Writing - Wishes and Pockets

On Saturday, I went to a new writer’s group that is primarily for Children/Juvenile writers. I believe they are a critique group sponsored by the SCBWI group. It was interesting. It’s one of those opportunities that allow me to be thankful that I am in the primary group which I am in.

This new group had some very talented and interesting people. It is a little less structured than my primary group, and there is a tendency to get off topic. I really like the structure of the current group I belong to, though I will return to this group in the future. I did read – which I know I stated in a previous post that it would have been helpful to attend a couple of meetings to learn the dynamics of a group before reading – this group only meets once a month, so it’s a different approach and I jumped right in. However, I got raked over the coals a little. It was interesting to read the same story which was so well-received by one group and then with the group who is more along the lines of children’s writers – not as much.

First of all, after I had read, there was an awkward silence which even prompted me to go, ‘the end.’ LOL. Then someone jumped in with ‘well the thing I didn’t get at first’ and then other comments about its length and the material being stuff children would be interested in. It was a very humbling experience to say the least. A couple of questions were brought up that I had not really looked at. Many of the suggestions were very good. One woman suggested it might even be better for a parenting magazine because it does offer a suggestion for parents to handle a behavior their own children might be showing.

I left the meeting a little disheartened, not because I believe the story is a bad story, but because I have a feeling this might be why it has not been picked up by a publisher. Of course, I learn this the week that I have sent it out to 10 different publishers, lol. It did give me another direction to go with whom to submit it. As with any of the critiques I have gone through – I will sit on it awhile before picking it up again to review it.