Wannabe Writers Unite! (Online and In Person)

One of the hardest parts of being a writer (other than actually sitting down to write... and editing once you've actually finished something... and getting someone to read what you've written...) is that it gets a bit lonely from time to time. Nothing but you and your computer screen, and often a blank computer screen at that. Not exactly socially stimulating.

Meeting other writers, both wannabes and seasoned authors, can be a huge boost to every aspect of your writing - your motivation, your dedication, your willingness to get through rough spots, your technical skills and your knowledge of the industry. Not to mention, getting connected is one of the best ways to get published.

If there's any chance whatsoever that you can get together with an actual, physical group of writers, go for it! There's no better way to boost your writing career. Check out Local Writers' Associations of America to find a group near you.

I live in Virginia, and like to write science fiction and fantasy. If you're like me, you might find Mid-Atlantic Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Conventions of interest.

Online groups are great as well. Here's a review of online writers' groups. And if you're up to the challenge of writing a novel in a month, the community aspect of national novel writing months like NaNoWriMo can't be beat.

Comparison Of Online Short Story Critique Sites

I'm looking for some people to critique my short stories. I have my writer's group, Writeous Writers, but I don't want to overload them with critiquing both my novel and my stories (we meet once a month, and I hope to have three stories done within a month). Since we have this fancy 'internet' thing nowadays, I thought I'd look online for critique groups and skip the hard part of finding like-minded writers in person. Here are my impressions of some of the groups I've come across. These sites are ranked from most to least helpful for providing short story critiques.

Scribophile

Okay, my first impression of this site was somewhat negative, due to difficulties navigating and sacrifice of functionality for Adwords (some of the ads are actually disguised to look like navigation links). However, the users are friendly (after one day as a member, I've already received two welcomes!) and it looks like the site is pretty heavily used. I'm in serious need of critiques for my work, so perhaps I'll get over the ads and this site will prove useful to me. I'll keep you posted.

Critique Groups for Writers

This is one of the first sites I looked at. It appears to focus more on book critiques than short story critiques. I wasn't sure what sort of a group I should join, as my short stories don't fall into one set genre. Also, navigation is somewhat clumsy.

Short Story Writers

This critique group seems to have been closed for a couple of years now, although I'm still finding references to it across the web. Latest update as of 4/16/2006. It still has some useful information for writers, however.

Writesville

Another defunct site, last updated in 2006. Again, some useful information, but I couldn't find anything resembling a critique group.

Last but not least, How To Critique Fiction is not a critique group, but does offer good information for how to go about critiquing someone's work.