I am so fortunate to have two terrific critique partners. One is Crystal Reneau, author of Olympian Blood and Hidden Agendas (writing as Claire Riddick). The other is Lane Woods, a new author currently near completion of several projects ready for submission. Without exaggeration, these authors are the reason that I have completed my current project, Lily’s Letters (formerly Suzanne’s Secrets). If it wasn’t for our Zoom meetings every other week, I would have long ago given up trying to claim writing as any sort of career–something more than an entertaining hobby to fill my spare time, even with three books published. When it comes to writing, they keep me grounded. They keep me going.

If you want to be a serious writer, you gotta have ’em.

“How?” you ask? Like this.

Attend local meetings of writers, in my case, the Georgia Romance Writers’ annual Fall conference, Moonlight and Magnolias. Please do not think “I’m not a real writer, they won’t want me.” GRW exists as a community of writers at all different levels of skill and success, and you will never find a more encouraging group to help you get those words on the page, and then make them better. If you aren’t in Georgia, not to worry. There are similar groups in every area of the country, many with online components so you can benefit from membership even if you can’t physically make the meetings.

Starting out with a friend or co-worker because you have both always wanted to write is a great place to begin, but eventually you will want to tap into a group with access to people with experience to help you make sure your wonderful, exciting story is also well-told.

Don’t worry! Every person you talk to had to start right where you are.

As you are meeting and greeting, you will come across people of similar skill level who need someone to read what they’ve written, just like you. If you are shy and unsure about your place with “real” writers (like I was at my first meeting), find somebody else who is sitting in the back of the room trying not to bother anyone and strike up a conversation. The usual starting point is “What do you write?” meaning what genre–at a romance writers’ meeting the answers will be something like, “historical” or “paranormal” or “contemporary,” etc, etc. Don’t worry if she/he writes paranormal, and you like to write Edwardian. You have plenty to offer each other as critique partners.

If you have a chance, exchange a few pages at the meeting to read and discuss–probably around ten. If you have two, then that’s what you share. If all you have is an idea, then share that.

BUT–and this is the most important BUT–you must be serious and committed. My critique partners and I are busy people with lots of other things claiming our attention. But we are committed to finishing our projects and making them the best they can be. Work and family responsibilities take top priority for all of us, but we are also friends. Critique partners are a great way to find a place for your writing career in your busy life. We always spend part of our meetings catching up, sharing our joys, and trials, and sorrows. Then we talk about writing.

That’s a good thing, because your life has made/makes you who you are. Even if you write fantasy or paranormal, to make your characters important to your readers, you have to embue them with thoughts and feelings that you understand. It gives them the depth and relatablity that keeps your readers reading.

Editors are great, but critique partners keep you going. By the time your manuscript is before an editor, it should be finished and polished to the best of your ability. It is your critique partners who look at the 2 pages that are all you managed to turn out in a week. They read the scene you’ve rewritten–once, twice, even ten times if you need it.

Your critique partners are out there, and they need you as much as you need them.