To critique or not to critique...that is the question

There are so many different opinions when it comes to critiquing. Should I have a critique partner? Should it be someone published? Should it be someone that I know? Someone that writes the same thing I do? Same voice, style? The list goes on and on.

Do I have the answers? No, not at all. But since I've been writing I've been in several different types of critique groups.

Way back when I started doing this writing thing, I took a romance writing course. The course was great, contained lots of information that I was totally clueless about and had a lot of attendees. A group of us, about 4 or 5, decided that once the class ended, we would remain in touch and create a critique group amongst ourselves. Well, this worked out okay, we swapped ideas back and forth, offered suggestions, little fixes here and there. It worked since we were all at the beginning of our writing dream. As time went on, we grew apart and for the most part, the group disbanded.

A couple of us from that group went on to another critique group. This one had a mixture of people from various levels of experience but still no one that had been published. These critiques were brutal. Unfortunately, the problem with this group was that everyone had such varying degrees of how things should be written and sort of a my way or the highway mentality. Needless to say, this didn't last long.

I then went on to single critique partners. I matched up with someone I had met in another class. This worked for a while, but we drifted apart as our writing took on different sub-genres that the other wasn't interested in.

Then one of the loops I belong to had a critique partner matching service. So, I said why not and signed up for that, glutton for punishment that I am. This was short-lived. While the critiques were helpful, life got in the way for both of us and our partnership soon fell apart.

Now, all through these critique-dabbling I was doing, I stayed in contact with someone I'd met through the first ever class I'd taken (we're best friends now) and she's always willing to read my work and offer suggestions. She's great and has offered some fantastic ideas and brainstorming moments over the years. I'd be lost without her.

Which brings me to the present. In the last two months or so I really got to think about how I could really use a mentor/critique partner that knows the business. Someone who's been published and would be willing to work with me and be honest and not hold back. I don't have any problems taking criticism. I know my work needs help. Hell, we all have to start somewhere, right?

So, I managed to hook up with a multi-published author to critique with.

This has been the best thing that has happened to my writing in a long, long time.

She is fantastic. I think I had her worried the first time she critiqued my work. She wasn't sure I'd be okay with the in-depth critque she did. She wanted to talk to me before she sent it over.

My thoughts? Hell yeah, I was ready, send it on over.

Believe it or not, my mind didn't change when I saw all of the things I'd done wrong, the grammatical mistakes, the overtalking, the redundancy. So many things, but yet she explained them in a way that made me understand the why of it all.

I'm writing again. Actually, I'm rewriting a manuscript that I finished a while ago and got a request for, but didn't dare send in because I knew how much work it needed and had no idea how to go about starting the transitions. Now I do, and I'm excited about it.

For me, the answer to the question is; yes, to critique. But just be warned, you may have to weed through a lot of partners and groups and it may even take years before you finally find the one that will work. But once you do, it will all have been worth it.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you have a critique partner/group? Why or why not?

Procrastination...anyone?

Okay, obviously I'm not the only one who procrastinates instead of being productive once I sit my butt down at my desk. But c'mon. I think I may have a problem. Seriously. There are so many thnigs to do, things to get sucked into, emails to read, sites to visit, games to play, social sites to update, widgets to add to the blog...the list goes on and on.
Facebook proved to be such a time-suck, that I had to stop going to the site. So any of you that may have sent invites lately, I apologize, I haven't been on there to see them. Before Facebook it was MySpace taking up my time. And boy did it take up my time, so then I found Facebook and thought it wouldn't take up as much time so I switched. Yeah, that didn't exactly work out for me. And then there's Twitter. Everybody is talking about 'tweeting', but I haven't even attempted to get on that site. I know I'll spend way too much time on it.
So aside form the social sites, I love the game sites. Not the fancy-smancy sites, but the ones that offer silly little games that take anywhere from a couple of minutes to twenty to finish. My favorite? Pogo. I absolutely love that site and yes, I spend way too much time on that one as well. But I love it. Facebook had the games you could go into and play like Bejeweled, Farkle, and things like that. Well Pogo has Bejeweled as well but tons and tons of other games. Yes, I'm addicted to Pogo, I'll admit it. I just can't stop. Hello, my name is Brenna and I'm a Pogo addict. :)
And then there's email. Email is never ending. I belong to some RWA chapters. A couple of online chapters and my local chapter. Each of these have their own email loops and a couple of them have multiple loops for different things. Everyone is always posting links to check out a cool website, an interesting blog, article, picture, anything really. And I love to go check them out. A lot of times they really are interesting and I end up bookmarking the site to come back to later.
I also can't forget workshops, although I don't think those qualify as a means of procrastination as I'm learning something to do with the craft, whether it be plotting, conflict, voice, research...Starting on the 1st I'm starting a workshop about the history of Druids. Sounds very interesting and since I'm currently working on a paranormal I think it'll come in handy.
So, those are some of my favorite pastimes/procrastination tools.
How about you? I know I'm not the only one...Come out, come out, wherever you are...