You’ve written a few stories and read a couple of books on how to write. Now what? I would advise joining a critique group.

A critique group is a made up of a number of writers who get together at least once a month to share their writing projects. The purpose is to help develop and fine tune writing skills and styles. A good critique group is meant to encourage its members by offering positive remarks and suggestions that will help the writer improve his/her work.  

Depending on the size of the group, there will usually be a maximum number of pages a person can bring and usually a certain amount of time to read your manuscripts aloud to one another. Sometimes if a group is too big, the members will be divided into smaller, more manageable groups.

I started out in a general critique group that took both serious and casual writers (those who were more interested in learning how best to express themselves in words than in publishing them). At first it was scary sharing my stories with others, but I came to value the comments and encouragements of the members as I worked hard to improve my craft.

I now belong to a wonderful critique group called the Wordsmiths. We are a group of eight professional Christian writers who are serious about developing the calling God placed in our hearts to write for His glory, whether in the secular or religious markets. I love the Wordsmiths. The ladies are so loving and so encouraging. I look forward to our meetings every month.

You can find critique groups in most major cities. Writers’ guides will give some type of reference to a critique group either through a club list or by an organization that has their own critique list. A Google search will also come up with a series of choices.

Looking for an online critique group? Writers’ Digest came out with an article in the February issue on this very topic. Read it on http://www.writersdigest.com/articles/reynolds_online.asp .

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You want to be a writer, but where do you start? 

Start writing. I’m not talking about shopping lists and sticky notes; I’m talking about writing stories. Hand a friend a stack of 3 x 5 cards and have her write a topic on each one. Pick a card each day, set a timer for thirty minutes, and write. Make sure you have an opening paragraph that introduces your topic, then support your subject using at least three points. Sum everything up in a final paragraph, making sure you’re not bringing up any new information.

Read through this first draft. Does it make sense? Do the ideas flow from one to another? Make corrections and then try again.

This will basically help you formulate ideas. Take classes to develop your grammar skills. A creative writing class will also help you develop your own style and voice.

Start Reading. It’s time to do your homework, but this time it’s homework worth doing since it will help you hone your skills and move you a step closer to becoming a writer. Read books about writing. If you are interested in children’s books, get books in that genre. Fiction? Non-Fiction? Pick a genre and you will find how-to books on that area.

Find books on how to format what you write. No one accepts written manuscripts anymore, so you need to learn how to type (if you don’t know how), and what format to use when you type it. An excellent resource is “Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript” by Cynthia Laufenberg. This book was a huge blessing when I first started out. Don’t forget you can get great books on e-bay and in the used book section of Amazon.com for a lot less than retail. Pull out that library card, too, if you don’t want to invest in a bunch of books as of yet. 

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Writing isn’t as easy as it sounds. Not only do you have to know how to spell and how to write a proper sentence, but you have to be able to tell a story from the beginning to the middle to the end.

 Of course there are helps you can use. There is spell check for words (although I wouldn’t recommend it sometimes for grammar), and there are classes that you can take to improve your sentence structure and your grammar skills. The best thing you can do is to start writing and then work to better your style and technique.

Come back and visit if you want to learn more about writing. I will be including some helpful information and maybe even some funny stories about the process. You can also come back if you want to see more of my cartoons. I will be posting them every so often on my cartoon page.

 Thanks for dropping by!

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