I had an idea today. It occurred to me that as I approach the end of my seventh re-write I need new eyes and good ones at that. Not that the previous eyes haven’t been but without access to an actual Editor I needed someone neutral. So I did the scariest thing yet..
I rang my high school English teacher (the HOD no less). This teacher scared the pants off me when I was at school. I’ve never forgotten the day she scolded me loudly in front of the class and declared I’d fail. She must have been good. I got an A. And yes that felt like the most deserved A ever *grin*. So I rang her.. and…
SHE SAID YES!
Not only that she’ll also pass it to another teacher at the school and if she doesn’t deem it awful she may pass it on to her sister. Who used to be an editor!
Yes that noise is the sound of me hyperventilating and I can scarce write my hands are shaking so much!
Right. So first things first I have to finish the re-write. I’m on chapter 28. Then kill all the awful thoughts circling in my head….okay so that won’t happen till I get it back but if I can at least shove them to the back of my mind…
You may not hear from me much this week. Gonna be rather busy!
Ooooh, congratulations! That's amazing, and I'm sure she'd never 'deem it awful', no way!
Congrats, this sounds like a great opportunity! It shows what can come from taking a chance 🙂
Congrats! That's so exciting for you!
Hi Nicole. HUGE congrats… writing a novel is a BIG accomplishment!! I think it's a great idea to have your high school English teacher read it. She'll give you honest feedback and she probably knows a think or two about good writing.
Sounds more awesome than scary! Just keep reminding yourself of that. She used to be an EDITOR.
thanks guys 🙂 I'm so excited. Whatever way it goes it'll be helpful. At the very least it's making me finish my re-write! 🙂 Take care and I'll chat to you all later *grin*
You go girl….
;-}
Congrats! That is great!
Awesome! One of my high school English teachers used to intimidate/scare me so much, but after I left her class, she became one of the coolest people I know. We still keep in touch. 🙂 I don't know if I could ever show her my WIP though. Haha.
Congrats!
Good for you! I had an iffy relationship with my high school English teacher–he was a published author, and he hated my style. He once wrote on a paper "I hate adverbs but you're using them perfectly, so I can't mark you down." LOL. You've inspired me to look him up sometime 🙂
Good idea. Another idea is to join a site called writng.com. You can join for free and get reviews from other writers. I joined and posted some of my short stories. It's scary and some of the reviewers are brutally honest, but it makes you a better writer. They caught a lot of my mistakes , and gave me some good suggestions. Good luck with your book.
Hi Rowenna – go for it! Sure he might hate it but he could offer some really valid advice too 🙂
Hi Patrick – I have looked at more than a few of those but I'm at the 'full review' stage so I want people who can read the whole thing..and it's kinda long ;p
Great idea! I don't have any high school teachers that stand out in that regard…and let's face it, I graduated over 20 years ago, so a good number of them are probably gone (sniff sniff). I did have an English teacher at the community college who was TOUGH. I bet she'd give great feedback if I could just call up the courage to call….