THIRD YEAR OF OPERATION SUCCESS
Online Critique Groups, our exciting initiative to help writers and illustrators link up to share their work and learn from each other, is now in its third successful year.
From a small beginning of 2 groups with 8 members, when we started, last year I was pleased to report that we had 8 Online Critique Groups up and running. Now, a year later I am thrilled to report our groups have increased to 15, with over 75 members, covering all genres from Picture Books through to Middle Grade/Young Adult.
GROUPS AT PRESENT
At present we have the following groups:
Picture Books (writers only) 6
Picture Books (writers/Illustrators) 4
Picture Books (Illustrators only) 1
Junior Fiction 2
Middle Grade/Young Adult 1
Illustrators only 1
Most of these groups are now full.
MEMBERS WAITING FOR NEW GROUPS TO FORM.
As most of the above groups are full we have individual members on waiting lists for new groups to be formed in nearly all genres. So if you are interested in joining a group please apply and we may be able to start a group up with just a couple of members and add a few more as others apply.
YA ONLY ONLINE CRITIQUE GROUP
Sometimes lines between middle grade and young adult are blurred and overlap. However, there are some writers who are working strictly on YA only. We are looking for new members to join such a group. If you are interested please fill out the application form on our website.
NON-FICTION WRITERS ONLINE CRITIQUE GROUP
The only genre with no online critique group is Non-Fiction. It was suggested by members at a couple of our SCBWI meetings that we should include a non-fiction writers group so we added NF to the genre choice on our website application. Unfortunately I have had no applicants for this genre but if there are any non-fiction writers out there who are interest in joining a group, please apply.
NEW ONLINE CRITIQUE MEMBERS WELCOME
It should be noted that this is a service for SCBWI members only. If you are interested in joining a group all you have to do is click the membership ‘JOIN’ button on our website and follow the prompts. Once your membership is confirmed you can apply to join a group.
If you would like to become a member of an Online Critique Group:
· go to our SCBWI website
· click ‘Online Critiques’ on the right hand menu
· read all the information about what the groups do and how they run
· only if you are still genuinely interested in having your work critiqued and critiquing the work of others, then
· fill out the application form
· you will receive and automated acknowledgement of receipt of your application
· when a group becomes available for you to join you will receive an email with the details of how you proceed.
GREAT FEEDBACK
Thank you to everyone who has been in touch to tell me how much they are enjoying their Online Critique Groups and how valuable the feedback has been to them.
I am in a group myself and I love the friendship, support and the wonderful suggestions and ideas I get from the other members and enjoy critiquing and supporting the other talented writers in my group.
REMEMBER
Many successful published SCBWI members today (writers and Illustrators) started out their careers in Critique Groups made up of talented, keen, unpublished writers and illustrators. So I would like to encourage everyone to get involved, participate, widen your network and have fun.