The best and the worst Rebecca Scarberry ever did—as a writer

Rebecca Scarberry is a writer, blogger and book reviewer. She has great taste in short stories (she liked “Dark Clouds”). And she’s a prodigious writer. I don’t know how she finds time for all the writing that she does!

Her story, “Rag Doll,” is a great introduction to a novel she’ll have to get around to writing one day. And “Messages from Henry,” a novella that she had the guts to develop very publicly on her blog, scarberryFieldsForever, uses a unique plot technique.
I asked Rebecca to continue the series “the best and the worst I have done—as a writer.” I have also written a guest post on her blog. Check it out after you read Rebecca’s candid words below.


The best and the worst I have done

I would have to say the best thing I have done as a writer is write my short Christmas story for author Bob Brook’s blog. That story gave my followers on Twitter some insight as to my kindness and struggles. It revealed the fact that at one time I was very poor. It also raised a lot of questions such as, why would I spent three months in a garage, cooking on a campfire and live without a place to bathe. Well, the answer is going to remain a secret. It was a very rough stage of my life, but I have to say it was all worth it. My husband and I both went back to Oregon much happier than when we left.

I have had so many people tell me that the story brought tears to their eyes and it is the true meaning of Christmas. I will never forget those little girls. I cried so hard when my husband told me about their sweet little faces, looking up at him and telling him Merry Christmas. I can never tell anybody that story without crying and when I wrote it for Bob’s blog, I cried when I got to the end.

I have many true heartbreaking stories such as my Christmas story and I put most of them in my first novel. This is one reason I have shelved that novel. It was hard enough writing it, let alone finishing it with an edit.

The biggest mistake I made as a writer is not joining a writers’ critique group once I finished my first novel. I had the first two chapters of that novel edited by a professional, and he was very honest. It would have been kinder of him to tell me to immediately join a writers’ critique group than to do what he did. He didn’t like anything about my first two chapters. I read the email from him aloud to my husband, Rick. When I finished reading what the editor had to say, I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m not sure if I laughed for fear of crying, or if it was the look on Rick’s face that made me laugh. Rick’s response was, “Well, at least he didn’t charge you to edit those chapters.” Of course, this made me laugh even harder.

Once I made the corrections the editor suggested, I thought long and hard about joining a writers’ critique group. There is one only 30 minutes from my mountain home. I decided against it because I am very shy and have a strong fear of reading aloud in front of groups of strangers.

The reason for this fear might seem funny to you, but it’s not to me. My fear of speaking in front of five or more people began when I was in the seventh grade. I was going to have to read one of my book reports aloud in front of my English class, so I asked my mom if I could wear nylons to school the next day. I hate to admit it, but this was before pantyhose were sold. My mom searched and searched for the smallest pair of nylons she owned. She gave me elastic garters to hold them up. I was very tiny and they didn’t seem tight enough, but I was determined to look nice.

When I started reading my book report in front of my class, I got nervous and began to fidget. The nylons slowly slipped down to my knees and one of the boys sitting in the front row started laughing. Before I knew it, everybody was laughing at me. I ran out of the classroom, went home and cried.
I know in my heart that I would benefit from a critique group at this point in my writing career. I would have to have one of the others in the group read aloud for me, but I have heard this is not out of the ordinary. I’m interested in knowing what all of you think of critique groups.
Very candid, Rebecca! Thanks very much. Readers, let us know about your experience with critique groups, writing circles and beta readers in the Comments section.
Now, check out scarberryFieldsForever!