Draft Sharing

A friend of mine, (Ami, not her real name) who also participated in NaNoWriMo this year, sent me a text the other night. A friend of hers from college had requested to read what Ami had written in November. While Ami was slightly hesitant to send the piece, she plucked up her courage and sent it over to her ami, er, friend. (I'm cracking myself up here...)

In response to having read the piece, Ami received the following reply:

I'm at Christmas when the mom is away and it nearly made me cry. The imagery is great, sparked something in my mind. Ami I'm completely serious. THIS IS PUBLISHABLE. I wouldn't say this to you if I didn't really believe it.

The text made me a million times happy, and it wasn't even my work that had been read. I'll be curious to see when and if Ami pursues publication. (I hope she does.)

The things I like about this scenario, and the reason I'm posting about it, are these:

1. Ami overcame the fire in her gut that urged her to resist giving her piece to her friend. It's difficult to share your work with anyone, because we fear rejection, even from friends. But she did it!
2. Ami's first draft included imagery! I'm not sure I have any imagery in my first drafts; I just don't work that way. I get the words down and go back to finesse the piece and my images and sensory details don't quite make into that first draft. So good on her, as they say.
3. The path to publication can be a long one, but Ami already has one reader on her side, and that, my friends, is the most important thing. Can you connect to the reader? It looks like Ami already has.

I can only hope that Ami will share her draft with me some day because of course, I'd be honored to read it.