Workshop critiques

I spent the early part of the evening at my “second job”, namely writing. I wasn’t actually working on anything of mine. I’ll get to that a little later this evening. Instead, I wrote the first of a couple of story critiques for the writer’s workshop that I joined after Ravencon. The next meeting is on May 6, and while I won’t be able to attend, I offered to critique the stories that were up for discussion. It’s tough critiquing other people’s stories and my philosophy is (and always has been) to be honest, but never say anything outright negative. (I don’t know if anyone notices, but I apply this in my ongoing reviews of SCIENCE FICTION AGE as well.) I have read too many reviews and critiques that attack writers and even material unnecessarily. The whole point of for both writer and critic to improve their craft, right?

I’ve got another story to critique, but I may only get through reading it tonight, since I still need time to work on some of my own writing.