I belonged for a short time to a critique group in Florida. They were nice folks but I found there was a core group who were a bit too self-involved to give a newbie a chance. Then I found another small one and found some folks who really gave good advice. It was run by a published author. It ended up, though, being more about publicity for her and it disbanded after only a few meetings. I also currently belong to a online one. I agree, somewhat, that you sometimes end up second-guessing your writing and lots of times all you get are pats on the back when you really want MEAT in the critiques.
I would love to have just one good beta reader...
I would love to have just one good beta reader...