I do not belong to a writer’s group. Groups, in general, annoy me. As Groucho Marx said “I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.” (or something of that nature.)
That, being said, I love to read WIPs. One of the best ways for me to learn something is showing others. Am I qualified to teach anybody anything about writing? Uh, no, not really, actually, not at all. BUT, spotting even the simplest of writing flaws in others work will make you a better writer, especially, if you do it over and over. When I explain why most adverbs are yucky pushed up against a verb or why you should stick with tags ‘said’ and ‘ask’ 90% of the time or notice when the author has slipped from one POV to another and so on and so on, I find that I practice what I preach.
How do I get my grubby little hands on writer’s word babies if I don’t socialize with other writers? Or the human race in general. Critique Circle. I imagine some of you who have been doing this for a while have at least given it a look. Some of the stuff out there makes you want bang your head against a wall, but there are also a lot of really talented people, posting some really great stuff. And you can get some helpful feed back on your WIP, if you’re so inclined.
