Last Wednesday was our ‘Read Around’ night, when members have the opportunity to bring in a piece of work to be read and critiqued. The objective of the evening is to provide writers with comments and feedback on their work in an unprejudiced and supportive forum, to enable the writer to edit and polish each manuscript accordingly. In other words, honest feedback provided and nae grudges to be held!
It was interesting to be on the observation side of the ‘read around’. Rhona and I were really impressed at the amount of genuine interest and enjoyment the groups received from reading the manuscripts that were submitted. Focussed discussion was the order of the day, with some argumentative banter thrown in when opinions differed on a specific piece of writing.
From Fairy Castles to the American Civil War, the writing topics varied enormously, each one sounding so interesting that it’s a shame that we couldn’t read all of them. On the whole, they were all well received but one story stood out on the night. In fact when I advised the group that was critiquing it that their time was up. I was told, ‘Ssh, this is a really good one, we want to finish it!’ The piece in question was, ‘My Gran’s A Nutter’.
By popular request, we ended the evening with the author reading the manuscript aloud and we all had a good laugh. It was pure comedy, well written and presented to an appreciative audience.
Read Around nights are your opportunity to obtain honest feedback on your work. You can remain anonymous if you prefer, you can pick your work up after everyone has gone. What you shouldn’t do is leave your work at home. We understand that it can feel a little uncomfortable to receive feedback, but it’s the work that we are looking at, not the member, plus it’s a fantastic feeling when people really enjoy your piece. If you haven’t submitted a piece of work before, why not think about doing it next time?
Go on, you’re amongst friends here!
Wilma