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OCTOBER 2009
17 October, 2009
Not Precisely Critiquing But...
Question Number Eight
"This isn't a critiquing question, but you said you and your cps do courses. What courses do you do, and what have you found most helpful?"
This is difficult because everyone is at a different place in their journey. I can only tell you what has worked for me, and what my CPs recommend. Margie Lawson does some brilliant courses both in person and online. Margie's Empowering Characters' Emotions and Holly Lisle's How to think Sideways have been two of the best investments I've made in my writing career so far.
1 October, 2009
Critique Partners
Question Number Seven
"You have critique partners. What do you do? How did you find them? "
Honestly? What we do is have a lot of fun.
At the moment I live about an eight hour road trip away from them so we IM or Skype to keep in touch. We have our own Yahoo Group where we post files we want comment on. We get together as frequently as we can for a weekend, or longer if possible.
We talk about writing, what we're learning from the courses we're taking and how we're applying it. We drink way too much tea. We watch at least one movie that has Hugh Jackman in it. (Hey, it's research!) And we write like crazy people.
As to how I found them--I think they found me.
Two years ago we were all in the same RWNZ chapter. Although we wrote different subgenres of romance we discovered that we had a similar outlook on life, on writing, and that our senses of humour were close enough to cover what we disagreed on.
It's really important to be able to laugh with and trust the people you're asking for comment and advice.
A critique group is good, but partners take the whole thing to another level.
Mine are the best.
I may be shouted down about the next one, but I feel pretty strongly about it. As writers we are self-employed sales-people. We might not like it, but we are. So a really good course in Marketing is something no writer should sneeze at.
I'm not going to recommend one simply because every writer's need is different. Evening classes at your local community college may have what you're looking for. Failing that, there are plenty of internet marketing courses out there. Some are run by sharks. Some are run by genuinely nice people.