So I’ve spent a pleasant afternoon with the writers in my critique group as we worked our way through critiques of a couple of works – one of which was mine. What next? I’ve watched writers who can go home immediately, tear through all those critiques, and have the rewrite done in a few days time (at the latest) and shipped off to an editor.

I’ll never be one of those writers. I have to let my writer friends’ ideas and reactions percolate in my brain for a while before I’m even ready to look over their written comments on my manuscript. It’ll be a week, and more likely two or three weeks, before I’m ready to look at those typed or hand-written notes, which is why I’m spending my time right now blogging instead of rewriting. Oh sure, there are some forehead-slappingly obvious suggestions I know I’ll take. But as for the rest? I’ll know when it’s time to pull out the manuscript and go through the critiques.

While every writer is different, it seems to me that there are a lot more in the fix-it-immediately camp than in the let-it-percolate camp. I used to wish I were in the full-steam-ahead camp, and sometimes I still do. Nevertheless, I’ve found what works for me and I gotta stick with it.