Nice things

I had a nice comment or two from a Baen’s Bar user named Rad.  Some minor hunting revealed him as a Clarion 2007 graduate (yes, the one whose two year old blog post freaked me out the other day).  It’s nice getting compliments (even vague, keep-at-it compliments) from writers who have already passed the stage of their careers that I am in.  Did he say I was brilliant?  No, of course not.  I did once have an editor say I was brilliant (or did something brilliant) only to not print the story.  That sucked.  But he said I “…have more going than most.”  Not glowing, but nice.

It was especially nice after the painful critique he just gave “Leech Run” in the slush.  Ouch.  It was good stuff, a very in-depth critique not terribly dissimilar from what I strive for through Critters.  But any time someone uses the words “Please no!” repetitively in relation to your story, it stings.  He had a point, that I had overdone the headcounting.  His advice helped my rewrite, but I have written myself into a corner (or a middle, if that’s possible) where I need to gut a small section and rework it, probably building in more action.

Anyway, it was nice of Rad.  (You can look up his real name yourself the same way I did, but you have to be a Baen’s Bar member.)

-Oso