I just met with my critique group last night. It was such an amazing session, that I felt drawn to share a few highlights with you.

But first, what is a critique group? A critique group can have many variations, but essentially, it’s a group of writers who get together to read each other’s work and share feedback. It can be an invaluable way to get multiple viewpoints on your work before submitting it to an agent for publication or to simply make it better.

I have been a part of three different critique groups. It’s best to have writers in the group that write in your genre. The one I met with last night was just for picture books. The other two I have been a part of have been for middle grade and young adult.

So, what made last night’s session so awesome?

1. We had several new members. New perspectives and tastes in books really help writers branch out and look at their work from different angles.
2. Next, those new members were not shy about sharing their feedback. Of course, every writer loves to hear that their work is good. But that’s not helpful. We want to hear specific suggestions for improvement. That’s exactly what everyone did last night. I walked away with a list of specific areas to address in my writing, from point of view to conflict to pacing. That is so, so valuable as I move forward with my next round of revisions.
3. Our facilitator kindly kept everyone on task. We had an hour and a half to go through introductions and review three manuscripts. It was time well spent.
4. I was able to be part of other writers’ journeys. It was so interesting to hear the backstory to the story. How did the author come up with the ideas? Why is it important for them to share their story? What do they want readers to take away? One author wrote about using a donor egg to conceive her now seven-year-old son. Another wrote an informative, fictional story about the differences between alligators and crocodiles. I wrote about our quirky tradition of Christmas in July. Everything was so different, but the process is the same.
5. This final one is my favorite. It’s the relationships that you build with other authors that makes critique groups so special. Writing can be a lonely line of work. Collaborating with other authors, who are doing the same type of writing as you, is really refreshing.

If you are on a writing journey yourself, and don’t have a critique group, please reach out to me. I can help guide you in the right direction for your genre. Critique groups are so helpful, no matter what stage of the writing process you are in.

Until next time, Happy Reading!