My family and I recently relocated to Virginia, and as a result, we’re working through a lot of necessary changes. One of those is the search for a local writing/critique group, so I don’t go crazy from lack of human contact.
(I work from home and easily lose track of time. So unless I have regularly scheduled events that take me outside, I’m going days without feeling the sun on my skin. It seems like this fact should bring me some level of shame, but honestly, it doesn’t. I am who I am.)
Anyway … as the search for local writers continues, I find myself dropping in on meetings and sitting in on critique groups to evaluate chapter 28 of some random person’s novel. This ongoing experience has really crystalized a couple things for me:
- I really miss the writing group I had before the move. I knew I was lucky to have them; I just didn’t realize how lucky.
- It’s a lot easier to figure out what keeps a reader turning the page when you’ve been reading things that make you want to stop doing so.
It probably goes without saying, but the search isn’t going well.