Be One With the Crowd

I finally did it. Despite the clammy palms and nervous sweats that ensue when I hear the words "group meeting" in any context, I finally caved. I went to an Orlando Word Weavers Meeting! This is a serious breakthrough for my anti-social side.

Okay, actually, I'm not as crazy as I'm making myself sound, though the sweating part is essentially true. (Sorry... TMI?) Anyway. So, yes. Word Weavers. Cool stuff. Want to go again. Let's talk about WHY?

Last fall, I volunteered to be the Florida Area Coordinator for ACFW (American Christian Fiction
Writers). This is a fancy title that means I moderate an email loop of FL ACFW members and get my cheer on to start local and regional ACFW meetings. Woo-hoo! Can we say in-over-head? :)

Actually, to be honest, so far it's been a wonderful experience, even if it is a little trial-by-fire at times. C'est la vie, my friends. C'est la vie.

So anyway, the material question here is WHY am I convinced that being a part of local groups is a very good thing for a writer? After all, I'm a member of two online (and extremely helpful!) critique groups. I'm not lacking in helpful input to my writing. I'm a part of a national writers' group, which provides some networking opportunities. So why the press for local meetings?

I can sum it up in one word: Energy. There is nothing like being in a roomful of other writers. You share a common passion-- the love of story-- and a dedication to the pursuit of that passion. It's an energizing experience.

I'm sure the networking is great, too. Everyone knows everyone in this business. But to recognize a name on an email is a little bit different than to know someone and have personally given and received critique from them. So that's another plus.

And while I'm totally blessed to have killer critique partners already, it doesn't mean I am above needing any further critique. Having fresh eyes review a piece is always a good idea. And honestly, I'm looking forward to participating in the giving of feedback as much as receiving it. Not that I think I have so much to offer-- but it's so much fun to read other people's work and see its strengths and wow-- when you have that moment of clarity where you can see an area that can be further strengthened, what an honor it is to be able to help someone out like that. Sweet!

Anyway... I haven't made any huge commitments as of yet to the meeting. Actually, my intent here in this blog was to talk about the wealth of writing groups that are available locally. There are probably more even than this, but check out this list, just for this month and next month:

January
Word Weavers Orlando Meeting
Space Coast Writers' Guild Meeting (Melbourne)
Space Coast Writers' Conference (Cocoa)
Central FL ACFW Writing Workshop (Orlando)

February
Word Weavers Annual Retreat
Word Weavers Orlando Meeting
Space Coast Writers' Meeting (Melbourne)
Florida Christian Writers' Conference (Eustis)

All I can say is WOW!

The Community of Writing

A few days ago, I looked over a synopsis for a friend. She had been feeling like she could not even look at her project any more. No more! I know that feeling. You just feel like if you have to read that scene or synopsis or work on it one more time, you'll throw up or bash your head on the keyboard repeatedly.

It's one of the reasons I'm so glad I have relationships with other writers. Because we all get there. And sometimes we can help each other through it. Fresh eyes are always a good thing.

I had a dream last week about a writers' meeting. I was leading it at a house near where my parents live. It's a house I've dreamed about before, but always in my dream, no one owns it or the owner is not in the house. In this dream, the whole house was filled with people. I recognized some faces. Others were new to me.

I'm not sure what it means, if anything... but I know two things:

One is that I have grown more as a writer in the last year than I did in the previous ten years. Having good partners and mentors has made all that difference for me.

Two is that I want to remember how important mentoring has been in my life as a writer. And at some point, I want to sew into the lives of other young writers.

I just really believe this is a process that benefits from being in a community. I look at the friendship between J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis. There's something invaluable about being able to talk shop with another writer, to bounce ideas off of each other and solve all of the problems in the literary world.

I'm not saying you CAN'T write a book without mentors or critique partners. I'm just saying that iron sharpens iron. Allowing other writers to read your stuff and mentor you sharpens your craft and theirs. Everybody wins. Can't beat that.

On the Journey (Part 2): Finished and Encouraged

So it is finally done. Well, the rough draft, anyway. And a few minutes after I finished last night at 11pm, I noticed that I had received my first chapter back from one of the crit groups! Their comments were REALLY encouraging and helpful. So I feel a lot better about the story than I did this morning. :) There's still hope! Really, I'm awed by the comments left.

I know being a part of a crit group can be intimidating-- your mom might love every line you ever penned (I love my mom!), but a crit group of other writers is a whole different animal. Yet I have experienced the most phenomenal growth due to the exercise of reading, critiquing, and having my own work critiqued. Seriously. If you're into pursuing writing, you've got to try it! And it will force you to keep pressing on, too. It gives you a deadline for having your next chapter finished or edited or whatever.

Anyway, enough of the crit group infomercial! (Just call this number at the bottom of the screen... okay, just kidding.)

Now it's time to knuckle down and get the thing edited... and time to get that proposal put together! Stay tuned for more Wednesday updates on the wild writing ride...

On Writing: "Critical" Thinking (Critique Group Thoughts)

As mentioned in a previous post, I've been a part of a small critique group called Cannot Stop Writers since the fall of last year. The experience has been overwhelmingly positive, and I can't stress enough the many ways in which both my writing and my ability to edit has grown. We're talking leaps and bounds.

But now we come to my latest struggle. I tend to be a bottom-line thinker when it comes to critique. Oh, I'm detail-oriented enough when it comes to the creative process, but drop me into crit-mode, and it's pretty cut and dry, or seems so to me. The problem is: I really don't want to shred someone's work rather than offering helpful suggestions.

So this is me, brainstorming...

First, I think it's important to recognize differences in style. One group member has an incredible way of creating these stark metaphoric pictures to describe her character's internal emotions. Beautiful. And my feeling is that it fits her genre. (I write Young Adult, remember, and tend to be a little more streamlined than some other genres.) So I don't want my critique suggestions to be tampering with her style, unless it's a metaphor that I don't think really works or something.

It's also very important to make notes on what does work. Lines that sparkle, really get you. Yes, it's nice to have that little ego stroke, but that's not the only reason. It's also a big help to know what works, what made someone laugh (which was hopefully intentional!), etc.

This will probably sound like a cheesy "group therapy" line, but that doesn't make it moot-- I believe it's also important to use opinion-oriented statements. "I think..." "It seems to me..." Etc. It helps keep those comments in their place-- as suggestions from other writers. Sometimes I take the suggestions from the critique group. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I make a change, but not the suggested one. I want those whose precious words I am reading to feel that same way. That my suggestions are simply that and no more.

So I guess some of that comes down to humility. Just being humble as a writer and as a critique partner. Being willing to share something and receive feedback, but also stepping out and being willing to offer suggestions, but not as the be-all, end-all critique partner.

Which I suppose means, above all, that I continue to learn...

Write Well With Others: Importance of Critique Groups

Recently I had the amazing pleasure of going to my very first writer's conference. It was a national conference that met in Texas the last weekend of September. I went not knowing what to expect, but full of hope and excitement. One of the top things on my conference wish list was to not only network with other writers, published and unpublished, but to find a few with whom to form a critique group. There are four of us in the group at present, and we are the Cannot Stop Writers!

I felt this way prior to being a part of this group, but I feel it so much moreso now-- if you are serious about writing, you really need to be a part of a critique group. It is infinitely encouraging for a fellow writer to look at a scene you've written and say, "I love this line!" And infinitely helpful when a crit partner says, "I'm confused about this paragraph." Or, "Insert his emotion and thoughts here. I need to know more what he's thinking." (Something I hear a fair amount of these days, though I do believe that even in the last few months I've made improvement. I used to see that comment five or six times a page. Now I'm down to two or three... So I'm getting there.)

It also keeps you writing. You know that every 10 or 12 days, you're up for a submission! Every few days, you've got someone's chapter to critique! You've got to stay on the ball. Stay focused. Stay in the writing mode.

And when you finally are ready for that first submission, you know you've got several pairs of eyes to bounce your proposal off of, to give you feedback on what works, what's weak or unclear, etc. Can't beat that!

I love my readers-- and I have several. My sister is by far the most devoted one-- she's enthusiastic and has been with me since the beginning of my writing journey-- but I have several friends who also read for me. This is an incredible gift for them to give. The feedback they give me helps shape the scene, helps me know what doesn't flow-- there are a couple of people who are great at picking out small typos. (Yes, Monique and Stephen-- that's you two!) That might not seem like anything to stop traffic for, but it's a huge service! Also, because I'm writing from the hero's POV, I believe it's essential for me to have a guy reading for me. :)

A critique group takes this to a new level. It gives you feedback from someone else in the industry, someone who strives for better craft themselves. That, to me, is something no aspiring writer should be without!