Tag: support group

Knowing What Your Readers Don’t Know

Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningI’m lucky in that I’ve got a wonderful pool of friends, fans, writers, and readers with whom I can bounce off the latest ideas for my most recent book. I can either post in secret groups to get a wide-ranging opinion on a book cover idea or a blurb draft, or I can elicit specific feedback from a select few, depending on my need. And why do I do that?

Because they keep me grounded. They keep me straight. And they tell me when I’m out to sea.

We all know we writers live in our heads. We get a great idea, we set it down, and — from our perspective — it’s a good story. Only problem is, our perspective is not always the one through which a reader reads our story. Continue reading “Knowing What Your Readers Don’t Know”

Paid Memberships for Author Groups: Worth It?

credit-squeeze-522549_640Sometimes we writers have tough decisions to make. We want (need) all the information, support and promotion we can get. But most of us have limited funds. Or – let’s be honest and admit that most of us are broke. If you’re not one of “us” then thank your lucky stars, kiss your wallet, and knock on wood that your good fortune may continue. We’re not jealous, but do envy you just a tad. The rest of us have to think carefully about where we spend our cash. One of those decisions may be about which promo, support and author help sites will be the most advantageous and whether or not paying for a membership will benefit us in the long run. Today, I’m taking a look at some sites, both paid and free.  You can decide which ones are the best fit for you. Continue reading “Paid Memberships for Author Groups: Worth It?”

Writing Critique Groups – Join One

checklistWriting critique groups are a great way to get feedback on your works in progress. It used to be that in order to participate, authors would gather once a month or so at a member’s house and take turns reading their latest works. Nowadays there are several kinds of critique groups: online, formal, informal, local. Some are homogeneous, comprised of members who write in the same genre. Others, like mine, are eclectic with members writing different things: memoir, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. Some groups have specific focuses, such as checking grammar and spelling only. Some look for flow and pacing only. Some have only beginning writers, others professional or semi-professional writers. No one size fits all. Even how often they meet, whether they send written critiques on ahead, whether they expect a written excerpt before meetings so they can have their comments ready, or whether they read their submissions at the meetings. The number of members can vary as much as the approach.

Continue reading “Writing Critique Groups – Join One”

Support Group for a Writer

Welcome to The Learning Curve. This is where I chronicle my adventures as a new writer. The goal is to inspire you to put that bag of chips down, step away from the television, and tell the world a good story.

Support Group for a Writer

Writing, for the most part, is a lonely job. There are very few of us who can afford to write full time without relying on some other form of income to keep the creditors at bay. Take our Indies Unlimited crew for example. Stephen Hise sells apples and homemade furniture by the side of the road. K.S. ‘Kat’ Brooks has a mobile dog washing service. Laurie Boris trains dolphins for a living, while Chris James, T.D. McKinnon, Carolyn Steele, and Yvonne Hertzberger all perform in a traveling circus to pay the bills. We do what we need to do in order to do what we want to do, which is write.

Continue reading “Support Group for a Writer”