Thirded on the YA, Jilli. Very much so.

If you decide to write fiction, and if you want her I will gift you with my character "Dead Alice". You seemed to like her, though that does not necessarily mean you want her in any world you create. But she is yours if you want her.

Firstly, thanks again Erika. The senior editor seems to think the current version of the proposal is good. It is now going to the "reviewers". Does anyone know what that is? Since it is for a book proposal, not the whole manuscript it can't be peer review. Maybe review by an expert with the filter being, not crazy, not a crank, not ignorant? At any rate I'm betting it is a standard term that some buffista will know.

[on edit: now, not not.]

I don't know what she means by that, Typo. The editorial board, I guess? Some houses use "readers," i.e. freelancers who help read slush submissions, but this isn't really the same thing. I've never heard of sending it out of the house, but since this is specialized non-fiction, I don't actually have any idea.

Ah it is going to the "Advisory Board" and the "Publication Committee". So maybe "reviewers" would be a term for one of those.

You're welcome...I hope my changes helped. Good luck with the next step, which I haven't heard of, either.

126,665

Chopping revision done, now for more editing.

How do you all shut your internal critic the hell up?

I do a lot of my writing in my head, you know? I even do this with things like recaps. It's just how it works for me. And for me, this process does work (more often than not). I get a pretty good jump on how it's going to be written down (even wording, etc.), before I even write it, but...

A couple of weeks ago I had this powerful experience. I referenced it up-thread. I saw this person and a good chunk of this story popped into my head. I've been mentally writing it since then, but keep criticizing it and changing it -- even so far as to genre-hop. Now my mental critic is telling me it's trite, predictable and shouldn't even be written.

That's fine, I've had lots of trite ideas that I've chucked. But my memory of this guy -- who spawned this character -- he isn't going away. And he's brought some other characters with him, and they're not going away, even though they're the ones my critic hates.

I'm starting to think the critic is self-doubt and fear, this time, not a helpful filter. I'd knock her unconscious if I could do it without knocking the rest of me unconscious. At this point, I think I have to write this story or I'll never write another thing again.

My critic has been relentless, though. I can't get out of the first scene, never mind the first chapter.

This is different than anything you've written before, Cindy? If it is, I bet that's exactly what the self-critic is.

The only way out is through, though, you know? You just have to ignore the voice and sit down and write it. My best advice after that would be to let it sit for a week or more, don't reread it, don't touch it, and then go back and see what you've got with a fresh eye.

Well yes, and really, I haven't written (or completed, more properly) much fiction at all. This is fiction. There's a love story element. There's a supernatural element.

Thanks, Amy. The problem is, I now have nothing but a title page, because I tend to delete stuff I hate. I'm going to take a shower, eat something, go into my office, close the door and write and try to not be afraid of how bad it sucks.