I'd heard about the Hamsters by looking at a few writer websites. I've been a fan of Geoffrey Landis for about as long as I've been reading SF short fiction, and I "knew" Toby Buckell through the Mill. It was at their sites that I first learned--probably about a year ago--about the Cajun Sushi Hamsters--a Cleveland-based writer critique group. I told myself that I would ask to join at some point in the next year, even though I knew I didn't have anything on the members of the group.

For the story about how I met Toby and a few of the others briefly, see the journal entry called Even Performers Get Embarrassed/Meeting Other Writers back in January of this year. Toby convinced me to go to my first convention (which I did) and then to submit something to the Hamsters to see if they'll have me. I finally got up the guts to do so a few months ago and, after a brief review of a few of my stories, they accepted me into their group.

My first meeting with them was in June, about a month before my wedding. We talked about all things writing and science-fiction related--which I believe is almost as beneficial for me at this point as the critique was. We looked over a few short stories including one of my own--and I liked the wide range of harshness and depth of the reviews. It made me angry that I'd forgotten to fix something from an earlier draft and only half-adapted it to the draft I submitted--which threw everybody off (including myself), but you gotta learn somewhere. And with the help of their comments, I think I can make the piece into a publishable story. Even better, I think I'll be able to avoid many of the mistakes I made in the future. I can see myself growing as a writer already. The critiquing of other's work was also an interesting experience. I found other people making comments I thought to make--but didn't because I wasn't sure if they'd be appropriate. And (again, even better), I found that other perspectives of the stories (things I didn't catch, and interpretations I never thought to make) enhanced my abilities as a reader and self-editor. But the best flattery I received came when we were eating dinner and subjects and themes of my story crept into the general conversation. That was cool.

I'm purposefully not getting too specific here. I don't think it would be acceptable to talk in any detail about the goings-on of a private critique group. But I'll stick an enthusiastic thumbs-up for the experience and encourage anyone who's on the fence to join face-to-face critique group. Online interaction just isn't the same.

Filed under Journal, Peers & Peerless, Prose and Poetry, Vanity Smurf

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