Writing Groups-Good or Bad?

Good day fellow bloggers-

It seems as if I've been a part of writing groups all of my life when in actuality, it's only been six months. Why am I bringing this up? Well, to fellow inspiring writers, I wanted to encourage you to join a "serious" writing group when you have something you want to submit to the publishing world.

The good part of honest critique should be common sense. It helps. You will learn. I guarantee it. There are so many little things to accomplish for a piece to "work". Having other unbiased input is crucial. We all need help in determining what works and what doesn't with whatever we're working on. That doesn't mean that the writer must agree with every crit, but it often sparks new ideas and a different approach just might be needed. The past six months have been very instrumental to improving my writing skills, I think better than any writing class could accomplish. And the best part is the writing groups I participate in are free!

Okay for the down side. Thick skin. Gotta have it. The critiques normally aren't pretty, especially for newbie writers like myself. The first crits I had on a story were, how shall I say it? Harsh? Terrible? Crushing? Or somewhere in between? I felt many emotions, but bottom line, they were helpful and necessary for improvement. It was a reality check. I needed to work much harder than I thought I would. But, am I better for it? You bet. I received so much helpful feedback, it was amazing. And of course I still am.

So today's tip? Get your work out there! I know, I know...it's tough. It gets personal. What? Personal? I thought writers weren't supposed to take these things personally? Well, guess what writers are sensitive souls. We do take a harsh crit to heart, but with time and experience, we do adjust and we do learn. And then the coolest thing happens, you start to help other people with their writing as well! Now, that is fun. ;) It's interesting that we can find so many other flaws in other writer's work when our own looks just fine. This is why critique is necessary.

Well, I hope I have encouraged the nervous writer out there to submit one of their works to a writing group out there and haven't scared anyone instead. Oh and one more thing, find a strong, supportive, honest critique group. Keep an eye on the posts for awhile (most require crits first anyway) before posting so that you can get a feel for the experience and the type of crits being offered. You'll know whether it's for you or not. I belong to four but only two am I very active with, depending upon the type of project I'm working on.

There are different writing groups depending upon the writing project you are working on so make sure that the group will review and crit the type of work you need assistance with.

Go ahead, try it! Need help? Just email me.

Happy Writing!