It could get ugly.
Then again, it could be the best experience I’ve ever had while not in a horizontal position.

While at the RWA conference, I’m going to participate in the Carina Press Critique Group. Basically, I sit down with four other writers and an editor, Kerri Buckley.  All the writers are given each other’s manuscripts beforehand to read and comment on. During our meeting, each author has fifteen minutes of fame, as it were. The other writers all comment on the story, what they liked, what absolutely stunk beyond the possibility of redemption could be improved on.

Four other writers and an editor all talking about something I wrote? In person? To my face? I figure I have two choices. I can either:

a) Go down in flames

b) Perceive this as an absolutely wonderful opportunity to grow as a writer.

I mean, whether they like what I wrote or hate it, this is a step forward. Every writer, even the most  dedicated hermit, needs to hear what the outside world thinks of their writing. No one is born a perfect writer. No one.

It will be interesting to see how it feels to have someone tell me these things to my face.

Angry mob: By Robert Couse-Baker (Flickr: angry mob) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Hindenberg: By Gus Pasquarella (US NAVY) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Butterfly: By Zeynel Cebeci (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons