By: Rick Iekel
I really don’t read a lot. When in grade school, my teacher cautioned my mother. “You need to stop reading to your child. He is really a very poor reader.” You can bet that my mother was quite unhappy with that suggestion. As her youngest child, I guess I satisfied a need she had that made us both very happy.
My mother was a writer – poetry mostly. She had some success, but like all writers, she experienced the defeat of rejection. Nevertheless, when she passed at the age of 84, I was the keeper of a box filled with her literary efforts. Storing that box on a basement shelf, I knew that someday I would honor her by gathering a sample of her work and write a book. Years passed. Then, while recuperating from major surgery, I pulled out that box and began the road to publishing.
You know, you just can’t do something like that alone. Oh, the book honoring my mother seemed easy enough. But I still accepted help from another writer. That person – THANK YOU PAT – became my mentor, my cheerleader, my greatest motivator, and actually goaded me into beginning my next book.
Another book? No, I couldn’t. Well, OK. I’ll try it.
About that time I heard about LCRW’s quarterly Critiques. Attending my first such event as a guest, I heard and saw a gathering of supportive writers give positive feedback to a number of members who submitted their work for review. I listened as some expressed their delight at certain lines used by the author. I saw multiple points of view regarding other pieces of the author’s submission. I watched the writer sit silent and (every so often) scribble a note about some point they wanted to consider later.
At my first opportunity (the next critique session) I submitted a portion of a story I was writing. Ten (more or less) people read my handout, considered what I wrote, and provided both positive comments and personal suggestions. Ten people read what I had written, spent their valuable time considering the pros and cons of my words, and gave me useful suggestions.
Did I use all their suggestions? No . . .but some, yes. As writers, we each have the right to claim our way – our words – said it best. Hearing how those words were received by a group of people who also write. That is very important, but the words remain ours, and the story is our story. We have every right to say, “Nope! I like it my way.” On the other hand, a critique by fellow writers is very valuable. In the event three or four people point out a particular segment and suggest something more appropriate, it might be wise to listen and seriously consider their well-meaning feedback.
LCRW has a great track record of valuable critiques. In addition to meeting fellow writers, we can become better writers when we value feedback offered at critique sessions.
