I have to fly really, REALLY blind on a lot of things. A lot of my articles for EMG-Zine and the stories I post are because there's a deadline and no one else has provided anything. One of the downsides of frequently being my own editor? I am often - SO often - not really sure if what I'm printing is quality. I lose perspective, writing it myself and usually to a next-day deadline, and I sometimes doubt that the people I work with feel comfortable enough to tell me when something is lame. (I hope they do, I really do!) The feedback I get afterward is as rare as flowers in February, and most of the places I post don't really invite or encourage critical response.
So, it's been a little nice having a canon board to quality-control things at Torn World and nitpick on my work, too. I can't even see who votes, so it's all nicely anonymous for scoring, though comments right now are public to the board.
And today, for the first time, I got a perfect score on something! We're all pretty darn stingy with our +2 grades, and I've gotten one before, but never had three people agree on it. Not on any art OR writing. And today? The edits I did for "Spilled," which is the piece you guys selected for my generally funded piece from the last Muse Fusion, got approved with three +2s!!
I am so, so stoked. It will go to print later this week - probably Friday, as there are plot-moving things in the queue ahead of it.
I am actually a little grateful for the hackers now. I mean, they are rat bastards who ought to be pulled apart by their fingernails and I'm furious that they did what they did and still horribly guilt-feeling that they got the information that they did... but their timing was about as good as it could be. They did all this BEFORE I got hip-deep in the new site, BEFORE I started launching individual sites en mass. If I'd found out about them even a few weeks later, I would have had a LOT more to do, and would have been doing things much less smartly than I am. As far as things like this go? It worked out about as well as I could possibly ask.
Someone's looking out for me, it sometimes feels like...
Now, more programming, and maybe a Farscape with lunch.
Love!
