Collective support on the journey

On my journey toward getting my story in the hands of readers, I've been unbelievably blessed. My participation in the writers' critique group at the Dietrich Theater has been a boon to my skill. Not only do I get honest appraisals of what works and what doesn't work in my stories, I get an opportunity to listen to the developing works of other writers. The critiques offered on each member's work shed light on a story's strengths an weaknesses and I continue to learn from that an apply it to my own work. Collectively, we've grown as writers as we support one another, and our journey toward publication is more enjoyable since it's shared.

I've been submitting my story and I've gotten form rejections as well as some personalized feedback. Disclaimer: Since I didn't get permission to use names, I'll just refer to folks here as 'agent' and 'editor.'

A few weeks back, a literary agent gave me some detailed feedback on my manuscript and offered to take another look at it if I made some changes. I've thought a good deal about her input, letting it settle into my vision of the story. Last week, I had a 30 or 40 minute conversation with the owner/editor of a small press. How generous is that! She gave me detailed personalized feedback on my story and recommended changes. The best part ~ what she recommended matches many of the things the agent recommended. So again, I am blessed. I have been given clear direction by two unconnected sources within the publishing industry.

And it's clear that both the agent and editor believe in the same collective support as the Dietrich writers' group. The improvements in the manuscript are now up to me.