Four things

[mrissa]

1. Happy Father's Day to those who celebrate it today. My dad rocks, in case you didn't know. So does my grandpa. I even have a good memory of my great-grandpa, who died when I was three. (He had this wonderful laugh, and he was always so glad to see me -- me, not just some random small person.) I also have good uncles, godfathers, cousins, and other paternal and avuncular figures of various sorts. I'm very lucky, and I know it.

markgritter and I are having dinner with my folks tonight for Dad's birthday and Father's Day. There will be cake. Nachos have been predicted, with a chance of enchiladas later in the evening.

2. I am trying to catch up on e-mail and lj comments, but I'm still limited in upright time, still dizzy. If I don't get back to you right away, it's not you, it's me.

3. I thought people knew this, but then I found out otherwise, to my dismay: if you agree to critique a piece of fiction for me, please try to critique the book, not the person. That goes for personal stuff that's intended to be nice, too -- I would far rather hear, "This book sucks," than, "This book sucks, but I'm sure your hair smells nice." Or, "This book sucks, but it shows that you're a very moral person." Or, "This book sucks, but I know you've been sick." I think this is a good general ground-rule for critiquing unless you've heard otherwise from the person, but it's certainly what I prefer for critiques of my stuff. Not everybody works well together in any field; certainly not everybody critiques well together. And that's okay -- doesn't mean you can't be friends with someone if you have different work preferences. Just means you should steer clear of those situations. So I'm trying to steer, and the direction I'm steering is away from critiques that go personal.

4. It's a good thing we have a nice couch, because I just can't imagine how sick of this couch I would be if I didn't like it to begin with.

Comments

[loup_noir]

The last two weeks have been hectic beyond belief and thus I have not even started reading for you yet. If this will cause scheduling problems, let me know. This coming week (due to forecasted winds and lousy weather) should be a good week for me to read and catch up on desk work.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No problem, but do drop me a line when you're about to start, in case there are changes by then. (Unless you are a printer-out of manuscripts and have already printed it, in which case go ahead with the copy you've got.)