A P.E.E.R.group is four or to six writers who, bi-weekly, meet to:

 Present - a selection of three or four pages of their work that they would like the others to review for a specific purpose like character development, typos, flow, description, spelling, forward movement, arc of the story, etc.

Edit – with red ink as suggestions, on the presenter’s distributed copies. Once done the copies are returned to the original writer for private consideration, off site. Review should not be made while still in the working group, to avoid hurt feelings and conflict.

Encourage – each writer whose work was just edited. Compliment one another. Nobody likes criticism, and we all have feelings that can be hurt, so use gentle questions and suggestions to elicit improvement in your peer’s writing.

Review – of your edited pages should be done later, in private. For participation in this group to be worth your time, seriously consider your peer’s edits. Not all of their suggestions will feel right. But, sleep on their ideas, adapt what makes sense, and move on to write another three or four pages.

Note: In order for your participation to be valuable, keep in mind that in giving, you will receive. Hopefully, you will find that trust, respect and kindness in your review of the other writer’s work, will be returned to you as well. And, keep in mind that every writer invests personal perceptions, imagination and emotion in their work. Because they do, use a surgeon’s gentle hand as you write suggestions and questions on your fellow writer’s latest submission. Kindness and encouragement are the keys to cohesion and a healthy writing environment.

We are all striving wordsmiths attempting to find exactly the right terms, churn out perfect phrases, burst forth with flowing paragraphs, and create works that people will want to purchase and enjoy. But, it takes polishing, buffing and revision by you and your team of advocates to make it happen. So, I hope you’ll commit to a P.E.E.R group of your genre’ and reach your writing goals soon. 

Keep your ink flowing at Larksong Writers Place.