Diary of a Wimpy Schmooze Coordinator (AKA The Westside Writers Novel Critique Schmooze Recap)

February 11, 2015—2:57 PM

Man, I am so burned out on this whole annual novel critique thing. If I wasn’t co-coordinator I’d probably just skip it. I mean, it’s fine for young, productive people who still have hopes and dreams; real writers who manage to move from one project to the next instead of working on the same stupid book for more years than I even want to admit. Am I really going to bring those same 4 pages? Sure, I’ve done some revising since last year but really, what’s the point? Those pages have been polished so many times it’ll just be everyone saying how much they like them, and I’ll puff up, start pontificating and forget that my real problems are later and structural until I get home and realize what happened and start to hate myself for the whole big ego thing… On the other hand, if I don’t bring anything, I’ll really feel like a loser who can’t even put himself on the line when he’s asking everyone else to—I mean what’s wrong with me? What’s WRONG with me?

Maybe I’ll call Karol and tell her I’m under the weather….

February 12, 2015—12:32 AM

That was great! I’m so glad Karol didn’t let me wuss out (though she didn’t have to be so mean about it). First of all, there were so many new writers there. Of the 26 people attending it seemed like a third of them were newbies. And then, at my table at least, they were all really talented. Everyone had different and amazing stories (many with a strain of animalism that was fascinating), and everyone really listened, hungry for useful criticism. Even better, the comments were all pretty deep and thoughtful. As for my stupid pages, it kinda started out like I said, with me pontificating. But then I reminded myself to shut up and listen, and I found out about some very clear missteps in my first paragraph that implied my main character was younger than he is. A few Schmoozers had a global idea that, while interesting, doesn’t really work given the nature of the book. Still in all, it was a great and revealing night, and everyone there seemed to find it as much fun as I did.

February 21, 2015---3:00 PM

Just got back from a bike ride and somewhere along Mulholland I realized that the Schmoozer’s global idea was actually terrific and solves some of my structural problems. It doesn’t quite work the way they suggested it, but with a bit of tweaking, it’s freaking brilliant! I don’t know why I thought I was burned out on SCBWI. It’s awesome! 

February 21, 2015—3:37 PM

Ugh! I am so burned out on SCBWI! While I was in the shower, Karol left a message asking if I’d take the lead on this month’s blog (since she’s taken the lead on the last two and she’s busy setting up the panel for next month’s Schmooze).  I mean—I love going, I love leading it and I love talking. But why do I have to have responsibilities? And anyway, what’d she do for last month's blog? Just got a lot of people to write in what they thought.  Of course, that required effort too, with emailing and such. Hmm, how can I get out of this…?

Ha!  I know!! I’ll just publish this stupid journal, unedited! And then, at the end invite everyone to tell about their experiences at their own tables in the “Comments” section!  Problem solved! 

Oh, I am good!!  Now it’s off to revise my book, which I’m oddly excited to do—gotta love SCBWI!

 ...There you have it Schmoozers - a scary look into the tortured (yet somehow lovable) mind of one of your "fearful" leaders.

We have an AMAZING Schmooze planned for March 11:

What To Expect When You’re Expecting (A Best-Selling Book To Magically Appear on Bookstore Shelves/eReaders)

             -- A panel of first time authors will take us through the various steps in the publication process, from receiving an offer through the book’s release.

Seriously, you do NOT want to miss this one...or ANY one, really.

Until the, keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol