In Which I Start Another WIP

When I was into writing before–you know, pre- five year break–I had a backbone of steel when it came to accepting critiques. You literally could say anything to me in a critique, and as long as it was constructive I would eat it up. I LOVED critiques. I lived for them. When most writers were crying to see the red ink dripped from the pages of their manuscript, I was doing a happy dance (not really; I don’t dance) because I knew my WIP was going to get better.

I’ve softened a bit. Critiques are harder for me to take now, although I still love to get them. I’m not easily offended, and I love nothing more than an honest critique partner who will tell it like it is. But I don’t rejoice in the suggestions quite as much as I used to. Maybe it’s because I feel like my brain isn’t as sharp as it once was (turns out my mom was right, children really do cause brain damage). Maybe it’s because I don’t have as much time and so every suggestion feels like a mountain I have to climb. Maybe it’s because I feel so out of sorts, I’m not really sure how to go about fixing things. Maybe I just need to make my skin a little thicker. I used to be a pro, but I’m out of practice.

At any rate, I got an AWESOME critique back from my online critique group on The Hostage Heart the other day. She pointed out some continuity issues that are quite glaring now that I think about it. I took a few days to consider what she was saying, and realized the issues were there because I didn’t have a clear idea of  the world in which the story takes place. So I’ve been doing some world building over the past few days, and it’s going great! I’ve already got some great ideas on how to improve things. But I can’t just not write, so in the meantime I’ve started the first draft of my infertility novel. It is hard to write and emotional and makes me dread the coming year. Now that the boys are approaching their first birthday, we’ll soon be back in the middle of all that infertility crap. I’m not looking forward to it. But I am loving writing this book, and now more than ever I feel it needs to be written.

Which brings me to a question…anybody have any title suggestions for this infertility WIP? All the ones I’ve come up with personally are lame, and the few suggestions I’ve had are awesome but just don’t seem quite to fit.