9?!?!

Someone To Read Your Drafts is one of the best and potentially the most useful thing I've read this year. I am not much of a writer, myself, but I suddenly have the urge to write a story just so that I can find a person who fits well with me who will criticize my work honestly and gently. I remember Amy saying something about this a couple of weeks ago, telling us to, "Find someone whose work we admire and try to collaborate with that person."

This article tells us to find someone of our same level. That is a really good idea, come to think of it. I've always assumed that I want a professional to edit my work since that is what I aspire to. I think that it just may work out better for me in the long run if I am a bit more consistent in who I have edit my work. If it is someone who is learning and growing with me, they will be more likely to have the time to edit something I write, and will be much more understanding about my own shortcomings.

I think that collaboration is the greatest thing ever invented. I love piecing together a story with several other people whom I respect and admire. I have been doing this a lot lately, and feel that it increases the odds that the final creation is actually awesome. I always thought that if one person thinks a thing is cool, then it may be, or it may not be. But if two or three people think that the same thing is cool, odds are it actually is cool.

I like to cite Star Wars as an example of this. George Lucas did a ton of collaborating one the earlier IV V and VI films years ago. He did not direct the fifth or sixth films, and had a lot of help with the creation of his story. However, on the more recent films I, II and III, he is listed as the sole writer, director and executive producer of all three films. Let me just say that I did not enjoy the more recent three films near as much as I did the initial three. Collaboration. That’s where it’s at.