And

            A good critique partner is hard to come by. You want to find someone who ‘gets’ your story, but isn’t so in love with it that they’re just a cheerleader and can’t offer advice to make it better. You have to find someone who can articulate their feelings, instead of just saying “this character isn’t working for me” or “this part of your story just dragged on.”

            I’m so lucky that I have two wonderful critique partners, Beckie and Chelsea. I wanted to do a little 2-part series about some ah-ha! moments they’ve directly influenced in my writing.

            I’ll start with Chelsea. The first time she read part of my story, she bluntly told me, “you have a problem with the word ‘and.’ That conjunction sneaks into your writing everywhere!”

            I reread my chapters. She was completely right. I used ‘and’ all the time! But what really blew my mind was that I had NEVER noticed before! And once she pointed it out, it was so obvious. My use of the word ‘and’ totally threw off my sentence structure, making my writing sound repetitive.

            Chelsea is never shy about calling me out on things either. In one scene, my MC shoots a bow and arrow. In the margin she commented, “Alice, I’m sorry, but have you ever held a bow and arrow before? Because it doesn’t sound like it.” Busted. I have pretty thick skin so I appreciate that she can just give it to me straight.

            Next week, Beckie!!!