everybody has their own opinion, everything is subjective, and that if we believe in our work, that's enough.

So, when a critique comes back, look at it both subjectively and objectively. Examine it, study it, analyze it, and really think about what the person is saying before you go off willy-nilly and change everything!

Have a great weekend.

S