I refuse to post/email Clockwork for a number of reasons, one of which being that I just like to make you guys wait. :P
But the most important one is this: I get better feedback from you if I read a few chapters at a time. If I give you all of it to read, the specifics will be lost.
Why am I not in school right now, you ask? Maybe you aren't asking, but I will tell you anyway. I'm getting a simple dental surgery done this morning. I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything, so I'm starving until they start dripping "sugar-water" into me through the IV. Which will probably not be for at least another hour and a half, since my appointment's at 9:30.
Right. Moving on.
The second reason is that whenever I bring pages to a meeting to read to you, it's the 3rd draft. Words 1- around 62,000 are in their second draft, and when I print them out, I attack it with my blue pen before bringing it to a meeting. I don't want you reading the parts in their 2nd or 1st versions. Let me make it better before you read it.
The third reason: if you finish everything that I've written and are clamoring for more (in theory), I'll feel pressured to get another few chapters out as often as possible. I'll give less attention to the quality, and more to the quantity. I want the 1st draft to be as good as possible, because a) it saves me time in editing and b) I feel less ashamed of it.
The fourth reason: Reading it aloud to you in itself is amazingly helpful. I hear when you laugh, or make some other noise. I can tell when sections are droning on a bit long. I catch awkward phrasing that I didn't catch by looking at it.
The fifth reason: Reading it in pieces gives me time to think about it and give myself feedback. Even if each of you kept a notebook next to you while reading and wrote down every single little thing that came to mind (and who would do that? I wouldn't), I wouldn't be giving as much specific thought to each section.
Lastly: Thanks for being awesome, guys. Going to a meeting always gets me inspired to work on something, regardless of what it is. This week, I ended up writing about 800 words of Clockwork before I went to bed and editing the chapters I read to you. After the surgery, while I'm eating ice cream and doing other generally envy-worthy things (there are definitely advantages, even though I don't get to see any of my friends at school today), I'll work on it some more. Speaking of which, I should go to that now. This blog post is Procrastination disguised as Productivity.
Oh, and what did you all think of Terry/Reymfla getting her name from an unknown book (no, I did not actually get her name from a book)? I feel like it was a weak point in the chapter, but that's actually probably what I would do if I was looking for a new name. Does it work?
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