The Best Way to Look at Critiques

I'm sure you're wondering what yesterday's post was all about. What does subjectiveness have to do with weekly meetings and upcoming events at UB?

Well, I had hoped to get enough comments to show that given a high enough sampling there would be a fairly even split in opinion. (how do you like all those wishy washy words in that sentence?) However, things don't often work out how we plan. ;)

Anyway, last weekend we started discussing some fun contests and events for you and I wanted to remind you that even our judging is subjective. We try to look at things like content, flow, mechanics, verb usage, etc, however we are human. Each of us has our favorite styles and genres and it affects how we see things. We can't help it.

What does this mean for you?

Never give up because of an unfavorable comment or critique on your work.

Coming to UB:

• In the next week or so we will be having a fun query contest with prizes. I'll let Carol fill you in on all the details, but keep your eyes open. 
• Keep working on your novel revisions because we've already started planning QueryCon for this fall! I'm really excited about this one because last year Tara Tyler grabbed a book contract as a result. If you missed it last year, QueryCon is a three week intensive Query class/workshop/contest. We are already looking into agents and publishers we would like to invite to be judges.