My new writing group

I've perused the local resources and have come upon a great writers group. It is for fiction writers and we actually do more than back patting. We offer construct criticism and so far the group helped me tighten and clean up my synopsis. I may actually be confident enough to send my manuscript out sometime soon. Imagine that!

Let me say here that not all writing groups are created equal. Some are genre oriented, some are for poets, some are mixed media... some are for back patters.

You know what I mean here... Several people come, dressed to the nines, holding a professional looking leather folder under their arm with their poetry inside. Handing copies to everyone in the room, they clear their throat and read aloud. Their voice is calm and resonates through out the room. They don't stutter or read too fast. They are in complete control. They are performing.

The poem ends and everyone takes a minute to take it in

Meanwhile: I'm thinking, what the hell was it supposed to mean? Am I supposed to keep thinking about it? Does anyone understand the juxtaposition of a bomb and a ceiling fan, the Pink Panther and Paris Hilton? I sure don't. Am I supposed to clap? Perhaps snap my fingers and say it's far out man while resisting the urge to iron my hair? I have no idea so I just sit back and watch what others do.

They praise the poet. Beautiful wording! Great imagery!.

I pipe up then. I thought the line about the exploding manure chemical compound was redundant. They already had a line about a shit bomb going off. A hush falls over the crowd and the crickets even seem to disarm their chirps. All eyes fall to me and I smile vaguely.

Commit. You started this, now finish it Sandra.

I shuffle the papers of the 5 page long single spaced, one stanza poem and clear my throat. It's time for my performance now. I explain that while different words are used, the concept is redundant.

Tighten it up! Make it punch! Omit needless words!

At this point a few mouths gape open and one cricket tentatively chirps. The poet glares toward the window and the cricket promptly shuts up.

The poet comments, "I appreciate your thoughts,fiction writer" Fiction writer went unsaid, but the tone was there. All spittle and contempt as the title flew and stuck to me with his snobby phlegm. I was not a poet. I took things literally. I didn't understand.

Hell they were right. I didn't understand. I do read poetry from time to time and can enjoy it. I've even been known to write a poem from time to time, but hell people, mine make sense. I swear they do!

But my lack of understanding was not my crime here. My crime was to infer that the poem wasn't perfect. Well excuuuuuse me people, I didn't know this was a circle jerk. I thought I was at a writer's meeting.

There in lies the problem with some writer's groups. We all want feedback, sure, and praise is great, but constructive criticism is better.

Writers are artists, and as artists we don't tend to see the whole picture sometimes. Writing is like pointilism, you have to take a step back to see what you've really created, but when your heart is written into every line, every point that went into your picture, sometimes it's impossible to detach. Therefore you need a guide, someone who stands a few feet behind you and points your red pen in the right direction.

Back patters place their hand on your shoulder and push you even further into the blurred mass.

I need no back patters in my world, for I want to make it better.

Lucky for me, I found the right group.

*** Warning the following is a PC message meant to leave everyone with warm fuzzies, but since I wrote it, it probably won't but here is is anyway--the cover my ass clause.

Let me say that there is nothing wrong with poetry or even with back patters, but if you want to be a better writer, learn to take criticism. As I said, I write poetry and have nothing against poets, using a poet just worked better for my example. I know fiction writers who do the same thing, surround themselves with people who inflate their egos. This behavior spans genres, fields, races, genders, classes... if one wants to become better at anything at all, they must face reality and the reality is that nothing is perfect. Find the faults--then fix them.