ROFL

Okay, truthfully I've never used that acronym but it totally fits my thoughts today!

Last night was critique group night. That coveted night of all nights, I smile a lot on critique group nights! And last night we were dying! There was so much more than smiling going on! 

Keli over at Keli Wright's Open-Faced Sandwich wrote about it and it got me thinking about how good it is to laugh! 

I haven't done a lot of reading at critique group lately because I'm working on a rough draft of a new book. But for some reason everyone had been kinda dead on the writing front. (It happens!) 

Well, I was not going to let my coveted evening run short! So, I pulled out a couple pages that at least resembled the intended storyline. I apologized, emailed, apologized again, and then read. 

After the first couple mistakes, we giggled, but as we went on some of the mistakes were so ill placed or took on such a different context than they were intended to be, that we were full out belly laughing in the back of the yogurt shop we were meeting in. It was amazing!

I think part of my willingness to laugh had to do with the fact that it was such a raw story. When you've worked tirelessly for months pouring your heart and soul into a story, it's painful even to show it to a close friend. Much less send it out to be critiqued and torn apart! (Even if they are still close friends :) ) But at this stage we simply laughed. 

We knew there would be changes, we knew the story would change, maybe even dramatically, so for now, we let it clean through our perfectionist souls and we simply relaxed and enjoyed the beginnings of writing that so many stories take! 

In fact I woke up today feeling better than I have in ages! I'm not saying I'll make a regular habit of this but it was sure a great night!