Critique Partners

With the WriteOn Online Conference taking place at the moment it seems quite timely to talk about critique partners. Do you have a critique partner for your work?

I've recently met a fantastic woman who shares picture book manuscripts with me, and it's made me realize just how useful it is to have another person who you can sound out for ideas, who can tell you that this particular sentence just does not work, and who can give you a much-needed reality check.

The interesting issue, though, is how you find your critique partner to start with? Do you get together with family or friends (always a tricky one, as you can never be sure they're being honest with you)? Do you try going through your local writers center? Or do you search the internet for other people who want to find a critique partner?

I'm aware of Mary Kole's Kidlit blog, where she has occasional Critique Connections that aim to give readers the opportunity to search for like-minded critique partners. This is a fantastic initiative and is actually the place where I found my own PB critique partner.

Let's bring on more of these types of initiatives!

Copyright Rachael Harrie 2012