Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Youwriteon

Hi

I am finally finished (I think) with the draftsman (who I was lead to believe was an architect). My husband and I would ask him to changes things that weren't working. We would email him a numbered list as well. The next time we'd meet he had done only half the changes and would say he'd forgotten to do the rest. So then there were 5 changes yet to be done and something else would come to light and there would be another 4 or 5. Then the next time we'd meet we would have to pour over the changes and make sure they'd been done. And there was always some that hadn't been done and it went on like this for months. I wanted to rant and rave but somehow controlled my temper when we'd meet this guy from hell.

We have asked 3 builders to quote and one of them who happens to be an architect has pointed out some problems (why am I surprised?). So it looks like we'll have to get him to fix them. I couldn't stand to go back to the guy from hell. We are yet to find out what the other builders think of the plans and their quotes.

On the writing front, I decided a few months ago, to pull my Stephanie story from youwrite and resubmit a newer version. Big mistake. This new version got a lower star rating as the first 2 people who reviewed it: one didn't like that genre, another was a retired university professor and was obviously judging my work as literary novel (which is not the intention). My rating has gone up a little since then and I'm currently at 3.5 stars.

Also, as I received reviews from my intial post, I took on board any suggestions and edited my story with them in mind. This was why I couldn't understand my points getting lower and lower. When I reposted my story and received lower points again, I emailed my first version and the latest version to Victoria, my writing friend for her comments. Now this surprised me, but she liked the first version as it flowed well. The later version didn't flow well and it jumped around a bit. I went back and changed the version I posted last on youwriteon. My reviews are getting better but I have to watch my punctuation as I'm liable to overlook commas and speech marks. It doesn't matter how much I labour over my writing, I still seem to miss these things.

I've had to vote today for the Saturday council elections as I'm going away for the weekend. I didn't know who I should vote for, and decided on the spot as I filled in the voting form.

I will be seeing my daughter and son-in-law. She's having a baby and it's due in 9 weeks.

I am planning to be an "overnight" success with my Stephanie story within in the next year as other writers from the youwriteon web site have been signed up by an agent.