Join a Critique Group? Yes or No?

I’ve just joined a critique group! After six years of being in the business, I’ve decided why not. I’m a bit leery about the time squander though. Because if there’s one thing I’ve discovered, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything on my to-do lists done. And those darn days go by way too fast.

But I’ve also learned that a writer can become too isolated, existing in a world of her/his own imagination, living in a little room with the computer as his/her only companion. Mind you, an author’s life today is quite different from what I can only imagine it would have been like years ago, and not that many either.

Having the responsibilities of promoting our work nowadays, we’re forced to interact over the Internet. These last years, I’ve been fortunate to meet wonderful people who have helped me tremendously. But that isn’t like being in a room with other living, breathing souls and sharing ideas, laughing and just being noticed.

Networking with other people who love the same pastime, that’s what I’m looking forward to.  Sharing ideas and helping each other. Giving and receiving confidence to try something new.

Of course it does help that the other three girls I’ve been invited to join are fantastic, funny, hard workers, task driven and with the same ambition of being multi-published as myself. It outta be a hoot…one I’m looking forward to immensely.

Are you in a critique group? Has it been a positive experience or do you feel as if you’re not getting anything out of it at all? That it’s a time drain?

Please leave your comments and your e-mail address so I can choose a winner for a free e-book copy of “She’s Me”. I’d love to add you to my newsletter list also. (Sent out only when I have news…I promise!).

I love to hear from readers anytime so please contact me: mimibarbour@hotmail.com

My website:  http://www.mimibarbour.com/

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Blurb from SHE’S ME

A spoilt model, Jenna McBride, sits on a bench in 2007, pricks her finger on a rose bush and gets transported back to 1963 England to inhabit the body of chubby Lucy McGillicuddy. As her spiritual roommate, Jenna’s cynicism forces Lucy to adhere to a model’s lifestyle of sparse eating and physical exercise. Lucy’s body changes, becoming svelte and beautiful. Conversely, Lucy’s kind-hearted, generous spirit leaves a lasting impression on the temperamental fashion plate who exists inside her.

Lucy loves knowledgeable Dr. John, who has plans to help Jenna return to her own body. Jenna’s Business Manager Jake assists and mistakenly shifts into Dr John. Now the four spirits are vying over two bodies. Meanwhile, Jenna realizes an attraction for Jake, who’s very endearing, and she falls madly in love with him. While you giggle over their antics, these four characters will steal your heart.

 

Excerpt from SHE’S ME:

Jenna was heading to her special place, a wooden bench near the roadway where she could people-watch, one of her favourite pastimes. She liked to breathe in the scents from the pink roses that trailed over the trellis behind the bench and gave a fresh contrast to the natural greyness of the oak. Today the scene was framed by a sky bluer than normal. She meandered along toward the empty bench, Marnie close behind her. As she stopped to smell a particularly gorgeous rose, a thorn bit into the fleshy part of her finger, and she suddenly squealed with pain.

Strangeness settled over her as she sat to pull out the spine. As soon as her body touched the bench, a trancelike state began to take hold. Her mind felt numb, and later she would swear that her body floated away from her and disappeared in small drifts, like a cloud shifting.

Finally, she broke loose from these imaginings and turned to talk to Marnie, who was nowhere to be seen. She shook her head and reached up to rub her forehead, but when she touched herself she knew something was dreadfully wrong. It was as though she were having an out-of-body experience. Everything around her had altered. She closed her eyes and slumped further down on the bench. She twisted herself agitatedly, opened her eyes again and looked in every direction. It was then she realized that the road looked oddly different from the one she remembered.

She swivelled every which way, still seated because she felt weakened somehow, too weak to stand. And then she spied her dress and screamed. When she’d walked outside she’d been wearing white jean capris and a navy-and-white designer top, with a rhinestone-decorated white jean jacket to set off the ensemble.

Now, clutched in her shaking hands, her garb seemed to be a full-skirted, polka-dotted garment that hung down well past her knees and—what scared her silly—were the white gloves over her decidedly plump hands.

 

A word from the Author of The Vicarage Bench Series / Angels with Attitude Series

I’ve taken early retirement on Vancouver Island to spend my days and many nights hovering over my computer and spinning the stories that have been vying for attention over the years.

My husband is supportive and drags me out to feed me and plans occasional forays into the outside world. I have a son who makes me happy I was born a woman so I could be his mom, and a niece whose family adds to my full cup of happiness.

Gardening lights my inner fires, and I need no urging to get out into the yard when the weather dictates. I do have many hobbies such as quilting, crocheting, but alas – no time.