Critique Circle #1 (North American-centric) 2011/2012 Thread

[Birol]

Hello, gang, and welcome to the second year of our critique circle. Right now, I have little information to post, but wanted to get a new thread for the new year started.

I have e-mailed those who expressed an interest in continuing on to determine the best meeting time(s). A second e-mail was sent asking for those who wished to be critiqued to contact me so I can begin scheduling.

A couple of changes from last year: We hope to meet twice a month this year instead of only once. This will allow more individuals to be critiqued. Also, we will only be drawing for three months at a time, regardless of the number of individuals who wished to be critiqued. While drawing in advance was and is an excellent idea so that we did not have to do so before every meeting, scheduling a year in advance was a bit problematic in that who really knows in January what their schedule for November will be? To allow for the best of both worlds, we will schedule for shorter time periods.

There will be a sticky that will be updated periodically with the meeting times of all critique circles listed and critique circle meeting times have been added to AW's calendar, too.

For those of you who may stumble upon this thread later in the year, the original critique circle thread is here.

 

[ruckeriii]

Count me in.

 

[SaraP]

I'm in, as before. I've learned so much from this year's meetings, and had a whole lot of fun as well.

 

[Calliopenjo]

You know I'm in. All I need is a time.

 

[Birol]

I've received some e-mails already with times. I just have to compile them and see what everyone wants. I'll do it. Eventually. Really.

 

[K. Taylor]

I'll e-mail tonight.

 

[BethMac]

East Coast US wanting to join

Can I join in? I'll pm my email to the OP.
Thanks
Mel

 

[CelesteAvonne]

Crit Circle

I'd like to join, too. I've heard much about it.

 

[DKM]

Excellent,

I'm a newbie but I want to join too. Send me some info. Hope I can steer my way thru this.

DKM

 

[Birol]

Those of you wanting to join in, e-mail me your e-mail address and availability at Lori(at)royell(dot)org, or PM me the same information. Also, I need to know if you're interested in being critiqued before the end of March.

I need availability by December 31st.

 

[Birol]

As a reminder, please have your availability to me by Friday.

Based on what I’ve compiled to date, Tuesday and Friday evenings are the leading contenders. (This is interesting, because I’m not available on Tuesdays, but if it is what works for most people, I’ll make certain there is someone to cover the leadership.) Also, individuals who have indicated their preferred meeting times would like to meet a little earlier than we have been. This is so understandable.


If this is not matching your schedule and you have not given me your feedback yet, now is the time.

 

[Calliopenjo]

: Happy Dance.

 

[Birol]

Okay, we have dates. Fridays won.

Times are a little trickier. Some people didn't really specify. Some people wanted late because it allowed them to get the kids to bed. Others wanted earlier because they have to get up in the morning. What I'm thinking is we split the difference and start a half hour earlier and after three or four months we can see if we need to move it forward or back from there?

So, the official meeting times are the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month at 9:30PM Eastern/8:30PM Central/7:30PM Mountain/6:30PM Pacific. This would translate to 2:30AM Saturday morning GMT, I believe. And again, if the meeting times aren't working for the majority, we'll continue to adjust. You just have to chime up somewhere.

Our next meeting will be Friday, January 14th. I'll get back to you on who is being critiqued.

Thanks, Everyone.

 

[K. Taylor]

Bummer. I have to be out by 8 on Fridays. Moving it earlier is good, but..

 

[Ms. Jem]

I'm in. With the new schedule, you should be hearing more from me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[Birol]

Wow. Only two people have responded with any "bummers". I might have chosen well this time around.

I know I still need to get the list of who is being crit the 1st quarter. Whoever gets the first slot will have to get their pages to me ASAP.

 

[Ms. Jem]

If someone new isn't ready, I always have pages. Love the constructive crits in this group.

 

[Calliopenjo]

I was just wondering if anything has been sent out yet?

I checked my email and didn't get anything, as far as story to crit is concerned.

 

[Darkwing]

Are we meeting tonight? >.> I don't even know how to get to the critique chat room. What's the room name?

 

[SaraP]

Tonight? No, no, no!

First meeting will be on the 14th.

I do suggest that people get acquainted with how to get in the crit circle chat room before the meeting day, so they'll avoid nasty surprises on M-Day. Although using the chatroom is no biggie, it can take some getting used to for those who have never used IRC before.

ETA: There's detailed info on how to get in the chat room here.

 

[Sarah Madara]

Who's being critiqued? I haven't gotten anything yet.

 

[AnnieColleen]

Nor here - has anything been decided?

(Also, semi-dittoing Ms. Jem; I have another short story I can put in if needed. If someone else is ready, I'll defer. )

 

[Snappy]

How does it work? I'd be interested, but not exactly sure of the process.

 

[Birol]

Lori is horribly behind on everything. Lori will take care of this tonight.

 

[Birol]

The e-mail I just sent out:

Hello, everyone.

First let me apologize for the delay in getting the 1st quarter line-up to everyone. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed lately and, sometimes, when that happens, I become very unproductive.

I five open spots for January through March. Maryann (MAP) had one of the January spots reserved from when we scheduled everyone last year. To determine who went where, I listed the names of all those who had expressed interest in being critiqued in a numbered list and then rolled the dice. (These dice were bought for something aikido-related, but I’m finding they’re coming in very handy for other things.) If a person’s number came up, they received the next open spot.

Debbie Lewis won the dubious honor of being critiqued this Friday. I have an e-mail to her to see if she has something ready to go or not. If she doesn’t, we may have to call Friday an open chat day and give Debbie the first open day in April out of courtesy for my winning the lottery but having to deal with my procrastination.

Anyway, the critique order, as it stands now is:

January 14th – Debbie (DA Lewis)
January 28th – Maryann (MAP)
February 11th – Sarah McCanless
February 25th – Celeste Hollister
March 11th – Julie C
March 25th – Dan (DKM)

I’ll draw names for April, May, and June at the end of February. If time gets away from me, please feel free to poke and nag.

My apologies again and thank you.


~Lori

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