Critique Group Survival Guide

I found a great book this weekend: The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide: How to Make Revisions, Self-Edit, and Give and Receive Feedback  

I've been thinking about finding a critique partner or critique group to join. I'm so glad I bought this book first. I really didn't know the first thing about critiquing. I thought it was pretty much the same as copy editing. Big mistake. After reading it, I realize I'm not quite ready to join a group but I have picked up some valuable techniques to edit my own writing and when I do join a group or find a CP, I'll be able to participate usefully.

If you're interested, I wrote a review of this book at http://www.booksforwriters.net/.

Reading vs Writing

When should a wannabe writer, like myself, stop reading books on writing and start writing?

I thought I could do both but the more I read, the more I realize I might be wasting my time writing. There is so much I don't know, so much I need to learn. Every time I learn something important, I want to go back and start my story over.

For instance, while procrastinating writing, I went through some old writing books and found a real gem: Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories by Margaret Lucke (1998). After reading a few chapters, I was inundated with ideas to make my story better. Unfortunately, they all require major reconstruction of my characters and plot.

I'm unsure now. Should I finish the first draft and make the changes later? Or should I restructure it and then write the first draft?

Writing has become such a doubt-filled experience these last few weeks that the only time my brain will relax and create is late at night while I'm trying to fall asleep. Probably because my subconcious knows there's no chance I'll actually get up and write anything down. And by morning, it's gone.

I'm done thinking about writing. If I stop reading about writing, I'll stop learning. So, I'm back in the chair tonight and ready to write. And I'm still reading that great book on short story writing. It may take me a lot longer to finish my work-in-progress (WIP) since I'll have to do a lot of rewriting, but it's not a waste of time.

Writing is never a waste of time.

What I write now may not be usable, but it's practice. And almost every book I read or writer I talk to says the best way to become a writer is to follow these steps:

1. 
   
   Write.
2. 
   
   Write some more.
3. 
   
   Keep on writing.

So, tonight I begin again.

BICHOK
(butt in chair, hands on keyboard).

Premise, Theme and Moral

I bought a new book on writing mainly for the chapter on how to tell the difference between  premise, theme and moral. The book is The Art and Craft of Storytelling: A Comprhensive Guide to Classic Writing Techniques by Nancy Lamb (Writer's Digest Books).

I know, I don't need to read another book on how to write. I need to write!

But . . .

I've always had trouble coming up with a theme or premise for my stories. Truthfully, I don't even know the difference between the two. And Ms. Lamb states:

"Ideally, you should establish the premise of your story before you even begin writing. If you can do this, you will save yourself untold creative angst."

Less angst is good, right?