We believe that if you are a serious writer, you don't need us to help you find flaws in your work. What you do need is time away from the manuscript. Set the work aside for more than five weeks. You'll be amazed at what you'll find on your own. You'll know that you've had enough time away from the manuscript when you find yourself commenting, "I don't remember writing that line, paragraph--and who is that character?" You'll also be amazed at the quantity of typos, errors, plot sinkholes, and consistency bubbles that you find in your own work.

However, most writers are in a hurry. They want the work done, revised, reviewed, and revised again. They want it complete, packed off to an agent, and published. Well, if you have done all your homework, you still don't need us. What we recommend before you contact us for assistance is listed here:

First
Read. You have heard this, but it's a fact. Read your market. Read your competition. Read the good, the bad, and the should-not-have-been-printed. The last category always gets us giddy. For two reasons, since we know you can do better, and since after scratching our heads at "bad reads" it does help when you know that you write better than that. So, how did they get published, you asked. Whoever "they" were, they sat down and wrote. It's what you should do. Turn the TV off and write.

Second. If you must have feedback, join a writers group. Not just the group itself, but find out if they have smaller circles that specifically form together to work on each individual genre. Each group's category might be broad (romance, mystery, sociopath-thriller, or literary/mainstream) but if the idea of personal one-to-one feedback becomes critical to your growth as a writer, then by all means, call your local library and ask the reference desk where and when the next writers' group meeting is--the librarians are outstanding resources for writers' groups.

Third. Give your work to someone you know; give the manuscript to someone who tells the truth. Remember that it will be "their truth" and subjective. Then give the work to someone else. If you find those two people meet somewhere on an X/Y axis on certain points, you have achieved, as we like to call it, a state of Eureka! which is not the same thing as euphoria. What happens next is polishing the X/Y axis and that means more work, but then you are really after the journey and not the prize. Sure, we tell ourselves that too. (It's not the prize, it's not the prize.)

Finally. If for some reason, we have not dissuaded you, contact us when you need a "fresh pair of eyes" to review your work. We like to read what other writers work on since it gives us a reason to not work on our own stuff. And we will set aside time to read the first ten pages without any charge. Especially if you write funny. Or, if what you write has humor.

After the first ten pages, then we get serious and set aside a lot of our work. So if you want to send something to Critique City that contains more than ten pages, be prepared for the following. We will provide you with:

1. A line-by-line edit;
2. Constructive criticism on plot, POV, character shifts, scene, inconsistencies, and story; and,
3. An invoice that confirms we did items #1 and 2 and a note that our opinions and recommendations are not refundable.

And we'll get right back to you whenever you ask a question. For a manuscript, it takes a little longer. We'll keep you posted, but count on about two weeks.

To summarize, we are here, we would like you to visit often, and we hope you don't hire us. But if you do, we'll leave the porch light on for you.

Send ten pages or less to: editor@wordsmitten.com

For longer work, go to the Feedback Form and fill in your request. We promptly respond to all your questions. If you don't like email, we really enjoy getting postcards.

Kate Sullivan, Site Editor
And the Round Table Editors
Editor@wordsmitten.com

Send postcards to:
The Editors
Word Smitten
P.O. Box 5067
St. Petersburg, FL 33737-5067

Before you engage any writer (including us) to provide you with coaching, mentoring, and feedback for your work, we recommend this link. http://www.writer.org/scamkit.htm