With the ever-so-fabulous YA writer, Meredith Clark!

I spent a couple of hours with my romance-writing critique partners this morning, hashing out our stories while sipping our morning drink-of-choice at a noisy Starbucks. (Note: contrary to popular belief, champagne is NOT my morning drink-of-choice. At least, not every day. And only with orange juice. Most times. But I digress. . ..)

My writer friends know me as an almost-anal-about-it plotter. (Sorry, I need a roadmap and a compass or I’ll have looped the globe several times before “The End.”) At this morning’s meet, my goal was to make sure my story grid made sense, and to vet my current manuscript (first stinky draft completed in four weeks) with these uber-talented writers.

Yeah, okay, so nobody wants her precious baby to be scrutinized and called ugly, deformed, or something that should be put out of its misery. But despite the nerves, I’m glad I let my CP’s take a crack at it. It smelled pretty gross when I brought it in. After our session, it’s been changed and powdered and wrapped up in something way better than the dirty diaper it came in with. 🙂

Thanks to my CP’s, the story is on a much more solid foundation, and the plot is structured in a way that is “optimal.” Now I just need to work on making sure at least one of the core competencies is stellar. (And I bet you all thought I slept through the Larry Brooks two-day workshop, huh?) 😉

Do you ever put yourself in an uncomfortable situation (writing-related or not) because, painful as it is, you know the end result will be way better than before?

Just curious.

-Melia