I'm a Glutton for Punishment, I Am

The other day I got something I had given up hope on ever receiving again: feedback on In a Cabin in the Woods! My friend iamam was finally able to make time to get my vanity project read and critiqued. The thing that interested me the most about her comments (apart from the voluminous praise she heaped upon me) was that she singled out the Nature Boy story as the weakest one. Why is that interesting? Because now, all five stories in In a Cabin have been singled out by one person or another as the "weakest" one. That just fascinates me, especially since just about every story has also been singled out as at least one person's favorite. What's the lesson here? Probably that deciding to interconnect stories of different genres and styles, attempting to make them a cohesive whole might not be the best way to introduce characters and concepts.

Anyway, getting the email from iamam has made me think about returning to In a Cabin; I think enough time has gone by for me to be able to return to it and recognize more of its flaws than when everything was still fresh. Although, taking into consideration the varied reactions to it, I have to wonder if I might not just be better off severing the different story threads from each other and expanding each into its own, standalone work. Of course, doing that would require much more writing than I've felt up to doing recently; the one good thing about the first pass at Cabin was the self-imposed deadline kept me focused.

So, here's a chance for more feedback from the loyal blog monkeys who actually read In a Cabin; if you would take a few minutes and fill out this survey it would be very helpful to me. Plus, it's totally anonymous, so those of you who want to crush my soul but not have to deal with the repurcusions, rejoice! The survey will only be active for a month, so those of you who have suddenly been jolted into remembering that yes, you did receive a copy and yes, you did plan to read it, better get hopping.