From Edie: Eva Marie Everson reminds us how a great critique group does more than improve your writing. Discover how Christian writers find community, encouragement, and lasting friendships.
Dipping the Quill Deeper: How Critique Groups Can Shape Writers as Christians
by Eva Marie Everson @EversonAuthor
Sometimes a critique group offers more than mere critiques.
As you may know, I’m the CEO of Word Weavers International, an world-wide organization dedicated to providing a forum for Christian writers to critique one another's work so as to improve craft. I am personally a member of both a traditional group (face-to-face) and an online group (using Zoom).
As I sat in a recent online group meeting, I had a sudden realization: this is so much more than just a critique group. The members of my online group have become family. As a family, we have shared so many good things—and difficult passages. In years past, when we lost a member to cancer, we all mourned. When another member had her first baby, we had a virtual baby shower. When another lost her husband, we cried alongside her. We sent flowers.
We pray for one another. We love one another. Our contact goes beyond the two-and-a-half hours of our monthly meetings to text messages, phone calls, emails. “Just touching base,” we may say.
But we also learn from our monthly critique submissions. More than just the dynamics of writing. We also learn more about the Christian way of life.
Allow me to give you some examples.
When I received a contract offer on a book my group had critiqued over the course of a year, my fellow “Weavers” rejoiced. When that same contract was rescinded, they mourned alongside me. But we all agreed; God had something wonderful in mind for the book. Something we couldn’t yet see (and He did). On the flip side, when my author copies of Miss Beth Bettencourt arrived at my home days before one of our meetings, our collective joy felt complete. Also, at that same meeting, I shared that children’s book author Michelle Medlock Adams and I had been offered a new contract with Tommy Nelson. Again, it felt as if we had all received that notice.
Minutes later, Cindy Sproles shared her most recent good news—she’d been offered a new contract from Kregel for her WIP, Come Hell or High Water, a novel we currently worked on. We reminded each other that two months from our meeting, her novel, The Eyes of River, would release. More excitement.
She also held up her new puppy so we could all see him. After the heartbreaking report the month before that her beloved Daisy had been killed by the neighbor’s dog, we gave an “aww,” wishing we could cuddle with that fuzzy wonder named Theo too.
During that meeting, we shared our excitement that five of the seven members would attend the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in May (last month) and made plans for a photo opp.
But there was so much more. Within the content of our submissions, we learned how a child’s brain learns to read. In another submission, we discovered how difficult it can be for a soon-to-be-published author to write the acknowledgement pages. In the third submission we were entertained—and I was given the heebie-jeebies—by a fairy tale type piece that included—yuck—snakes but also shared a tender moment between the hero and heroine. Awwwww.
In the next submission we learned more about a real-life 1916 flood in the Appalachian Mountains and the surviving faith of those who lived through it. In the next to last piece, we discovered the power of memorizing Scripture. And in the final submission, we found ourselves going deeper in our relationships with God. No surprise there; the writer tends to do that for us every time she submits her work. It’s like having church.
So there you have it. Critique groups—most especially Christian critique groups—can be more than upping our game as writers. They go much deeper, in fact. Writers become family. Family members become co-journeymen along life’s path. Co-journeymen on the path who share the joys and disappointments that come from life and publishing.
Are you a member of a critique group? Are you experiencing the same camaraderie?
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