It is wise, I have learned, not to seek advice unless you are prepared to listen to the answer.

In Stephen King’s excellent biog/writer’s manual “On Writing” he advocates the writing of first drafts with the door closed. In essence at this stage you are, as the writer, telling yourself the story. Next you slap the manuscript in a draw for a short while, enough time to gaze on it with fresh eyes, and then you go back to fix all your clangers. Finally you show it to your test reader.

I have, until today, followed this method religiously and as a result have received the “Wow” reaction (a reaction so cool it should come with its own dry ice machine) on exactly three occasions. Admittedly from three different people for three different pieces.

In the spirit of trying new things and having tried to bring the text a little more to life I allowed/demanded G read a first draft. It was a short story called “Wide Open Space”.

She did not say Wow.

That is not to say it was not useful, it was. I got some great feedback and I’m going to try to fix some of those clangers in a few days when I’ve rested the story a bit.

But ultimately, and particularly with a short story, you can only have someone read it for the first time once. You have exactly one shot per story per reader to get the moment of glory.

So don’t ignore the advice of wise men, especially bestselling ones, they didn’t get that way by accident. They grafted, they learnt and in some special cases they’re willing to pass on what they learned.

If you’ll listen.

I’m off to work on “The Last Plank” now. The door will be closed until I’ve got that baby planed down smooth. Ta Ta for now.