About a week ago I was invited to speak in a panel about critique groups’ values, pitfalls, and experiences. Having run a writers’ group for 8 years, I’d say it was a perfect fit! This panel was a joint venture between the Citrus Crime Writers and Florida Gulf Coast Crime Writers groups. The other two panelists were Harold Emanuel and Liz Milliron.

Moderated by my good friend and CCW President Martha Gaeney and CCW Secretary/Treasurer Ruth Owen, we spoke for about an hour on Zoom. I haven’t done a panel or speaking engagement in a while and it was fun to get back into the groove of talking about what I love to do. Questions covered topics like Size and Genres of Critique Groups, Nature of Critique Group Feedback, How Critiques Can Motivate Authors, and The Value of an Effective Group Moderator.

It was a well-organized meeting and we covered a lot of ground. There were around 14 people in attendance and the Zoom was recorded for future viewing. We received a few great questions from the audience and that added a good amount of interaction that kept things interesting.

I’m looking forward to doing more of these in the future.