I’ve just finished facilitating my weekly group of writers who read their work and give and receive feedback. Since I’ll be leading two critique workshops this Saturday at Western Theological Seminary’s “Heart Talk” Conference in Portland, Oregon, I’ve been thinking about how best to give those participants feedback on the three page selections they bring in. We’ll work in groups of ten for an hour or so. If you’ve ever been in a critique group, you know it’ll be difficult to give comprehensive feedback to all ten writers in so short a span of time. So what can we hope to accomplish? Would you believe Hope, Faith and Enthusiasm?

• First, I want to instill a sense of hope in each writer. Yes, it’s a Christian one day conference, but everybody needs hope that if one practices writing, one’s writing will improve.
• Next, I’ll try to help writers see that they can have faith in each other to give supportive and helpful feedback.
• Last, a writer who gets a combination of concrete suggestions for revision and encouragement will have a hard time not being enthusiastic about revising, writing, and maybe even life in general. I look forward to working with all the writers in my groups at Heart Talk this weekend.

Writing Tip For Today: You Tell Me: When you receive feedback on your work, what is the most helpful thing another writer can say to you? Are you able to give specific feedback that is also encouraging? I’d like to hear from you.