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Showing posts from July 29, 2008

Critique Groups - Getting Them On Their Feet - Part 3

By Chris Stewart Part 1 Part 2 So now you've found the group that meets the criteria we've discussed, or started one, and you're ready to go. How do you run it? What are its rules of conduct? How do you convey your comments and suggestions to your fellow writers and poets in a respectful and helpful way so they don’t rip your head off? Running the Group It’s fairly simple. You: a) Agree to meet at one neutral, easily accessed location for each meeting OR rotate houses so everyone in the group hosts. b) Each week a different person in the group facilitates (the host if you are rotating houses). This means keeping time, keeping people on task, and keeping the peace. The latter means asking someone to be clearer and offer examples that illustrate their comment, or rephrasing what they’ve said in a nicer way and asking them if that’s what they mean. It usually doesn't mean breaking up a fight or trying to coax a crying writer out of the bathroom, but I've seen both. Br