The Value of a Critique Group

Just when I get a manuscript "perfect" I give it to my group for commenting. I thought, "Surely they'll tell me it's good enough to send out." WRONG! But, that's okay. I revise and revise and revise and revise. Did I mention that I am still revising?

I know some writers may revise 100 times and do extensive rewrites in different p-o-v's, tenses, characters, settings, etc. And other writers may do LOTS of pre-writing and only revise a ms. TWICE! Wow. I am definitely somewhere in the middle part of this spectrum.

One of my current W-I-P (work(s) in progress) has probably been revised 10 times. This time, it's perfect right? Well, actually I don't think so. But it's as good as I can get it for now. I will give it to my group and this time I will HOPE, or even BEG for even more feedback. What else can I do to make this story even better? That is the question we should ask ourselves. And every time I get my group's comments back, I go to revising, and find more things that they didn't even mention. I definitely value my awesome critique group. If you don't have one, you can start your own, or search for one online, just be careful. You don't want someone to steal your work. I'm certainly no expert in the matter, but go with your gut and use your head. Research your options and I'm sure you'll be able to find a group, too. A good springboard to use is CBI, or the Children's Book Insider. Good luck, and happy revising!