Still critiquing

mood: getting tired
music: Holst, The Planets
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I'm currently on the third-to-last critique of the ten I had to do for the workshop tomorrow. They are getting easier, which has me somewhat worried. Am I slipping into the well-remembered "BS" mode from university, churning out erudite-sounding paragraphs with little or no substance to them? I hope not. I was really trying to offer comments that would be helpful.

Once I finish those, I really want to have another look at the story I'm taking with me tomorrow. Not sure how "finished" they are supposed to be (mine won't be for a long time yet, regardless), but I've had some more ideas I want to work in/play around with. The page limit is stifling some of what I want to do with the story; once I'm finished with it for workshop purposes it will expand a little more. I still like the story, however, which is good. No doubt I will fall out of love with it soon enough.

I found this an extremely interesting article about the "dumbing-down" of works of children's literature: ABRIDGED TOO FAR by Hilary Flower: There is a happy-face, Disney-esque conspiracy to rob the classics of children's lit of their drama, their passion, and their soul.. Find it at http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2004/03/29/willows/index_np.html. If you don't subscribe to Salon.com, you can choose to watch a short ad and read it on a "day pass." Worth it, I thought, especially for those of us with young children. While I think there's a place for well-done abridgements that stay true to the original works as far as possible, apparently there's an entire other class of them that I was not even aware of...