Nothing keens my writing axe more than knowing I’m about to read it out loud to a bunch of other writers. That one of them is Mark Clements definitely helps. And it is especially true when I’m doing something odd like tDoPB. Which I’m keeping a bit of a secret right now because I’m still not sure I’m going to be able to pull it off.

That’s why I did the temporary podcast of FlameWar. Not too many people listened to it, but those who did mattered. It made me paranoidally aware of every error. I even got some feedback, although that wasn’t the purpose.

Reading with an impending reading in mind makes a huge difference.

Even when the reading is at 2 am. Mark Clements runs a late-night read-and-critique that’s possibly the best read-and-critique I’ve taken part in. The other sessions are all limited by time; this one is not: we go until we have nothing left to say and then Mark wraps it up and we move to the next reading.

A couple of quotes from today’s sessions:

Warren Lewis:

My resume says I lecture frequently. Unfortunately I usually do it at home alone in the bathtub.

An attentive poet does with words what snipers do with bullets… but there’s less paperwork involved.

Raymond Feist:

I love books. I stopped tearing the pages out of books when I was two. I stopped eating them when I was three.