Monday, December 30, 2019

Please vote for 2020!

Looking forward to 2020!
From last week's post and several emails and twitter comments, we've received the following requests for Mondays in 2020:

Keep First 50 words
First 500 words
First 100 words
First page/250 words
Queries
Elevator pitch [25 words]
Broad/expanded genre in whatever is chosen

Amren did “First Page Impressions” in early 2019.  Nathaniel occasionally does “Query Friday.”  For both of these, one person who commented on that week's post is chosen by random drawing.  That person then emails their first page or query to OA and Amren or Nathaniel provides feedback.  Do you like the idea of private feedback from one of the OA members, or would you prefer that the selection be posted on the blog [for everyone to comment and learn from]?

We can also alternate.  For example, First 50 on the first Monday of the month and something else for other Mondays.

We want this blog to be helpful to YOU.  This means we need YOUR input and opinions on what YOU want to see.  Please let us know in the comments.

Thank you all for being awesome!

4 comments:

Betsy said...

I think having the critiques be open for all to learn from/comment on/also provide feedback for would be helpful.
I wouldn't do more than 250 words for a critique.
Yes to opening the genre up more.

Becky said...

I agree with Betsy. Learn from seeing. 250 tops.

Dena Pawling said...

The following comment was emailed, misdirected, and forwarded to us:

Hi Op Awesome. I'd like to see the feedback posted so that we can all learn from it. The postings are always beneficial to a budding writer (like me) and I look forward to them. Keep up the good work!

A healthy, happy New Year filled with good tidings and writings to all of you!

Jamie said...

I shared the first lines thing with one of my writing groups. An admin added a disclaimer/ warning that people on the Internet can be wrong (non-experts) or cruel (trolls). I see her point. But I also like a wide range of feedback when editing my work. Never know, there might be someone to see something different.