Mysterious Mystique of Critiquing Critters

Yesterday was a red-letter day in the life of our Cozy Critters. All six of us were together around the hundred year old table at the same time! It was great! Before Christmas Jane and her son Mark took a trip to New York City. The town was decked out in its holiday best. Jane saw so many wonderful sights: art museums, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the 911 Memorial. The huge, brightly lit metropolis itself inspired Jane to write a poem, New York State of Mind. And then, after visiting the 911 Memorial, she penned A Day to Remember. I think we all shed tears with that one. Jane is an inspirational writer. She writes when inspiration strikes, which is often, and she inspires others with her beautiful verse.

Peg the voracious reader, told us about one of her favorite authors, Jenn McKinlay. She especially enjoyed Copy Cat Murder. Jenn McKinlay also writes a millinery series and a library series that Peg likes a lot.

Another author whose books she likes is Paige Shelton. This writer’s mysteries employ a play on words. For example, To Helvetica and Back and Foreign Eclairs.

Judy does not often mention her writing honors but she has a lot! She read some poems that won first place in the Ozark Creative Writing Contest a couple of years ago. One was Nightfall, a beautiful word picture of her grandparents and memories from childhood. Two more of Judy’s creations won the Ozark Japanese Poetry Award. She wrote these poems using the Tanka format. Tanka translates as “short song.” It is a five line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count.

We were glad to have Nancy back with us. She has been walking on air because she has a new granddaughter and is enjoying helping out with that beautiful little girl. In Nancy’s busy life, she finds time for her radio show, Living Life Unedited.  She writes and speaks through many different venues and has recently written 5 Strategies for Writers to Set Goals. Among the tips and pointers Nancy offers writers is to keep an Editorial Calendar. This will keep you move forward by keeping focused. Another thing which is helpful to Nancy is coordinating her blog and radio show. If you haven’t yet read her devotional book, The Grace Impact, please check it out. It’s chock-full of biblical truths and inspiration.

Helen has more writing successes than I can count. Yesterday, she brought a book, Precious, Precocious Moments in which one of her inspirational articles, Food, Fun, and Fireworks has been published.  This was a delightful remembrance of her childhood and the life lesson it taught. In addition to this, she brought two inspirational works-in-progress that we happily critiqued. They were Papering a Wall (which is what all writers should do with rejection slips) and Trail Kitty, about a personable cat who kept a rendezvous with Helen and her husband as they walked along an abandoned railroad track. Helen’s writings always make me feel better.

I handed out copies of the current chapter of Grave Heritage. Each Critter read a page and we all discussed it. I got lots of valuable pointers. As I’ve said many times, critique groups are essential for any author.

So ended another rousing session of reading, discussing, and sharing. As well as written material, we shared a few tears and a whole lot of laughs, sometimes even snatches of a song. And then these special people scattered to their abodes , like quail scatter from their covey, going home to settle in for the night. I find myself already looking forward to the next time.