Taking It Up a Notch

I think it was a good thing I'd posted my "positive thinking" blog right before I went to the writer's conference and had a critique on my work-in-progress. The agent said some really good things about style and voice and characterization--right before she told me (in no uncertain terms) my plot basically wouldn't work! At first I was a bit put out but then I took my own advice and let it kick my b--- into high gear. Can I just say I LOVE what's happening in my story now? This is what an editor or agent does best. She gets a writer to take his/her writing to the next level. The agent, Jennifer Rofe from Andrea Brown Literary Agency, didn't give me any specific advice. It was more the authority and expertise she brought to the conference that let me know that if she said it wouldn't work, it really wouldn't work. Back to the drawing board! My friend with the crazy creative brain and I bounced ideas back and forth that night until we were both really excited about the whole new direction the plot would take. I spent the week after conference hashing out the details, at least up to a point. I really like to leave some open ends and see what the characters want to happen. As long as they know where they need to end up, I let them have some leeway: ) This might be a job at times--and it definitely is--but it sure is a job I love!