Hello @generikat,
Your iPhone may not be beguiling but your writing style certainly is. You bring these people--your picturesque characters--into our homes as we read. The corpulent, the plaid-clad, the sinister, and the guilt-ridden swim before our eyes. They are real. It's good we don't know how the debt will be paid. And it is good we don't know how the debt was incurred. What matters is the weight of it. The time may be nigh for collection, but the burden of the debt was always a presence in Deborah's life.
I've told you before, you're a great writer. Forgive me the lack of modesty here: this is something I know. So many talents I lack, but I do have discernment of good writing. Take the compliment and run. Not away, but to your desk, and write some more.:)
Oh @agmoore, thank you so, so much for your kind words. I wanted to convey the burdensome weight of time, and you condensed my intent into such a beautiful summation. For most of my life I have been hesitant to share anything I write, out of fear and frustration. Fear that someone might be upset or dislike my hard work, and frustration that I can never quite compose what I am thinking. The fear of failure I have dispelled, and the only way to get better at composition is to compose and put it out there, right?
Your encouragement means more to than I could ever convey, and I wholeheartedly believe that you indeed are a paragon of good writing discernment, so I would love it if you challenged me even further. I value your opinion highly and would love to be mercilessly eviscerated on the altar of craft improvement.
Also, I am sitting at my desk right now.😁
So pick up the pen (keyboard, pencil) and go to it. I will try very hard to find something to eviscerate. I know every writer craves honest feedback. So, I'll be merciless and look for weak points in your writing. I'll need a magnifying glass :))
Ah, now I am both excited and a bit terrified lol! Challenge accepted!:)
Love this conversation, @generikat and @agmoore. My two cents is this: every single writer on the planet is in development. We are all on some scale between beginner and expert. If we don't write - whether out of fear or insecurity or what have you - we never move beyond our current position on that scale, and we rob the world of the stories that could have been told.
🌟🌞 🌟
I'll try to remember that as I fail to write my own stories :)
So, um, @agmoore, I like to read, like a lot, soooo, just sitting here waiting for you to pick up the pen and stuff.😉😁
The more I read stories like yours, the more I am tempted to give voice to my own muse. :))
Wonderfully put @jayna! I definitely don't want to be a story thief, nor do I want to be deprived of all of the glorious tales floating around in people's imaginations out there, write me must! lol:)