Sunday 5 December 2010

A bit of a rant and a thank you

As you may remember I entered Scandinavian Scandal into the Circalit competition which seemed a good idea at the time. It is sitting at the top of the ratings, much to my surprise. However recent comments have left me reeling with the sheer vitriol expressed. I must have ruffled some feathers and I shall not be commenting again, but I must admit to being stunned. It really rankles to be accused like this, when all the reviews I have received have been genuine. Needless to say I will not be posting anything else to that site.

Maybe I have been spoiled by the writing friends I have made. They have all been supportive and given constructive criticism, when needed and I thank all of you, you know who you are :-)

This whole thing has done one thing though. It has made me more determined to carry on writing to perfect my skills and hopefully one day be published. I will be submitting Too hot To Handle to Blaze come the New Year and the sequel Too cold to love is taking shape slowly.

We recently had some bad news concerning our eldest son, who is going into hospital on Tuesday for a biopsy on an aggressive mass, which is eating away at his jawbone. They are pretty sure it is benign, but they are not sure what exactly it is or how best to treat it and he will almost certainly need reconstructive surgery, as his jaw is so weak now, he could break it just by eating :-S

Writing has been my way of keeping my sanity through all this and again my writing buddies have been invaluable in jollying me along. I'm sure I will be leaning heavily on them and my friends to see me through this. I don't know where I would be without all of you, so a heart felt THANK YOU!

5 comments:

  1. Certainly don't post anything more on that site. It doesn't appear to be friendly.

    I did actually register and take a look. There are some punctuation issues, but nothing huge that can't be fixed with a good edit. (I certainly saw no problems with your formatting). Their comments were not constructive in helping you whatsoever, so certainly not a site to be gaining feedback from.

    Sorry to hear about your son. Writing is a great way to get lost from reality. I definitely find that I am no bored housewife ;-)

    Good luck, Doris.

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  2. Sadly, Doris, the internet is a place where we lay ourselves open to abuse. I don't know why some people feel it necessary to do others down. As writers we have to develop a thick skin because the road to publication is a highly competitive and fraught one. It doesn't hurt any less though, but I think we learn to deal with it better as we gain experience. Don't let idiots like those on the Circalit site put you off. If your story is at the top of the ratings then there is a jolly good reason why. Like Teresa said, a few proofreading issues does not make a story a bad one.

    I hope everything works out for your son and that all goes well with the operation.

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  3. Hi Doris,

    Just had a quick look at Circalit. How horrid those people have been to you. Obviously sour grapes that they only have 3 stars. Sorry you have been the one to find out we should not post our stories there.

    On a personal note - I shall be thinking of you and Marcel. Having something wrong with your child is always worse than having it yourself. My prayers are with you.
    Mx

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  4. I wouldn't waste your time with those pretty horrible people. A site rife with that kind of negativity isn't going to be a great place to frequent.

    As Alexandra said, the internet is full of people looking to stir things up.

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  5. These people have got nothing better to do so just forget about it. You have 3 weeks or so left of the competition, so don't bother responding to anything that's not worth your time reading. Let the judges decide.

    Keep going with your writing Doris - everytime you complete a manuscript you're getting more experience, more feedback from your writing buddies and learning from submitting. You'll be published one day very soon.

    And I hope everything goes as well as can be expected with your son on Tuesday. We'll all be thinking of you xxx

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