Steam and Criticism, now there's a combination!

I had a lot of fun writing a steamy scene (and sharing some of it with my writer friends) yesterday. I haven't written very many sex scenes over the years and the one's I did write read like 70's and 80's romance novels. Probably because what I knew about sex mostly came from said novels. So it was all "throbbing manhoods" and  "inner folds" and other bad, bad things. And not in the good way. But this time, things are turning out good, or should i say hot. I'm having a blast turning up the thermostat, but it isn't hard when this is your incubus. 

I decided I'd like "Performance Machine" to be around 10,000 words, and it seems to be obliging. I'm not super concerned with length as it is a short story, it's done when the story is told. And I will warn you end-peekers out there that it does not have a happy ending, because it can't. But it is still fun and will have everything everyone wants: hot, steamy sex scene, intense action, some violence and many other thrills. 

Meanwhile, the edits on Nature Lovers is ongoing. Discovered AutoCrit, software that evaluates your writing for you. I don't agree with many of it's tags, but I can see it coming in handy. I fall in love with words and I use them. A lot. Definitely comical. And those are just a few that have been pointed out to me over the years! Some of the words I tended to overuse surprised me, but some of the words it said I over used I have no idea how to get around. "It" was overused 17 times, according to it (lol) and I haven't a clue how to word things different. 

Yesterday's spectacular implosion by Jacqueline Howett brought up the topic of how to deal with criticism. I've seen some of my friends from the writing group get upset by critiques in the past. I wonder if I'm luckier or worse off than them because that's not how I react to criticism. I'm prepared to take the ax to my own work. I'm proud of my writing, but completely prepared to chop it to smithereens if that's what's necessary. Perhaps when it's all said and done I will feel more of an attachment to my work, but my critique partner gave me an in-depth analysis of what was wrong with my manuscript which, when pasted into Microsoft, was two pages worth of problems to fix and it only covered the second half. And I thought "That's it?" Then I turned around and emailed her, telling this was exactly what I wanted and like little Oliver Twist asked for more. Am I a glutton for punishment or am I so insecure about my writing I expect problems? I don't know the answer to that. And perhaps it's not too bad an attitude to have if it prevents me from curling up in the fetal position nursing a bottle of Captain and telling anyone who might further my career to f*** off because of a bad review.

And now I will be an absentee author today because I'm going to go see Cats with my Mom. Don't worry, I won't go backstage. I've seen Team America... Oh and I have re-edited yesterdays post to include Michelle Ferguson's book cover for those interested.