Or new ticks! I'm glad she wasn't able to bug you too much, and that you got in the last and best nip. And how pathetic the benighted fools who consider it sport to knock down others to not feel so small themselves, to bask in the pale flicker of their wasted intellect. EDIT: As for the "critique", I imagine it was a worthwhile exercise despite the tricksy prat. Any piece of writing can be improved, and what better way to challenge on eself than to take on a master. As in tennis, the better the opponent, the more your own game improves.
re your 'edit' cog, if you've ever read 'the highway' [it's available via google], you may have noticed some bits that if bradbury had not been the author, you might take exception to... rb was given to hyperbole and borderline floridity at times, after all... so, yes, i did have fun, though it was hard trying to find things i could question...
I have to admit this whole thing seems rather funny to me.. I mean, come on... anyone who has a working brain knows and understands how valuable maia is.. It's not hard to see that the advice, though blunt, is perfectly sound, logical, and always backed by evidence. I'm not sure what kind of writer I'd be if it wasn't for her love.. Well, actually, that's not true.. I'd be beyond-horrible.. As it stands now, I'm just bad.. ;D But in all seriousness, I'm amazed. Humans cease to amaze me, and I find it hard to stomach the fact that people are so willing to throw punches at those who do the most fucking good. But then again, just because you've been blessed with a brain, doesn't mean it works.
Brains don't work by themselves. They must be tuned, maintained, and retuned, like any fine mechanism. Or they can sit there and rust,