Another good question with my recent open door was from Anna.  She asked:

Are you in a reading/critiquing group with other writers and readers? I’ve read that many authors are, and find that helpful. just curious, thanks

I’m not in actual crit groups, per se.  I’ve tried doing a crit partner once, and while it worked okay, it just wasn’t something for me.  *G*  I’m very often one of those people who ‘don’t play well with others’.  A lot of that is just because I’m very independent, probably to the point of stubborness.  But I just like doing things my way.  I probably wouldn’t make the best crit partner for another because while I love to write, I’m not always as focused on the mechanics-I can tell when something works for me, but not always why.  And vice versa-I can tell when something doesn’t work, but not always why.  Plus, I don’t always have the time that I’d need to give to a group to actual be part of the group.  If I can’t actively participate, I’m not going to be overly inclined to try.

However, I’m reaching the point to where I’m trying to get my stories more involved, more intense and I do often like getting feedback.  When I was working on Through the Veil, I had several different people read it-a few were close friends and I was looking for a reader’s viewpoint.  One was an author who does a lot of SF-type of stuff and she’s a phenomenal world builder, so I asked for her input on Veil for that aspect.

So critique-sort of reads are helpful to me, but actual groups, not so much.  I do know a lot of writers swear by them.  But then again, there’s a lot of us that don’t tend to use them.  It’s just going to boil down to which sort you are.