Critique Partners

Like many writers, I have a small group of friends with whom I swap stories, chapters or entire manuscripts for critiquing. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses. My strength is usually grammar and spelling (I make no promises today as I'm dragging after a really bad night). I'm also good in the world building department, but this is also my weakness as I tend to be too descriptive - which is where my crit partners come in. They slash their way through all my setting drivel to get to the heart of the story. I red-line them on spelling, apostrophe use, run-on sentences and redundancies. These are the same people I wrote about yesterday as the group I can turn to when I need a good swift kick. They are more important to me than I can put into words and I want to thank them publicly. A good critique group can be an invaluable tool for any writer for support, commiseration and celebration. Find one somewhere and join. You'll be so glad you did.

What do you do for support in your writing life?

Today's teaser: One of my friends wrote a book entitled "An Exaltation of Larks" and another called "A Siege of Herons". We all know that a group of geese is called a gaggle and a group of fish is a school, but what about a group of snakes? Or ravens? Go on a search and find as many group things for names as you can. The next group may be your next title or spark an idea for a story.