Critiques are fantastic!

The other day, someone asked me, ‘how do you respond to a critique? Surely having someone tell you what is wrong with your manuscript makes you feel miserable?‘ Quite the opposite….Receiving a critique on your picture book manuscript or the first ten pages of your novel at a conference, is a most valuable learning experience for any new writer. And I will be forever grateful for the advice I was given on my manuscripts, which are now published, or about to be.

Whilst reflecting on this, thank you Karen Tayleur from Five Mile Press, for putting Beyond Our Garden Gate into your ‘second look’ pile, and in the process providing some wonderful suggestions for this manuscript’s improvement. Thank you to both Sarah Foster who used to work at Walker Books, and Cate Sutherland from Fremantle Press for your generous feedback on early versions of my story, ‘Can I Come Too, Eliza-Lou?’ I know these stories are so much better because of your input.

I guess the reasons for this short blog post are to express my gratitude for these critique sessions, and send the advice to other budding new writers out there… see if you can access a  one-on-one session the next time you are at a writer’s festival, workshopping day or conference. You never know where it might lead you. Happy writing!

Categorized in: