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Equal Parts Criticism and Praise?

In the comments section of my post on How to Critique Other Writers’ Work, a debate ensues. When using the sandwich approach (two slices of positive feedback with a glob of criticism in the middle), do the positive and critical parts of your sandwich need to be equal? If a manuscript needs a lot of […]

How to Critique Other Writers’ Work

A post by my friend Sierra about her toxic critique group inspired me to remind people how to give critiques of other writers’ work in a writers’ group or workshop.

The sandwich method always works best: Start by saying something positive, followed by your constructive criticism, and then end with another positive comment. The reason […]

Author Interview: Julia Scheeres

Julia Scheeres is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Jesus Land, published in 2006. Today she is working on a book titled Jonestown, due out in 2011.

(Jonestown was a utopian community formed by Americans in Guyana, South America, under the leadership of a Bay Area preacher named Jim Jones. On […]

Writing Groups

A note on writing groups and workshops. My work has been workshopped at least a hundred times. I’ve been in a writing group on and off since 2002, I earned an MFA in 2006, and I attended the Squaw Valley Writers’ Conference in 2007—all which used the traditional workshop format of critiquing manuscripts with slight […]