Friday, November 16, 2007

What to submit?

I'm taking the train to New York this weekend for some pre-Thanksgiving
friends and family parties. I want to bring printouts of the two
stories I need to revise for my MFA residency so I can read them over
and take notes. This, of course, begs the question: which stories
should I revise??

I wrote three this semester. One that I definitely plan on revising needs a good deal of work--especially in terms of that oldie but goodie
of "show don't tell." One of the other stories I'm pretty happy
with--it needs some revision, but it's definitely on its way to being
done. I haven't received comments from my mentor on the third story
yet, but I am assuming it will need more work.

So what I'm wondering is: do people submit
stuff to workshop that they know needs a lot of work and will therefore
be ripped apart (in a supportive way--one hopes!)? Or do you submit
stuff that you're pretty happy with to see if others feel it's "done"
too (and maybe, just maybe, to get a bit more praise than you would
otherwise)? Best Blogger Tips

4 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

I'd go for the piece you're relatively happy with cos you already know the other needs work anyway. Make sense? It does me, but then I'm not known for logical thought - ask my husband!
Have fun in NY.

Anonymous said...

I find that no matter how "done" you think something is, there's always more to change. I'd bring that one and see the reaction you get.

January said...

Go with the piece you feel most comfortable with, and keep working on the one that needs revision.

Good luck. Hope you had a nice visit with your family.

Writer Bug said...

Thanks. I was actually leaning the other way, but y'all have convinced me!