Raven's View

It's been balmy for a few days, but we didn't trust it at first. We had two warm spells already this year, followed by 10-15 cm snow. But, I was downtown last weekend, at a local legal wall, watching my friends wield their spray cans in the sun, and was back down today to see the finished work. And to check out the 4/20 celebrations on Parliament Hill. Not a huge crowd there, but definitely a friendly one, what with the warm weather and fragrant smoke. 

I'm referring mostly to the weather. We've had a few double digit days already this year - as in positive celsius digits. Most of the backyard was bare, some greenery was popping up, and the trees were starting to bud out. Then another spring storm popped in today, with maybe 10 cm of snow so far. Plus 8 and rain tomorrow but that's not really the point is it? We don't want any more snow! 

I didn't make as much writerly progress as I'd hoped for since Monday's goal setting, as my son has been sick. It's up to me to meet the kids after school and babysit them for a while. While I'm there I play a bit and then sit and read, hopefully as a good example! So I did get some reading done, edited a bit, and set up feedback from a fellow author. 

Here we are, at another Round of Words in 80 Days. Time now to look at the year's goals, count up last round's accomplishments, and plan for the next round. 

My goals as a writer are simple: to write, to get better at it, and to publish some of it. This last round, the writing part was doing some Flash Fiction stories, finishing editing novel #2, and starting editing novel #3. To get better, I was in a critique group, read in my genre(s) with a critical eye, and tried out some tips I found in writing blogs. For publishing, I sent queries for novel #2 out to some 20 agents. Some have declined, and so far one asked for a complete manuscript.  

For this round, much the same. More Flash, more editing, more learning. And either try more agents or sign a contract! 

I have a question now for all y'all. How do you handle the case where a friend has a book you don't really think is very good, but would like a review. Do you give a bad review? Or no review, and pretend you're busy-busy? Or praise it anyway? Or do you just send them some constructive criticism instead? Which would you prefer as an author?

And finally, here's my latest, and slightly risque, Flash Fiction, Party Animal.