WARNING: Cranky Critique Group Coordinator Rant

As the New England Critique Group Coordinator, a big part of my job is to field questions from members and point them in the right direction. 99% of the time I enjoy doing this. For the other 1%, it’s not so much the question, but the mind-set behind the question that gets my feathers in a bunch. The one in particular that I have been getting more and more of lately goes something like this: “How can I find a critique group that meets down the street from me, at the most convenient time for me and is working at exactly the genre, age level and writing ability that I am? And if there isn’t a group just like that, what are you, as Coordinator, going to do about it?”

Here’s the truth, I, Jan Kozlowski, can do nothing to help you find a group like THAT. If I could, I would be Jan Kozlowski, Omnipotent Being and I’m afraid I would have given up the Critique Group Coordinator gig long ago to work on something like, I don’t know, world peace. Or at least getting a decent pizza restaurant to move into our town.

While I can’t make the perfect critique group appear on your corner, here’s a list of what YOU can do though:

• You’re a writer-be creative. If there’s no face-to-face group within reasonable driving distance, be open to trying an email group.
• If there’s no open email groups listed with me, post a message to the NE SCBWI email list, or the Children’s Writing (CW) email list telling others what you write and what kind of group you’re looking for. Talk to people. Network.
• If you don’t belong to the NE SCBWI email list, the CW list or another children’s writing list, FIND and JOIN one. You can access our NE SCBWI list off of our webpage at www.nescbwi.org and you can find a link to CW off of Peter Davis’ excellent website www.pfdstudio.com There are also other children’s writing lists and boards. You’re a writer, RESEARCH them. If you have Internet access, there is no excuse for not being able to find them. If you don’t have Internet access, get it, borrow it, go to the library and rent it.
• If you strike out there, or you’d REALLY rather be in a face-to-face group, start looking around your community. Go to bookstores, libraries, colleges, coffee shops, grocery stores, anywhere writers might gather and look at their bulletin boards or post a message of your own.
• Take workshops and classes on writing, online or in person, it doesn’t even have to be children’s writing. See if you click with any of your other classmates. If you do, form a group. I’ll be happy to help you do that.
• You’re a writer-be persistent-don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged if people don’t get back to you right away or even at all. Be in this for the long haul. Don’t just look for a group so that YOU can get your manuscript read and critiqued, be ready to do the same for others, over and over and over again. If you’re in a group with 5 other writers, you will be critiquing others 5 times for every time your work is critiqued.
• If you can’t find a whole group, try and find one person to be your writing buddy. Make regular writing dates and commitments and KEEP them.

The one word that all of these suggestions have in common is: YOU. You are the writer. You are the driving force behind your own career, your own path. YOU have to be creative, engaged and responsible. NE SCBWI and I are here to help, but no one else but you can make you a successful writer. And, if you think about it, would you really want it any other way?