hey Val, sounds like your son provided you with a valuable contribution in his feedback. I'm laughing now because I love first-person narrative and first-person present tense hahaha. I have been in exactly that situation where I have had to rewrite an entire piece because the tense came back to bite me in the proverbial. I have only been writing actively and regularly for the past two years and then have pretty much stuck to short stories and poetry on Hive with a bit of creative non-fiction thrown in every now and then, and whatever monthly challenge Dreemport is running with one of the niche communities. I have always loved writing though so getting stuck in and trying to develop and improve my writing, mostly through writing in The Ink Well and getting great feedback from the Admins there and from fellow writers who took the time to care. The stuff I write is on my Hive blog. I may write something longer one day... we'll see. I've written a couple of short story serial fiction pieces in Scholar and Scribe community too... I have one that I still need to finish! I like being challenged to write something different too.
I know it can be hectic digging through someone's blog so here are a few of mine if you fancy picking something that looks interesting to you... I need to catch up on some blogs this weekend so I'll pop by yours again too!
My latest post... A Creative Non-Fiction
My Dance Card is Full
A narrative short story:
One with dialogue (lol):
Dreaming in Colour
Here's a poem...
The Enemy Within
And a discursive essay:
Apathy: A frailty of the Human Condition
And the serial short story I need to finish... Parts 1 and 2 are published...
The Threads That Bind
Sam, great to hear about your work. After my first experience of having to rewrite 15 chapters I haven't ventured back into first person. Well, that's not quite true. I did try one story but quickly found that it changed my mental process and interfered with my primary writing work. I decided that I didn't want to conflict my creative process. It's not that I dislike first person, I find it to be a very interesting and it does allow you to explore character perspectives in a different way than third person does.
I will definitely check out your work in the next few days. Right now we are in Philippines with family as I work on my next novel, which involves a para military mission on Mindanao. I would rather spend more quiet time with our children here, but when you are in an area, all of the extended family wants to come visit. That means it might take me a few days to get enough time to read your stuff. Thanks again!! I really appreciate talking to you.