Yes. Me too.

You are very busy, Amy.

Don't misunderstand - I've read books for people, and will again - and have had very generous folks offer to read my ms. as well - it's not that. It's a huge ask when you're just coming into a group, and you haven't offered anything like this to anyone within the group

THIS, as my addendum to my earlier remark.

Yeah, I'll read a book for a friend, no problem. For someone I just met (and I'm betting because I'm a former editor as well as published)? That is asking a lot.

It really drove home, too, that I need to buckle down and figure out what proposal I'm going to ... propose. Four ideas enter, one leave. But I'm worried now that it's going to take a while -- I sat with Cold Kiss for a few months before I did much with it, mostly because it was still brewing. And then I hadn't had that time with Glass Heart, and writing it was a hell of a lot harder.

I may post the four basic ideas in here tomorrow just to get some feedback, if anyone's up for it.

I may post the four basic ideas in here tomorrow just to get some feedback, if anyone's up for it.

I'd be very up for it!

Also, asking someone you'd just met to read an entire manuscript and give detailed feedback for free? Not cool. Although I do suppose I would have pulled shit like that back in my early 20s. I was just. that. clueless.

I may post the four basic ideas in here tomorrow just to get some feedback, if anyone's up for it.

Oooh, yes.

Also, asking someone you'd just met to read an entire manuscript and give detailed feedback for free? Not cool

Very not cool. I have some Trusted Peeps who I send stuff to, but it's with the understanding that feedback would be awesome IF THEY HAVE TIME TO DO SO.

I've read books for people, and will again

And it's really appreciated :)

Yeah, it's not very cool. Maybe she could ask the group in general if anyone wanted to swap chapters instead of asking somebody for whom it's a job.

To be clear (and fair), she's very nice, although she's pregnant with Baby #4, and the other three are under five, which automatically makes her a little foreign to me. Not bad, just ... hard to relate to.

And this is a first novel she's pulled out to rework/revise, and I think she wants it done quickly. I think, given what I've read, she should just start something new, but that's harder to say. Nicely.

Tough sitch, Amy.

Problem is, to tell a nice someone you just met and will be interacting with "If you truly want to be a published writer, you are going to need to develop a thicker skin for critique, and the ability let a project go when it's time,"...that's awkward.

But I get her side of it, too; I've pulled some boner moves, because I just didn't know what I was asking was Not The Done Thing. I look back, wince and try to move on. And not repeat it.

Oooh, wincing now in memory. EESH. (If I have ever unknowingly pulled a boner on Buffistas --uh, metaphorically -- please forgive me!)

I've pulled some boner moves, because I just didn't know what I was asking was Not The Done Thing.

I'm sure I have as well.

My writing group (online, there's no way I could do one in person with my schedule) annoyance is that I've just done two reviews, one of them pretty detailed, and I've gotten no acknowledgement at all and I know they've been buy because they've posted on the forums there quite a bit. I think it especially grates me because it's been a very long time and many,many reviews since I haven't gotten a nice thank you (and sometimes a polite discussion) when I've done one.

ARGH! Boring Novel Is Boring. ARGH.