Critiques

slhuang said:

Sounds like we're actually all on the same page about the grammar/punctuation/spelling thing! When you first mentioned not minding fixing people's grammar mistakes, I was envisioning the sort of submit that *is,* well, tangled and unreadable, whereas it sounds like you were envisioning a few typos, heh. I don't mind the occasional trip up either, especially when people are receptive to their critiquers (as you and eqb have said).

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Agreed. I should have been clearer on my definition of acceptable levels.
Re-reading my post, it sounds like if it's even close to literate I have no issue with it.

OMG. I stumbled across this thread by chance and I have never been more self-conscious about my writing than I am now.

When I post here, I welcome any clarification I can get, even if it goes off topic. I figure I'd be knocking out several birds with one stone. It also makes me aware of certain things I need to work on and I appreciate any feedback I can get. There's no harm in somebody pointing out typos, superfluous words or clunky dialogue when in reality you're looking for feedback on adverbs. Sure, it can get irritating because it might seem nit picky, but we are writers after all. Why not strive to be the best that we can be?

When I crit, I tend to keep it short. I mainly give my reaction to the work because to do anything else would imply that I'm more experienced, which obviously I am not. Often I think that I'm nobody to be pointing out people's writing faux pas because my own work is riddle with them. I leave line by lines for those who have a better grasp of the technical stuff.

I cringe at the thought of having my work beta'd. The time will come and I'll hate it, but at the end I'll be a better writer for it.

So to all you betas and crits: thank you. You're all appreciated.