I hadn’t met with a writing critique group in a long time. Last month, I temporarily got over my fear of meeting new people and went to my first critique group.
A critique group where you read your work aloud. Why did I ever decide to do this?
But read I did–in a public place–and realized then that I would have to do yet another draft of my novel. I have yet to finish the second rewrite (in fact, I am stuck on pages 97-99 of a 200 page first draft), but I already knew my beginning was dragging (a reader had told me).
A good thing did come out of the critique session, though. My beginning (at least the first twelve pages), now doesn’t seem so bad, so I feel slightly hopeful. And anytime I share my writing with another writer who can constructively critique, I always feel good about this compulsion to write. It’s energizing to be among other writers. It reminds me that I’m not the only nut out there 😉