Hello,
Well, thank you all for your comments. I did forget to mention that I also belong to Lake County Writers Group which is a critique group that meets once a month. The group is growing and we meet from 11-4.
Like I said before, belonging to a group is so important for writers. They give you inspiration as well as some frustration, but what’s a writer without frustration. Getting that right word is so important. Also, the write sentence, paragraph and chapter!
Well critique groups can help with this. Since most of us won’t make a fortune at our writing, we can’t afford to pay someone just yet to edit. So that’s where critique groups come in.
They are a way of getting some input into your work, whether it be a first draft or what you think is your final draft (which of course turns out not to be the case).
I started my arson novel back in 1989. No, it’s not published yet. I’m still editing it! It’s my first adult novel and I refuse to give up on it. I changed it a bit, so this latest “version” is more with a heroine, instead of her arson investigator husband being the hero.
I belonged to an on-line critique group through the Univ. of Penn. while in Baja, and until I lost my internet, was a great group. However, you must be careful that you don’t start critiquing more than writing, which was happening to me. I felt the more I critiqued someone’s work, the more they would critique mine. That turned out not to be totally true. Therefore I spent more time critiquing others, than actually writing on my own. I did learn a lot through that group and am thinking about joining it again, but will definitely limit my critiquing.
I feel the saying for critiquing is so true: If one person doesn’t like something of your work, ok, their opinion; if two people don’t like it, take a hard look at it; and if 3 people don’t like it, it’s out of there.
So how do you feel about critique group?
Keep on Writing and above all, Enjoy
