The Prose Shop is looking for new members

Hi All,

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’m still currently digging out from the holidays and from a snowstorm that dumped almost two feet of snow here in the NY City area last week. But things are slowly returning to normal, which means that I have no excuse for not writing and will now need to find some other reason to procrastinate. ;-) However, I digress… (I’m good at that)

The reason for this post is that one of my children’s book critique groups currently has openings. If any writers out there are looking for a critique group, please read below and email TheProseShop@comcast.net if you are interested.

The Prose Shop is a supportive community of people who write picture book manuscripts, as well as magazine stories for children up to 12 years of age. We are an established online critique group created in 2005 and have a mix of both published and unpublished writers. We are dedicated to helping each other to improve technique, become more confident and capable writers, discuss and share information, and get published.

The Prose Shop is organized via a message board. This has huge advantages over groups that use an e-mail system for submitting critiques. Here, members are able to view all critiques. This is where we work as a team. Members are encouraged to comment on critiques, thus bringing about general discussion and debate that is invaluable to the author.

There are only a few rules pertinent to our group. First, we critique at least one story for each story we post. That is a minimum. The more critiques you give, the more you will receive.
Second, we expect at least one critique every 30 days from each member, whether or not they post a story.

Third, to keep the group active and encourage writers to write, we require that you post a story at least every three months. Rewrites of previously posted material will be acceptable.

We are looking for writers who demonstrate a long-term commitment to writing. We would like to see applicants who have an inventory of several picture book manuscripts and/or magazine stories available for critique.

If you are interested in becoming a member, please email TheProseShop@comcast.net and we will send you an application.


Regards,

Kevin

http://www.kevinmcnamee.com/

From the Slush Pile to the Reserved Pile

A member of my critique group recently bought two autographed copies of my book, If I Could Be Anything, for the school library where her kids go to school. She recently reported back that my book has been in the Requested/Reserved pile at the library for the past few weeks. She told me that it’s not a big pile, and only the best books wind up in that pile. How cool is that?

My books have gotten some pretty good reviews so far. But this tells me more than anything else, that I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. Kids actually waiting to read my book, is probably the most glowing review of all. I'm doing the happy dance!

Lots of Stuff Happening

Today has been one of those crazy days when everything seems to be happening at once. My first foray into virtual book tours will begin on March 1. I’ll be appearing on Kathy Stemke’s site and I’ll be hosting Ransom Noble. It should be interesting. I’ve been working on completing a new interview and that’s exactly what I started out doing this morning.

Then I received an email from an old friend of mine. We lost touch a few years ago. The last time we spoke was right after 9/11. He told me that he had been trying to find me for long time. He’s been working on a memoir type book about growing up in the Bronx and wanted my input on it. We were in the same Kindergarten class together and were friends right through high school. After that, he moved to the west coast and I’ve only spoken to him sporadically since. He’s got a friend out there who would like to make a movie out of this memoir, but he needs the completed book first. This should do wonders for my writing since it will force me to go exploring through the nooks and crannies of my own childhood. Without going into particulars, I have to warn you that if this book is turned into a movie, there’s a very good possibility that it will have an R rating.

Then, I received an email from my publisher. It looks like my rhyming picture book, “If I Could Be Anything” will be the next book to be published after “The Sister Exchange”. I was a little surprised since that book was the most recent submission I made to Guardian Angel Publishing. But it’s nice to know what’s coming so I can plan for the book’s release.

Finally, Kai Strand is a member of my critique group, The Prose Shop. She interviewed me and several other members of my group. She posted the interviews today. If you would like to see the interviews of some very talented writers, please visit her blog at http://cleanwriter.livejournal.com/


Whew! I’m exhausted, but in a good way. Now what did I do with those new interview questions? …

Your Baby’s Ugly

I belong to two online critique groups, one for prose, and one for poetry. Both of these groups are invaluable to me.

Writing is a lonely business because most of the time, you’re working in a vacuum. Sometimes, it’s hard to see any potential flaws in my own work because I’m just too close to it. Stepping away from a project for a little while is helpful most of the time. It allows me to view my work with fresh eyes and maybe I’ll spot something I didn’t see before. But the best way to spot any flaws in my work is to have a trusted group of critique partners take a look at it. They don’t have any emotional investment in my project, so they will be able to look at it more objectively then I can.

Now putting your work up for critiques is not a natural process. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a certain emotional investment in your work. It’s like your baby. After all, there was nothing there before you made the effort to bring it into this world. Getting a critique is a little like presenting your baby to the world, only to have people say, “Your baby’s ugly.” And the thing is...maybe they're right.

Of course, a critique partner will be more tactful than that, maybe… But the point is, constructive criticism is vital to the writing process. Having someone else take a look at the story arc, character, pacing, grammar, etc., has definitely improved the quality of my work, and has made me a better writer. Over the years, I have gotten feedback that helped to make my stories shine, and some that I’ve disregarded because it didn’t fit with my vision of the story. But all of the feedback I’ve gotten, made me look at my story from another angle. That helped me craft a stronger story. Because whether I used the feedback or not, every thing in my story was there because of a conscious decision.

Now all critique groups are not the same. Some writers like to get together in person. However, that is something that wouldn’t work for me. I wouldn’t be able to commit to a critique group that met regularly and read over manuscripts. I just don’t have the time. The nice part about an online critique group is that you can critique when you have the time. If I get an hour here or there, I’ll be able to get a critique done. The other nice thing is that being online has put me in touch with people from the other side of the country, and the other side of the world for that matter. You get great feedback from dealing with such a diverse group of people. In the process, I’ve made some friends there that I wouldn't have met otherwise too. It's been a win-win situation.