The Muffin | Cathy C. Hall Writes

I think it was November that I needed a critique group break. After three years, I was a bit burned out, even though our kidlit group was a great bunch of writer gals. And then something odd happened.

One member of the group moved ALL the way to Texas. Another member embraced her adult romance side–and good thing, because now she has a book contract!–and then dang if another member didn’t move all the way to Minnesota. I mean, suddenly, there wasn’t a critique group to take a break from.

Or go back to. And honestly, I was overwhelmed by so many other things in the spring, professionally and personally, that I figured that my writing would take care of itself. Who needs a critique group, anyway?

And that is where The Critique Epiphany comes in. Which you may not have seen because it was over at The Muffin on Saturday, of the Labor Day weekend.

I understand, y’all. It was a busy weekend, cramming in the last days of summer fun. But maybe you could read it now. Because after Labor Day, everyone goes back to school. And I sort of got schooled about the whole critique group thing.

(Maybe you will, too.)

So today, in keeping with Two Things Thursday, it’s going to be short and sweet.

Short, because comp is the shortened version of the term, “comparable” or even “comparative.” And in my post over at The Muffin today, I explain a little something something about comps: how they work in general, and how they can work for you. If you have a manuscript–from picture book to adult fiction, including non-fiction–then understanding comps can be very helpful in your pitch and query journey.

And sweet, because WriteOnCon (a FREE online children’s writers conference, created for writers, by writers) has announced their list of agents and opened their forum. That means that you can post your query, or read other queries, and get ready for the fun ‘n games to begin.

So read up on comps and apply to WriteonCon. (And that’s another two things, thank you very much!)