Your hands are sweating. You lie awake at night. You can’t stop thinking about your face-to-face critique with the publishing professional of your dreams. On the day of the conference, you manage to stumble to the registration desk, blurt out your name to the welcoming lady behind the table, and get your shiny folder which includes everything you need to know … including your critique assignment.

You open the folder. Lo and behold, your 30-minute appointment is with Agent Fabulous or Editor OMG! Or Author-Genius/Lucky-to-Have-Her-Even-Breathe-on-Me!

What now? How do you prepare? What are you going to do to fill up a whole 30 minutes?

Here are a few tips from someone who’s been-there-and-done-that!  This is your survival guide for … making the most out of your conference critique.

Critiquers are people, too. If you ever feel intimidated by your pending appointment with Agent-Holy-Cow, Author-Bestselling-for-56-weeks! and Editor-No-Freakin-Way, remember this: critiquers are people, too. They brush their teeth (hopefully), burp (hopefully not in public), and my favorite…. have less than perfect writing sometimes, too.

Read the bio. Think up possible conversation topics. Before your appointment, it never hurts to read the bio about the faculty member to whom you’ve been assigned. More than likely your critique will only take half the time to complete and you’ll be left with fifteen minutes to twiddle your thumbs. Thumb-twiddling is probably not what you want to be doing in front of Agent Fabulous and Editor OMG or even Author-Who?! So think about some possible topics of conversation related to the faculty member just in case you end up with a cricket-chirping-silent kinda moment.

Disappointed with your assignment? You had dreams of getting Agent Fabulous or Editor OMG, but you wound up with some author you’ve never heard of.  You didn’t even get (insert keynote speaker here), for goodness sakes!  If this happens to you, fear not!  Yes, the critique can be a great opportunity to meet a famous editor or agent, but having an author as a critiquer is a great opportunity to get feedback from someone who actually does the heavy lifting! Imagine that. Also, during thumb-twiddling time, you can ask all sorts of questions that you would never had had the guts to ask an editor or agent.

If you’re disappointed because your goal was to sell your a book at the conference through a critique, then you are totally entitled to feel disappointment.  Though keep in mind, the purpose of the critiques is to hone your craft, so you can sell a book without the need for a conference critique. Yeah?   Finally, making face-to-face connections with editors and agents is wonderful! But the large majority of books that are bought do not require a face-to-face interaction. It’s a myth that you have to *know* someone to sell a book in this business. So get that out of your head.  Like now. Books are bought and sold on the basis of your work – not how cute you are or how well you can carry on a conversation about weather. This brings me to my next point …

Remember why you’re there—you’re there to discuss and consider new ideas for your writing and your story. Not to land a contract or pitch yourself like you’re the World’s Best Made-for-TV-tomato-cucumber-all-in-one-cheese grater!  (In other words, try to avoid a cheesy sales pitch.)  If you’re sitting in front of an author, chances are a sale won’t happen for obvious reasons. (Though you should not forget that authors are connected, too.) If you’re in front of an editor or agent, you might be able to drum up some interest in your work. However, unless the editor or agent says, “You know, I thought your work was perfect. Let’s chat about our favorite reality TV shows,” you should probably focus your energy on LISTENING to what is being said to you about your work. Note: It doesn’t hurt to visualize though. Though rare, sometimes the beginnings of deals are made at these things (even with an author, yes), so keep visualizing!

Jot down questions. Spend a few moments thinking about what you would like to know about your own work. Make sure that by the critique’s end,  your questions are answered. Questions can range from how strong is my writing when compared to other works that you’ve seen? To …. Should the guy really be picking his nose in Chapter Two?

Take notes. This may seem obvious, but make sure you bring a working pen to your critique and some paper to jot your notes. At the very least, it gives you something productive to do while you think up the next thing to say. At best, you’ll have a record of what was said because you won’t remember a thing afterward!

Try to not do anything that might be viewed as crazy. You always hear stories about how someone cried profusely during a critique, threw up, or even threatened bodily harm to someone. Try to remember that the person giving the feedback may be as nervous as you are. Yes. REALLY! Who wants to think you might get thrown up on if you use the wrong words to say someone’s writing needs some work? So… if you find that your critiquer is hedging with their comments for fear of personal injury, feel free to assure the critiquer that you appreciate honest feedback and are open to suggestions. Say it with it a smile and MEAN IT. Do your best to remember that an opinion is just an opinion. It’s what you asked for by submitting a work for critique. If a person has some criticism for you (constructive or otherwise), the criticism is not a complete slander of your person, your children and your goldfish, too. A criticism is not a dashing of your hopes or dreams. It’s just a critique. An opinion. Keep the emotions under control and you should come out just fine. Maybe even a winner!

If you find yourself feeling defensive … STOP. DROP. ROLL. (Just kidding!) No, stop. Listen. LISTEN. If something doesn’t make sense to you, ask questions that will help you understand the reason behind the critiquer’s comment. Withhold from saying “I meant to do that.” “Oh, that part comes later… you just haven’t gotten to it yet.” That’s the fastest way to get a critiquer to think that you might not be someone who can handle some tough revision. Show them you’re big enough, strong enough, and gosh-darn good enough to handle feedback.

Just because so-and-so said it, doesn’t mean you have to do it. When considering revision suggestions, always figure out for yourself why you should make a certain change. You don’t have to tell the critiquer then and there that you’ll do something they suggest. You just need to say, “That’’s great food-for-thought!” The fastest way to lose yourself in the process of critique and revision is to follow orders like a good soldier. Follow orders, yes, to some extent. But use your brain while doing so. In writing, YOU are the author and ultimately you decide what is best for your story. Do let the critique sit with you a while before you make decisions. It’s amazing what a little space from the criticism can do for your writing and your ego.

Not all matches are made in heaven. It happens. Sometimes the critiquer may openly state (or not!) that the story wasn’t quite right for him. Even so, listen to the feedback. He or she could be suggesting that the idea could be strengthened to make it more appealing to more people. Or… she could just be the wrong match for the work. If the work at hand may seem like a lost cause for the critique, feel free to ask your critiquer about other ideas you have and what he thinks. Does this sound more appealing to them as a marketable work? Or that? Remember: we’re making the most out of the critique! (No one said it had to be about the same work.) NOTE: Do not ask the critiquer to review another work unless the critiquer invites you to send it to them. Even then, don’t expect a full critique.

Hit it off! Sometimes, you can hit it off, and the next thing you know, you are talking about your six-month-old Labradoodle and the best kind of Spanx to buy. There’s no harm in having a good conversation. Enjoy it, but be sure to keep things professional. Don’t probe the critiquer for personal information you normally wouldn’t get during a business meeting. (This IS a business meeting.) And make sure you don’t get so carried away, you can’t remember what the critique was all about. Get your money’s worth and get the advice you need. Take down those notes!

Wrap it up. You’ve survived the critique. You didn’t insult the critiquer. You actually may have managed a smile throughout. It’s time to wrap it up. If the editor or agent is interested in seeing more work from you, she’ll let you know explicitly. Sometimes he or she might give you a business card. Sometimes, he might actually say, “send more of your work to me.” And sometimes, she might say, “it was a pleasure meeting you. Let’s stay in touch.” If the critiquer says none of this, do not think that means “no more from you” either. You should always approach editors, agents, and authors in the same manner. Professionally. A “not right for me” at the critique doesn’t always mean “other-works-are-not-right-for-me.” You can always send in future submissions according to published guidelines.

Make good on promises. If you receive an explicit revision request or request for more work and say you’ll do it, make good on those promises. For revision requests, make sure that the agent or editor gets a short exclusive. Be upfront if the work in question has already been submitted to other houses or agents and you can’t give the editor or agent an exclusive on a revision.

Thank the critiquer. Hopefully, your critique went well (i.e. you did nothing crazy and you felt like you got something out of it). You naturally feel inspired to thank the person right then and there. It’s also a great idea to follow up a critique with a thank-you note mailed to the critiquer’s office. Even if you have less than a fabulous experience, still thank the critiquer for her time and opinion. If you do one thing at all, you show someone else that you ARE big enough, strong enough, and gosh-darn-good-enough to take some criticism (good or bad). Even better? You might just walk away with a few great ideas to improve your work!

Cynthea Liu is author of PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE (Putnam) and THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA, A S.A.S.S Novel (Speak), and her forthcoming novel WHAT I DIDN’T TELL YOU (Putnam). She’ll also be sitting behind the other side of the table at this year’s SCBWI Annual Conference in Los Angeles, hoping she doesn’t get beaten, cried on, or thrown-up on. She is also founder of AuthorsNow.com and is managed by her rabbit Snoop – the bunny behind the website http://www.WritingForChildrenandTeens.com.

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Hey everyone,

Whenever I hear of something uber-cool for writers that also happens to be free, I think to myself — my readers will want to know about this!

I hereby present to you WriteOnCon – the first online conference for kidlit writers of its kind!

www.WriteOnCon.com

Registration is open now. I heard about this through a writer-colleague friend who’s on faculty. It’s a great bunch of people  running this show, and I have no doubt it will rock.

Enjoy!

Cynthea (and The Snooper)

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Hey, everyone,

Snoop and I are happy to report that we’ve finished all feedback for this last game of RLGL. If we missed yours somehow, please forward your WHY WHY WHY email to sub at cynthealiu DOT come or leave us a comment. If you missed the deadline to formally request feedback, we’re sorry, but Snoop and I need to move on with other important writerly matters at this time. Like catching up on our favorite reality TV shows and stuff.

Also, many of you are sending your thanks or wondering if you can even send your thanks … Of course, we gladly except thank you emails, comments on our blog, shout-outs on your blogs, virtual carrots… We love praise!  In fact we kinda thrive on knowing that we’re helping people out.

If you want to do more than just a shout-out of love, we, as authors, can’t think of any bigger compliment than knowing you wouldn’t mind owning a Liu-Snooper book! So feel free to load up your virtual shopping carts or go to your local bookstore and order them up!

Take care, everyone. I hope to see many of you in LA for the SCBWI Annual Conference. I’m on faculty this year—doing what? Why, critiquing of course!  (Snooper will be at home though. He’s on toddler-duty.) Please say Hi.  You’ll find me at the Wine and Cheese Reception, hanging out in the patio area, and getting down on the dance floor.

I look forward to meeting you in person!

Happy revising,
Cynthea and The Snooper!

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Well, we’ve read, we’ve mulled, we’ve chewed.

The winner for RLGL in the longer-work category is #102! #102, you do not need to do anything to receive your free-tique, other than to remind Snoop on July 1st that we promised to finish it by June 30th!

All other SUDDEN DEATH players, all of you will receive some quick criticism – in-the-style-of-”brief-and-to-the-point” automatically. In addition to 102, some of you may be referred to my agent for a peek but I’ll discuss that with you before doing so.

#8, I did not receive your entry prior to the deadline. If you sent it in on time, please contact me and let me know.

All other players who participated in RLGL and would like a quick-crit, please follow these instructions carefully.

For each entry that needs feedback, send an email with this in the subject line: WHY, WHY, WHY? ENTRY #, Type, Pg #s. (e.g., WHY, WHY, WHY? #250, PB, Pg 1-2, THE BUN ALSO RISES).   Same address sub AT cynthealiu dotcom.

In the body of the email, paste in everything you sent in for that entry. If you sent in Page 1-5, you would paste in all of that text in logical, chronological order (no need for breaks). This way Snoop can quickly read over the entry again from start to stop, refresh his memory, and let you know what led to the elimination.

EVERYONE will need to remember the solemn free-tique oath.

This feedback will probably not contain many bells and whistles, given the # of entries we need to respond to. So understand, that we may not be commenting specifically on the positive aspects of your writing. Instead, we will just let you know what wasn’t working for us. No one should feel suckage after a crit like this  just because we skipped the sugar, okay?

You have until June 19th, 11:59PM CST to request feedback.

Do not ask for status on feedback until after Snoop has announced he is finished! Thanks for your patience, and thanks for being so brave to submit your stuff to The Snooper! He’s got enough fiber in his diet to last a millenium, thanks to you!   We’ll see you next time around!

Happy revising,

Cynthea (and Snoop!)

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Snoop is having trouble deciding which entry should win sudden death. He has decided to sleep on it, knowing that tomorrow will shed new light. Please hang tight – we will re-read the entries tomorrow and make a determination. Based on Snoop’s schedule, it is likely we shall have result’s by 1PM CST. Thank you! (Sorry for the torture!)

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Snoop says, RED LIGHT!

All entries submitted before June 2, 11:59PM CST have been reviewed.   We have a winner for the longer-work category. A number of people have cleared page 7 (some, just barely).  We have a six-way tie. If you see, SUDDEN DEATH next to your #, this means you are now competing for the win.

Everyone else, the game is over for you. Please hold off on contacting Snoop for feedback until SUDDEN DEATH is complete.

SUDDEN DEATH players – this is your last opportunity to woe Snoop with your writing prowess.

Make sure you title your email with your Entry #, SUDDEN DEATH, TYPE and MS TITLE.  (E.g.  #14, SUDDEN DEATH, MG, The Chronicles of Bunnia)

ATTACH. ATTACH! the FIRST 6250 words of your MS (hope you know how to use the Word Count feature in Microsoft Word!)  Approximately 25 pages roughly.

This does not mean all 25 pages will be read. It just means, Snoop will keep reading until he gives up. The entry that compels Snoop to read the most words WINS.  The key is to make sure every word is worth reading for Snoop.

Snoop says, GREEN LIGHT! You have until Sunday, June 6th, 11:59PM to revise your first 6250 words. Again the goal is get Snoop to want to read as many words as possible.  You may change stuff you’ve sent before to Snoop if you need to.  Just make sure you do not send in more than 6250 words (including Chapter Titles) and START FROM THE BEGINNING of that work.

Again, FIRST 6250 words. ATTACHED.

And don’t forget to use the correct subject line format and email address : sub AT cynthealiu DOT com.

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Hey all, I know many of you are anxiously awaiting results for Round 7. This is your update that they will be coming tonight. I don’t know when, but please try to relax and enjoy your afternoon while you wait. Apologies for the torture!

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Snoop says, RED LIGHT.  Round 6 results are complete.

Existing racers: PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR ENTRY NUMBERS in the subject line as well as the correct page # for this contest (not what’s in your manuscript).

After page 1, do not send  more than 250 words or less than 250 words.  This ensures everyone competes equally.  We don’t care if a sentence has been cut off or if you’ve ended a chapter.  250 WORDS (including chapter titles, etc.) Thanks!

NOVELISTS: If you have or are about to send in Page 7 of your manuscript for Round 7, there’s a good chance that Snoop will ask for a SUDDEN DEATH round if your page clears.  Sudden death will involve a page-off between racers who are tied at Page 7.  Stay tuned for that.

All racers: please hang tight until this RLGL is completely done before asking for feedback. There are specific procedures for that which Snoop has not yet unveiled.

If there is an asterisk by your X – that means Snoop is about ready to eat your manuscript so make sure you are tightening your pages!

SNOOP SAYS, Green Light. Entries who cleared this round, you have until tonight, June 2nd, 11:59PM CST to turn in your next 250 words. NO NEW MANUSCRIPTS from anyone, please. Thank you!

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Snoop says, RED LIGHT! Round 5 Results are complete.

RACERS: This is your last chance to enter. After Round 6 closes, Snoop will NOT be issuing new entry #s.  You have until June 1st, 11:59PM CST.  After that, only existing entries will be able to play.

Read this post for full details on how to enter.

If there is an asterisk by your X, it means Snoop is just waiting to chomp on your manuscript. Tighten your pages!

BTW, many of you saved yourselves from elimination in this round.  Snoop was impressed by how quickly some of your entries turned themselves around.  Good work!

SNOOP SAYS, Green light! Deadline for Round 6: June 1st, 11:59PM CST.

If you do not see your number posted here or did not receive a number, this means …
1) Your submission did not make the deadline for that round. It will be rolled into the next.
2) Our reply with your number landed in your spam box. (Please check your spam box before asking about your number, thanks!)
3) Your submission landed in Snoop’s spam box or we somehow missed your entry. If you believe this is the case, simply re-forward your submission and explain the situation. If you believe we are not getting your emails at all, feel free to leave a comment on this post, and we will definitely get your message off the site.

Thanks and good luck in the next round!

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Hey all,

NEW RACERS: Visit this post for full details on how this game is played.

Snoop and I are packing for Mem Day weekend and doing all sorts of crazy stunts to get ourselves together. We anticipate Round 5 judging will occur late tonight.  No worries though, you will have plenty of time to turn in Round 6 pages.  Snoop thinks the next deadline will be on Monday.  Anything sent after the last deadline (May 26, 11:59PM CST) will be rolled into Round 6.

Also, this will probably be the last big push before Snoop decides he’s going to need dentures. After Monday’s deadline, we will have to stop issuing new entry numbers.  So if you’ve been debating, NOW is the time to enter if you do not have something dangling in front of Snoop’s choppers already.

Thank you!

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