Monday, May 5, 2014

Library Writing Group Part II: The Critics

As I went to the next writing group, I was more happy with it. This, I was told, was a group that would critique your work. I also ran into a professional writing couple whom I am sure guest taught one of my writing fiction classes fifteen years ago.

There were a lot of people at this group, but they schedule reading so that only two people can read per meeting. They do, however, meet twice.

As I sat there looking at two manuscripts, I thought of the irony of the situation. After all, I won't even critique my friends' things without asking for money. Yet, here I was, critiquing two other people's work for the chance to read my work in July. I needed a critique now. The book was soon to be published and the prologue is still not where I want it to be. Sigh. I don't have the money for an editor and I know I need one.

But, I only had to go over the manuscript once - and while the author was reading it at that (so while I wrote a comment, I missed several things). This kept me from over scrutinizing. In general, when I am paid to edit or comment on a manuscript, I spend days pouring over every inch of it three times. I usually find hundreds of typos per page and have about one or two comments. On these manuscripts, I found several typos in all 14 pages, and only about 3 major comments.

I need the input, so I am fully willing to spend the $5 that this group charges per year to join it. I just wish I had done so sooner, then I would have felt better about that prologue.

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