Lake Forest Writers Group

“ Great group. Best in the county. ”

“ FIrst, I thought some of the writers' work were too lengthy, therefore causing the group's comments to run over. Second, I didn't like that people were talking at the same time. The meeting runs smoother when each person critiques individually, like our usual format. Otherwise, it's gets out of control, which in my opinion it was last night. Thirdly, I'm a stickler on time and structure when it comes to meetings. I've been to enough meetings over the years to know that things work better when the format is adhered to. I was somewhat disappointed I didn't get to share but I chose to leave on time for all of the above reasons. I realize we had a couple of new people, and I'm really new as well, but I feel it still wasn't an excuse for the meeting to be held in the fashion that it was. Thank you for letting me be candid and sincere about my thoughts and feelings about last night's group. I hope next week is better. ”

“ I don't know how to be honest in this response without sounding like a pompous ass. However, I will be as straightforword as I can. If it offends, I apologize. While all the writers present at tonight's meeting were enthusiastic, it was clear most were beginning writers intent on gramatical critiques rather than conceptional ones. In that I was disappointed. I had hoped more professional writing would be presented and the responses would be objective and more insightful. Critiques generally sinned on the side of generousity, but perhaps were appropriate for certain writer's abilities. I was pleased, however that a short story I had written long ago was criticised for its excessive use of adjectives. In that, I was appreciative because it was an accurate criticism I had forgotten about. So, for me something good came out of it. That said, I have made my living as a writer for more than 40 years and must question how much value I can extract from this particular format. ”