• About Me
  • Home
  • Short Story Achievements

Finding Faeries

~ My continuing mission to explore … magic

Finding Faeries

Tag Archives: Critique groups

Why Am I Here?

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

choosing what's right for you, Critique groups, decisions, justification, thoughts, what do I want, writing

I belong to a fabulous writers’ group… The Summit City Scribes of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

DrWho16brilliant

Yesterday…we’ll look past he whole I had to read my chapter… we had a visitor to our group. This happens. People come, some stay and some don’t. However, this visitor asked interesting questions, questions that lurked in my mind long after the meeting had ended.

Why were we there? What did we get out of the group? What did we want…were we there to get published and make money?

Our visitor said that she writes for herself and doesn’t care if anyone else reads it (then she asked how to publish her words, so maybe she does want people to read them?). People have read her work and made comments, but this author didn’t see the point in those comments, since it meant she had to justify what she wrote. So why do we meet twice a month and read our work? Why are we there?

I have to admit, my immediate reaction was not all smiles and giggles. Why should I justify my choices? So I stewed in my juices, keeping my opinions to myself.

Why?

Drwhodon'tknow

Maybe I didn’t feel as if anything I had to say would matter. From what she said and how she said it, I figured she knew what she wanted, but didn’t know how to get there. Maybe she hoped we could put her on the right path. I’m not sure. And when I’m not sure, I stay out of it. Or maybe…

bonessocialskillslimited

But it got me thinking. Why do I attend meetings? What do I what? Why am I here?

zoolander

First and foremost…to improve my craft. To receive comments in order to spark my writer’s brain into making every word count, every scene sing, and make sure every story takes the reader on a fantastic journey. My writers’ group does this. We focus on writing.

But I am not there to justify what I wrote. If my story doesn’t make sense to a reader that’s my fault and I need to fix it.

We do talk about publishing. Our group has writers in all genres, all categories, from self-pubbed to agented to working with small presses. We do talk about marketing, though this is not our strength.

How do we get our words into the hands of the readers?

Pray? Maybe.

Do I want people to read my words?

Darn tootin’ I do. I would even like a few people to enjoy what I write.

Do I want fame and fortune?

No. Wanting that could drive a person insane.

Why am I here?

I have stories to tell. I want to introduce to people to the worlds that exist only in my mind. I go to critique group, I ask people for comments so I can do this to the best of my ability.

That is all.

It works for me. I do think that it will work for most everyone. Writing, a task you do by yourself, but can’t finish alone. However, I accept that it might not be the path everyone chooses, that for some what others think has no place in what they write, that they truly write for themselves. Maybe self-pubbing those words is just the final step in their process.

And either way, we never need to justify our decisions. We just need to be happy with them.

meninblackthatsdeep

The Right Moment… Wait for It!

13 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Believe, critiqing, Critique groups, critique partners, dreams come true, have faith, just the right moments, thoughts, writing

I have spoken of all the people I met at Midwest Writers Workshop. Well, as I was talking to one of my Twitter, now in-real-life, friends at the conference, I asked about her writing… How’s it going? What are you working on? Typical nosy me questions.

Her friends had read it, but she wasn’t sure what to do next. I asked what her CPs said…

She didn’t have any.

HtTYDgasp

A tragedy! THAT’S JUST NOT RIGHT! HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? ALL THE WRITERS OUT THERE! WE NEED TO HELP EACH OTHER! I told her to send it to me immediately. And she did. And I’m reading it now… and because she might read this I’ll simply say that I am making tons of comments (all of which you can ignore)and there are so many things I LOVE about it. So relax!

I have become a strong supporter of critique partners, of having a few, of being an honest reliable one (I hope I am!).

We can only grow as writers if we have people asking us questions about our words, challenging us to make them better, catching all the stupid mistakes and plot holes that size of Jupiter.

However, there are moments…

psychwait

Points in your writing life to do this. There are ways that work and ways that don’t. And each and every one of us must find our own path.

I wrote tucked in my dark corner for years. YEARS. If I had gone out and had someone critique my work when I had first started writing, I would have curled up in a corner and never stepped into the light again. I know me. That me would have given up. Dreams shattered into pieces. I needed my mom and sisters to read those terrible first manuscripts and say… I LIKE THIS! I admit it.

When I was approached to join a writers group, at first I thought NO WAY! These people will think I’m an idiot. After living with the thought of other writers reading my words… after revising the same words AGAIN and having no idea what I needed to do… I went to my first critique group. And came out alive and SO GLAD I WENT. The things I could learn! Cue choir of angels…

sisteractchoir

When I began to query, I entered another phase of oh-boy-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing. No idea. I entered the darkness armed with my tiny bit of knowledge, like a spec of light, a single star in space. As we walk around in the dark, we learn. As we stumble and fall, we get up again with more confidence. The moments to take the next step will present themselves, if only we pay attention.

The rejection letters will come. If we persist, so will that one acceptance we crave. If my acceptance had arrived years ago, I would not have been ready. I had a bit of knowledge to acquire and the Universe knew it. I remember gazing at the initial letter from my editor, thinking that a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to answer her questions, I wouldn’t have known all the terms and writerly stuff.

And the Universe says, “See? Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Bradley-Cooper-nodding-GIF

Yup. You got it, Universe. I bow to your wisely-ness.

For those who are new to writing, who are still in the alone phase, maybe scared to have people look at their words… don’t sweat it. You will be able to tell when you need help, when you want help. Look for critique partners (CPs), look for writers groups in your area or put out feelers on Twitter (worked for me!). The search won’t be easy. You’ll find some, lose some, find others. Eventually, you will connect with just the right people. And you should connect, when you are ready. At the speed my friend sent her ms to me, I think she was ready.

As we go through each day, needing to reach our goals RIGHT THIS MOMENT!

Relax.

Everafterbreathe

Things will happen just when they should, if you have a bit of faith and put in a lot of work. Dreams are made of 100% believing and 100% sweat.

 

 

Sharing my search for magic in everything.

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 10,366 other followers

Archives

  • January 2021 (1)
  • November 2020 (1)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (3)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • June 2018 (5)
  • May 2018 (3)
  • April 2018 (3)
  • March 2018 (3)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (5)
  • December 2017 (2)
  • November 2017 (3)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (13)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (3)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • April 2017 (5)
  • March 2017 (6)
  • February 2017 (17)
  • January 2017 (5)
  • December 2016 (8)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (9)
  • September 2016 (17)
  • August 2016 (9)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (6)
  • May 2016 (9)
  • April 2016 (3)
  • March 2016 (8)
  • February 2016 (9)
  • January 2016 (8)
  • December 2015 (12)
  • November 2015 (9)
  • October 2015 (7)
  • September 2015 (10)
  • August 2015 (9)
  • July 2015 (9)
  • June 2015 (10)
  • May 2015 (9)
  • April 2015 (8)
  • March 2015 (9)
  • February 2015 (11)
  • January 2015 (10)
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (7)
  • October 2014 (28)
  • September 2014 (9)
  • August 2014 (10)
  • July 2014 (7)
  • June 2014 (9)
  • May 2014 (7)
  • April 2014 (7)
  • March 2014 (10)
  • February 2014 (8)

Goodreads

Kathleen Palm, Author

Kathleen Palm, Author

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy