Taking on to much

Last night I was up till just a little before one in the morning painting. So far the painting I'm working on is terning out wonderful, If I could find my camera I would add a photo of it. I was a bad artist and neglected it for far to long, But I know why. I just didn't like the way it was going, and I had other things to work on. I have my book, Helix, and two books I was critiquing, (down to one, I finished what I was given for one.), a sick husband the past few days, and three sons to care for. To say the least my hands are full, to tell the truth I love it. I love my family, taking care of them is important to me. My husband understands at the same time I need to paint and write, it is part of who I am. Getting to critique and being critiqued I like a lot. To help some one polish there own work so they can put out the best book they can makes me feel good, and to get that in return helps me look at my words with new eyes. I have taken on to much, but I wouldn't be me If I hadn't. warning to others, watch how much you take on, don't let your side project get in the way of what is important. Be it family or your work, everything you do is important in one way or another. Sorry this post is so short, but I have somewhere to be with the boys. Plus there is still plenty of day left to blog. Talk to you all soon :)

To do or not to do? That is my question.

So I have posted my first draft prologue and my first draft first chapter. The thing is my critiquer said my prologue isn't needed, the first part of my first chapter dose the work for the prologue. On the other hand my sister and one of my best friends think its awesome and want to read more. Now I stand at a cross rode, do I keep my prologue and move forward with my book, or do I make it into a short story for something else and move forward with my book. I don't know what to do. I like my prologue and if I don't use it for my book then I want to use it for something. my prologue is in posts: part one is in Information overload/ Nuclear war and then Prologue part 2. Terns out I didn't post my first chapter, funny. I have lots to think about, I guess we will see how it terns out. Here is the first part of my first chapter (first draft). This snippet should do.

chapter one

My name is Sora, named after one of my family, I was 
born the day the doors opened. So my birthday goes 
unnoticed every year, which is fine with me. I never 
have understood birthday celebrations, it's only the 
passing of another year. Besides age is nothing but 
a number, its what is in your heart and mind. You 
can be 45 and still be just like a child. How you 
carry yourself, the way you think, the path in life 
you choose, everything you say and do, we are our a
ctions not our age. Like my dear uncle Rasputin, he 
throws fits like a child. This year I turn nineteen, 
no mater what happens I know I have a job to do. 
Take my father's place and lead our kind into battle 
for the future of all. Most start there training 
when finished with school, but my uncle has kept me a
way from it all “for the memory of your father” he 
keeps saying. So when I take over I'll only have a 
short time to train with the others. None of them 
think I can do the job, mainly because I've never 
trained with them. What not a single one of them 
knows is, I have a special place no one else knows 
about, my very own oasis I spend all my spare time 
in.
   This week is the festival that is thrown every 
year in celebration of the day the door opened, 
the day our thousand year imprisonment underground 
ended. Let me explain how we got here, how the 
human race ran deep in the earth from our own 
mistakes, from the destruction we knew we would 
do. How human kind changed on the genetic level, 
and why we now have yet another war coming. Can 
human kind live without war or violence? Will we 
ever find peace and happiness, or one day destroy 
everyone and everything on this planet. We almost 
did over a thousand years ago, why not again. I 
intend to make sure it never happens.
   You see in 2009 some very wealthy people in 
congress and the white house got together and 
decided a nuclear war was coming, and that they 
would be the first to strike. The U.S. army struck 
the first blow 9-11-12, an anniversary of a 
terrorist strike against the U.S. The first nuclear 
bomb launched only 13 days later. It was only a 
matter of time with the way the world was going. 
Greedy government types taking all they can while 
homeless people fight for food, sleep in boxes and 
die from simple sickness out in the cold. Fat 
slobs watching this thing called television 
stuffing their faces with who knows what, men 
beating their wives, children dying in the 
streets. That is the world we left behind, the 
world that destroyed its self.
  With the help of engineers and scientists the 
U.S. built massive underground cities. Every 
city had a main square with shops, restaurants, 
game stores, playgrounds and a park with trees, 
flowers and a pond. we could grow trees and 
flowers and food because we have artificial 
sunlight. We have a public library stocked with 
thousands of books. I spend a lot of time there. 
Off from that in equal rooms like the square is 
ample lodging not only for the people locked 
away, but for the ones to be born. The doors 
closed early in 2012, months before the war began.

Critiquing

So as a new author writing my first book I had never bin critiqued, and had never critiqued someone else. Now I find its another part of the writing process I like a lot.
The more I write and the more I talk to other writers, getting feed back from two of them, I know this is what I want to do.
I have only critiqued one time, I'm still working on it. It is a lot like reading any other time, only you get to tell the author what you think. Say "this confused me" or "I really liked this part", and "this could be better if you...". I didn't think I could do it at first. How could I tell someone I didn't like what they did here, or this doesn't sound right. I felt like that wasn't me. When I got to doing it, I realized I could and I liked it. The book I am critiquing right now is very good, I'm enjoying working with the author. our dialogue is helpful to me, she is going to critique for me as well. I feel having more then one opinion will be good for me. but just two maybe three people will work for me. different people will have different ideas and thoughts, so I get more insight.
My first two chapters have bin critiqued by one person, and I'm waiting for the other to be done going over it. The feed back I got from the first person really helped me see my words from a different perspective. Not as the author but as a reader. Parts I was unsure about, dose this fit here or this doesn't sound quite right, and hearing what she thought of those parts made it clear for me. some need to go, some need to change, and some are perfect. To hear that I capture the reader in the first sentence amazed me, made me feel confident. I didn't work on my book for over a week because nothing came to mind, with the first for chapters done and not being shore about them I couldn't move forward. Now I can't wait to work on it, but I have to. I want to wait for my other critique partner to finish, then with both of there ideas I can make my book even better.
I am happy I started writing this book, I had waited long enough. Now with a better idea of how to go about writing certain parts I look at my book with possibilities. I think critiquing in a wonderful thing, helping the author to move forward with there work, to see it in a new light. thank you to my two wonderful critiquing partners!