A to Z Blogging Challenge: T

Can't believe we're nearing the end of the alphabet already in the 2013 A to Z Blogging Challenge. Find all the master list here. Are you ready to hear about another thing from my plans to be a better writing upon my retirement.

T: Thanks. Yes, I'm going to use my blog and other social media to thank people. There are so many. The first publisher who took a chance on me. My newest publisher and editor. Members of writing groups and my very first critique partner. The online friends who shout out my new book releases. The people who are loyal commenters on my blog. The family members who support my efforts and all my sisters who buy and read my books. The online community, like this one, that has given me advice and guidance.

But the little paragraph above isn't what I mean by giving thanks to and for this people. I'm going to name names. I'm going to publicly proclaim these people as kind and good and smart. I have lists that keep getting longer and longer. You could be on it.

Do you use your blog to thank people? Are there some people you should be thanking? Has someone surprised you by thanking you publicly when you weren't expecting it?

U: Uniting With Your Kind

U:  Writing can be a lonely career. No matter how many blogging buddies you have or how many people are in your critique group, you still need to spend long hours in solitude with your keyboard. But everyone has to come up for air sometime.

Humans are social creatures and despite some of the stuff they write, even horror writers are human. Just kidding.  Step out of your writing dungeon and find some other of like mind and ambition to bring a little adult conversation into your life. Speaking with other writers can help your perspective on your own work.  Not only might they give you good advice, they can answer questions and listen to your woes.  You're not alone.

How do you unite with other writers? Has A to Z helped you find some like-minded creatures?

They Know Me Here



From FB

Later today I'm going to finally make one of the writer's meetings organized by some other writers in neck of the woods. The meeting place is a little inconvenient for me, a library on the other side of a tangle of traffic. I'll have to traverse the busy highways at rush hour to make it to the meeting.

I've only attended one of these meetings before but it was great. Everyone brings a few pages of their current WIP with enough copies for everyone.  We take turns reading each other's writing, mark it and give a brief oral critique. There's a great variety of genres represented, thrillers, romances, fantasy, and cross genres between them all.  The writers present are at different places in their writing careers and our goals vary as well as our backgrounds. Such a mixed bunch are perfect for getting lots of feedback from different perspectives. I learn as much from listening to the critiques of other people's work as I do from critique of my own.  It's a nonthreatening, comfortable bunch of people who are really supportive and nonjudgmental of each other.

There's always a little time before and after to share our thoughts on the world of the word.  We talk about publishers, editors, agents and the ventures into self-publishing many of us have made. We'll also likely discuss the upcoming conferences most of us will attend. 

Our current meeting place is a meeting room that's part of a library so we'll have to bring our own drinks, but that's fine.  It's great to socialize with other writers but most of our time will be spent doing actual work. 

Do you have a supportive writers' group you spend time with? Is it mostly for social reasons or does your group concentrate on work? What do you need from a writers' group?

Feedback

Finally.  I put aside all the duties of family and made it to a meeting of a group of local writers.  They meet the last Wednesday of every month.  A few members of the group have invited me in the past but the timing never worked out for me to make an evening meeting.  Since I dropped my membership in RWA at the end of last summer, I've missed meeting with fellow writers face to face.  Thank you to Don Helin for inviting me.

The group met at the local B&N since Borders closed. Even though it's about a 35 minute trip in heavy traffic, I felt I really needed some person to person connection.  It was great.  Twelve writers attended, a multiple of genres represented, and together discussed where to go for the next meeting.  B&N didn't really want us there taking up space in the cafe.  Scrooges.  Next month will be in a local library.

After getting the organization items out of the way, the group hunkered down to the real purpose of their meetings.  A number of the attendees had brought up to five pages of a piece of work.  They passed around hard copies for everyone.  We took a few minutes to read and mark, and then went around the circle and gave feedback.  One of the rules is for the author not to respond to what is said.  It was very friendly.  The scope of knowledge and professionalism makes me regret not getting to this group earlier.

So what kind of feedback should one give?  I think it's important to start with the positive.  Good dialogue, great characters, interesting setting or perhaps an engaging plot.  But you don't really help anyone if you're only positive. 

At least one of the things shared was not of a genre I like reading so I tried to only pay attention to the words on the page.  If I felt I couldn't relate to the characters or their behavior, I kept my mouth shut unless I could specifically say what didn't work about them.  If I thought the pacing too slow, I searched for where the writing could be tightened.  It was my first time giving feedback in such a setting.  Usually I do this sort of thing online and not in real time so I have more time to figure out the words that are constructive rather than destructive.  I did know enough to try and end with a positive observation.  Writing is tough and anyone who can stay at it deserves some pats on the back.

Fortunately, the group gathered made few grammatical or punctuation errors.  Do you ever do face to face critique sessions?  What is the most important feedback you feel you can give or receive?