It's a normal reaction. If you have a message to share (and why else would you write?) it matters whether people receive it, right?

 

I am so glad your semi-stranger had the courage to say what others may be thinking.

 

Lynn

www.writeradvice.com

Author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers

So true, courtney and sometimes then you find out the person who says they liked it really likes every damn thing including pure drivel !! Then you feel even worse.

I'm trying Gotham Writers Workshop right now, as well as Zoetrope Virtual Studio. The Wesleyan Writer's Conference was wonderful. I live in a really rural area and haven't found any writer's groups yet.

So, two different aniamals, no writer's groups, that meet regularly to critque each other's work or workshops where you pay a fee and the leader is supposed to know more than you do. I have found very mixed bags with both. Often in the groups people come just for something to do and don't really want to be seriuos about their own stuff or yours. But I go to the groups for a few reasons - keep in touch with local writers, get the chance to read work aloud always helpful, and it's kind of like market research really. If I get truly bizarre responses, it's a finding. What kind of groups or workshops do you all attend?

sometimes I think it's what we live for--- that word of encouragement-- that reader who gets what we write--- even just an acknowledgment that this work we do of putting words on a page, matters, even if it is just to put a smile on someone's face for a moment. I am part of a wonderful writer's group-- we keep each other going.