It's been a while since we wrote anything about what we're actually doing as a group. We had one of our regular meetings last night. Bridget and Sarah couldn't make it, so Steph, Joan, Alison and I propped the laptop on the end of the table and Skyped in Lisa. Or what I'm now referring to as "talking to Virtual Lisa."
She was never more virtual than last night. (Sorry, Real Lisa!) She had a new camera, so her picture was often frozen, and kind of blurry or broken up as well. We could hear her, and were still able to critique. We're looking at the revisions of the early chapters of her WIP, the first draft of which we've read all the way through. It turns out some of what I thought was new wasn't. It had been so long since I'd read it that I'd forgotten details. Then there was the problem of not being able to un-know information. I know what's going to happen, and how the MC is going to learn bits of her own history. But now when I read stuff early on, I see it in a completely different light because my brain can't help but fill in the blanks. I'm not sure how to get around this as a beta reader. I know I can't do it with my own work. And just as we were discussing all this, Virtual Lisa disappeared. Our call was dropped, and worse, irretrievable. I couldn't get Lisa back online, either with video or instant messaging. So we moved on.
We critiqued Steph's chapter. We talked about the James River Writers Conference. Alison, Steph and I have been before, but this will be Joan's first conference. Sarah is going for the first time this year as well. We'll be blogging about it, although not in real time or anything. I'm not prepared to lug the laptop around with me all day. But I do promise to take good notes.
6 comments:
Interesting post! Had me wishing I was in a crit grp! I'll also be interested in your thoughts on the conference.
Becky (my critique partner) and I were just discussing James River. You have so many wonderful resources in your neck of the woods! I'm looking forward to reading your notes from the conference.
I can say right now that Michelle will be the one to give the updates. The Queen of Perpetual Preparedness takes awesome notes.
I'm just hoping that this cold gets better before Friday!
What a fun group you ladies have. And, it seems a good fit for you all - which is a bonus :)
TerryLynn, I highly recommend forming a crtique group if you don't have one already.
Amy, if you can make it to JRW sometime, it's so worth it! Even the presenters, editors, authors, etc. say it's one of their fave conferences.
Sarah, you will have to take some notes. I can't attend four breakout sessions simultaneously!
Tess, you're right, and we very much appreciate how lucky we all are to have found each other. And thank you again for the book. It arrived today.
Well, JRW is not that far, but it is far enought that we do stay overnight. It is So worth the cost of a hotel room, especially if you share one and make it a Girls Weekeend Away.
(Even better if your paretns live near by and put you up along with the rest of your writer's group!)
I really wish JRW was even closer though, because although I would not even CONSIDER missing this conference -- this was my third time -- it is a bit too far for some of the other AWESOME monthly events and fellowship they have.
Not that I am complaining, Charlottesville could not be more writer-friendly.
Post a Comment