Taking It On The Chin

I'm not a great first draft writer. I tend to be all over the place. That's partly because I have no idea what's going to happen, I'm very much a discovery writer and because I am so very time poor, I don't make particularly robust plans. 

I have to apologise to my critique group who must wade through my jumbled timeline and oftentimes random notes to myself. There are place holders, plot holes, odd ideas that will probably go nowhere and the grammar. Oh, the grammar. I am truly sorry. 

So of course the result of my shoddy first draft extracts must be picked over by my crit group, analysed and scrutinised, and then their comments are made. And let me be clear, my crit group are awesome and I value their input enormously but... it can be difficult to read the tough critique. 

It's not because of the critique per se, it's because you know there's work to be done and there's probably a serious graft ahead. Writing is hard, there are no two bones about that. Plus you must be able to take it on the chin - accept the comments and work through the pain to improve your writing. And that's what it's all about, improvement. 

Trusting in your crit group to be honest and tell you what you need to know, not necessarily what you want to hear, is a huge step in being a better writer. Self-editing is a tough gig, you need guidance and if you can't afford to pay for professional editors as an indie author then having a great crit group is a huge asset.

The Silk Thief, Roshaven Book 2 is on pre-order on Amazon, Kobo, Google Books and Smashwords and releases 4th June.

The Rose Thief, Roshaven Book 1 is currently 99p on ebook.

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.