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Why a Writers' Critique Group, you ask?
I've been writing fiction since 1995, but a few years back, when I decided to get really serious about it, I knew I needed the support of a critique group. I selected The Southern Indiana Writers.
The value of feedback is immeasurable and when I've got several sets of eyes reviewing one story, I get just as many opinions and viewpoints. The members of the group are generally my first readers, readers unafraid to tell me what I need to do to improve my story, make it coherent, or "more better", as we sometimes say in jest.
The Southern Indiana Writers' Group meets weekly. We plop down at 7:00 PM around a conference table and for two solid hours and critique each other's fiction, non-fiction, poetry and prose, and an occasional screen-play. We edit, re-write, and offer suggestions as to how to make each story just a little better. As with clay sculpting, eventually the work of art you'd dreamed of is revealed, and oh what a joyous feeling that is!
I've been attending SIW for the past six or seven years, and they have selected my work for publication in several of their annual anthologies.
The first story they published for me was in the book, Beastly Tales.
Click here to purchase a copy of Beastly Tales, a compilation of short stories about our favorite animals, some real and some imagined.. My contribution, Transformation, was based on the horrific true story of the action a powerful and cruel landlord took when my college-age son attempted to sneak a puppy into his apartment, ignoring the "No Pet Policy" in his lease. I won't tell you anymore about it here, other than to say it's a tear-jerker, and the actual event led me to the belief that those who do harm to animals should have the same thing done to them. I used to lay awake at night plotting revenge, but I'm not criminally insane, so just the fantasy alone of what I could do (if I really wanted to) was satisfaction enough.
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