Critique Circle

I wanted to take a moment to talk up a great website called Critique Circle.



It's where authors submit their works in progress for review and critique. In order to submit you have to critique other works. This site is monitored for trolls, those that don't play by the rules. I have not had any instances where I've gotten a critique that wasn't honest.

Critiques are best when they are detailed. If you leave a critique explain why you liked or didn't like a part. Be nice and use academic speech. Don't just leave positive, happy face, remarks all over because no one learns anything that way.

Join. There are thousands of members and they are all aspiring and even published authors, so they take things seriously. You get great feedback on your work. You are not alone in writing!

What This Writer Has Been Up To

As a teacher, I am encouraged and required to do professional development. I have some leeway in what I choose to learn more about, but if something is school or district-wide, I have to join in. Sometimes there are mandatory meetings in my field as well.

As a writer, I'm pretty much self-employed, whether I get paid or not. I have to learn and grow on my own. I have 100% control of what I take in. I can read good books, join webinars, take Udemy classes, and join whatever email lists that I feel will help me in my pursuit.

1. So this week, I've been listening and taking notes on Tim Grahl's Hacking Amazon. Tim does a lot for authors in building their platform and book marketing. Working with Amazon's Author Central is only part of that. He offers great advice. I had to sign up to receive links to his videos in my email. I've taken notes on his lessons. No one said you can't and free info is free info. I figure I can get enough free pieces of the puzzle to make some headway and at least get myself started.

2. I also listened to Jeff Goins talk about how to find your purpose, which tied in to other speakers I've taken notes on whose goal is to help people reach their dreams.

3. I've been thinking about my niche and what my passion is and what I can write to help people. One place you can go to get ideas for finding out what people are interested in and what they need is to go to Quora. You create an account and select your interests. From there you can see questions people have asked in your areas of interest. This is what the people want to know. Can you (or I) answer them?

4. Hey, did you know that in marketing your book or product or service, you can advertise and pre-sell a product that is NOT finished??  After hearing this, I felt that was dishonest, but I also remembered thinking about how you need money to get things started sometimes.

5. This week I learned a new way to record myself and transcribe it into a book. We can speak faster than we can type. I'm kind of excited to try it.

Then I added some things I learned about my niche to my notes, worked on an old piece I think might become my next ebook, and remembered to take time out for myself!

Ahhh!