lydamorehouse: (Default)
[personal profile] lydamorehouse
I'm having a very hard time getting motivated (or, as Shawn's family sometimes jokingly says "motorvated") today. I kind of blame Wyrdsmiths for keeping me out late last night, but I'm also just in a weird space. I want to snack A LOT. I want to curl up in a ball on the couch and nap. I want to write pen and paper letters to my friends in far-away places while sipping tea with a cat on my knee.

Maybe winter is finally getting to me, I'm not sure.

I don't really feel like writing, especially since I read one of the WORST (as in harshest) reviews of ALMOST TO DIE FOR this morning on Red House Books. Check it out. I'm not saying it's unfair, it's just kind of brutal. It's never good, for instance, when the one thing the reviewer liked about the book is its cover.

Yowch!

I suppose it's better than saying they only liked the font... but wow. I think, too, one of the reasons that this review hit home for me is that, most of the time, I *know* when I've written a book that isn't my best. It's not something you're ever allowed to say out loud, and, you always kind of hope that no one else will notice. In fact, with ALMOST I've been quite taken aback by the fact that Publisher's Weekly liked this book enough to give it a starred review, when I personally believe EVERYTHING the reviewer at Red House had to say (before she said it.) I worked hard on the book, but I thought it was fairly deeply flawed from the beginning. And, you know, try as you might, not every book you write is going to be your best.

The Emperor, in case you wondered, has no clothes.

But, reading that kind of sucked the life out of my already fairly weak desire to work today. Alas.

Now don't feel compelled to tell me how awesome I am or run out and post "you're so wrong" over at Red House Books. Well, okay, you can tell me I'm awesome, but you know... don't harrass the reviewer. She's just expressing her honest opinion, which I actually respect. I post critical reviews of books by colleagues all the time. I think it's part of the deal I signed up for when I took on this writing gig.

But let's just say that this may have contributed to my desire to eat a lot of chocolate and nap.

And, tonight, Mason is super keen to go to the school's "Carnival." It's a funraising event, which I like as a concept in theory, but in reality it's expensive and chaotic in ways that totally appeal to kids, but repulse sane adults. ;-) I am steeling myself to go tonight and practicing saying, "We're only spending X amount. Only X!"

Sigh-ai, ai.

Date: 2011-01-14 07:38 pm (UTC)
seawasp: (Default)
From: [personal profile] seawasp

I sorta agree and disagree. On the one hand, I'd agree that I know when I've written a book that isn't my best; OTOH, that's because I know that "best" is a mirage. I actually can't do much to make my books BETTER unless someone else points out what's wrong with it.

But OTOH I'm confident when I release a book that it's done what I want it to, pretty much, and therefore a negative review is virtually certain to be either completely out in left field (i.e., whatever they're negative about is something I see as positive) or magnifying things that I'll agree are flaws, but usually aren't sufficient flaws to make me feel bad about them. So while it's mildly depressing to get a negative review, it's only so because I'd LIKE to have everyone rave about my stuff, leading to the Standard Rich And Famous Contract.

Date: 2011-01-14 09:13 pm (UTC)
ext_22798: (Default)
From: [identity profile] anghara.livejournal.com
Oh, that elusive Standard Rich And Famous Contract...

Right now - being out of ANY immediate contract, with one novel out there looking for a home and writing another which doesn't have a home to go to when its done but must go vagabonding out there into the dark - I would almost say that I would LOVE to have a bad review currently on the Internet. It would mean that there was a book out there to BE reviewed. Sigh.

Date: 2011-01-14 09:17 pm (UTC)
seawasp: (Default)
From: [personal profile] seawasp
Yeah, I think John Ringo got my SR&FC. And he's not giving it back!

Date: 2011-01-14 09:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jettcat.livejournal.com
Sounds like a great excuse for what I'm doing today.
Mental health day! You want a donut? Go have one. You want hibernate on the couch with the cat? Go for it. I like shopping online and filling it with all the impractical things that I can find or could never possibly use and running up a huge total and...
closing the tab!

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