Critique Partners

I think writing is the only profession that insists on a hermitage solitude and simultaneous human interaction.

Yup - we are a conundrum. We are alphas - traveling through the muses as we see fit, daring anyone to make us stop writing...or change direction.

BUT

and here's the kicker - we can't do it alone.

Every book...okay almost every book because I'll be honest I haven't looked at every book - but they all have acknowledgements. They all have people who they feel compelled to thank along the road to publication - those people who push and prod, poke and tweak. Those people who help them make words shine and bring an idea to an entirely new level from where it had originally started.

I thought I could do it alone - I didn't know any better.

I do now.

And here's what happens when a critique partner becomes more than just some random person you met through a twitter friend.

You realize where your story can go because someone else can see the light.
You realize how much more you have to do because someone else has seen better in you.
You realize why you want to fix it because someone else believes in you.

You realize you aren't alone.

A good critique partner will give you the truth no matter how painful it may be. They will become more than just a name or a red pen. They will be the kick in the ass you need when you can't find the drive to push through the rainy day. They will be the shoulder either literal or proverbial to lean on when you feel weak. They will be your biggest supporter and most avid ally.

I needed to crawl out of my hermit cave and realize that I couldn't do this alone. I needed feedback (and not just from family...because we all know they can't be trusted fully). I needed motivation. I needed someone to help me see the bad as well as the good.

So I move on, but I do so knowing that I have people I can turn to when things don't quite click, and the cyclical world of writing begins again.

One size does not fit all

A disastrous jaunt through the world on online shopping has me thinking about writing. Well, we are talking about me, here – just about everything has me thinking about writing in one way, shape, or form.

I love a book so much that when it became a movie, I wanted a memento. So, I travel online to find said…thing. Hours later, I find the perfect pajama set. Perfect. I can obsess in private, and I anxiously wait for my package to arrive with the perfect fitted t-shirt and flannel plaid pants. I think I actually squealed when it arrived, then promptly wanted to go on a hunger strike.

Why? The perfectly fitted women’s shirt was fitted so well that I wouldn’t even wear it to sleep. Yet, apparently I am the kind of person who must be hit more than once to learn a lesson because I order something else from the same online shopping boutique thinking, maybe it was manufacturing issue, and again am excited when this time a fitted hoodie arrives. And I am now completely dedicated to a new workout program because I refuse to buy the next size larger.

*munches on a handful of potato chips*

So what does all this have to do with writing? Everything.

Once size does not fit all – an apparently, the same size doesn’t fit anyone. We have all found those perfect ideas that glow brightly in the middle of the night – or after a few glasses of wine – or in the checkout line at the store.

Yet are they really the right fit? If they are like my t-shirt – not so much.

I tried to be a plotser though I am totally a pantser.

I tried to create an outline though I am still working the first round of edits.

I tried to create a visual plot board to help me find the holes though I can’t draw.

Once I stopped trying what worked for everyone else and focused on what was working for me, my writing flowed easier. It’s like that shirt – a beautiful idea that wasn’t the right fit, no matter how much I try to stretch or bend the material. Wearing it will be confining, restricting, and uncomfortable – much like my writing if I try to force it to behave.

Instead, I must hang on and enjoy the ride, stop trying to fit into a mold I’ve already broken, and enjoy another chip.