Helping Fellow Authors

One of the most important things in my life is reading. I have read everything from The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire to Bertrice Small. Reading is such an escape for me. Within minutes of starting a good book I am lost to the real world.

Now it starts to get harder when someone wants you to help critique their work. You know that this story is someones baby. It means a lot to them. And you can also remember how hard it was to hear someones critique of your work.

Now I find there is a nice way and a not so nice way to do this. Sometimes people don't think before they hit that send key. Me, I agonize over what impact my words will have on the persons book I am reading. You want to help but not hurt. And that can be very hard to do.

So my advise is to think about how you would feel and try to use words that are kind and helpful. Because basically that is all you can do.

Then there's the story that just knocks you out. From beginning to end you are enthralled. The worst thing you can say is you need a comma here or there. I have a critique partner that writes so well, it freaks me out. After reading her first book I can see the light went on in her head and she now gets it. Everything she puts out there now is right on. All I can say is Wow.

So if you are ever critiquing someones work be careful, remember there is an author behind
those stories. A writer just like you who has feelings, but needs your help. Be kind, be honest and remember why you are critiquing. To help a fellow author put out the best book she can!
That's what it's all about.

A good book

A good book can make you feel better. It can help you to file your problems into the back of your head, it can give you a break, if only for awhile. A good book can take you to places you will never otherwise go, to see in your mind through imagery, those things which you would never otherwise see. Stories introduce you to new people, through which you can learn, with whom you can commiserate. New planets, far away galaxies are right in the same room with you. Ideas which you never thought of zoom through your mind. Learn how to handle new situations, or new problems in the pages of a book. Dogs, cats, horses, and even tigers and lions, find a way into your heart. Sad things, happy things, funny things, reading can take you through a myriad of emotions. Teach yourself new ideas, new knowledge is a gift. Or you can even fall in love with romance. Do yourself the kindest of favors.

Read, read, and read some more. You'll be glad you did.

Death

I just returned from my father's funeral and I felt nothing. It really bothered me and even now I don't know if it makes me a bad person or not. My father was a control freak and in his heart of hearts he didn't like me. My parents had to get married because of me. Today that means nothing, but in 1949 it was a dishonor. There were problems with my father's side of the family. He was only 19 yrs old and had gotten a 22 year old widow with two children pregnant. They resented my mother and even though things changed my mother never forgot it.

Over the years my father was abusive. He called me an ox, he hit me, he disconnected my arm when I was three years old, he ruptured my ear drums, he made a feel like I was a prisoner, he told me I was nobody, he was ashamed of me, he did so many things I developed a terrible inferiority complex, he didn't like me. I don't think it would have mattered what I did, when things went wrong it was my fault. If not for me.... And the hardest part was he would never say he was sorry, denied it all, and when I was 57 told me he was sorry if I thought in my head that he did any thing. He told me that was the best I would get. It wasn't enough. So today I feel nothing, I am not sad except for my mother, I am not happy, I feel numb. But not like crying. I will never forget how he treated me, I will never get back those years of low esteem that wrecked my confidence. I pushed on in life and gave it what I had, but I wonder what I could have done with confidence. Could I have been more? Could I have loved myself?

And now I am old. I feel old. I have not a lot of time to fix myself. But somehow I feel that deep inside me is a deep sigh. I don't need to care about that anymore. I hope I can let it go. I really do.

I just published my first book. I am somebody, I do have a talent and it's all mine. I am not a failure. I am an author...I am an author.