It's All in the Workshop

As students shuffled into the room for my life and memoir writing class earlier this semester, I didn’t have to check my course calendar to know what the day’s schedule held. While the handful who’d taken my writing classes before held an air of confidence, the majority wore their uneasiness like an ill-fitting uniform. Heads hanging low, shoulders slumped in defeat, few made eye contact with me. It was the first workshop of the semester, and dread was a palpable presence in the room.

I secretly grinned to myself and reminded the students of the ground rules: be respectful of one another, offer honest and constructive criticism, don’t malign other’s work, no disclaimers or explanations from the writer of the piece being workshopped. It was time to begin, and I was sure my excitement exceeded my students’ fear. I knew what we were about to do would be crucial to the development of these budding writers.

Workshopping, or sharing your writing with peers for their critical review, is an invaluable tool for the writer. Why? Because, while writing is intensely personal, it is also a means of connecting with others. Workshopping gives us a public forum for sharing our words in a safe, non-threatening setting. When we workshop, we open our writing to differing viewpoints that can only strengthen us as writers and people.

I encourage you if you don’t already have one to find a community of writers you feel safe with and share your writing. Be open to receiving people’s constructive criticism, knowing that ultimately you have the freedom to choose which advice to accept and which to reject.

And don’t be afraid to establish some ground rules, just as I have done with the students in my writing classes. Remember, workshopping won’t work if you fear personal attacks when others review your writing. It also won’t work if the members of your writing group are too worried about hurting one another’s feelings to be honest. And one last thing, you must park your thin skin at the door. If you’re busy defending what you’ve written and taking offense over opinions you don’t like, workshopping is a waste of time.

So make up your mind today that you won’t be overly sensitive about your writing, and don’t be afraid to share with others. You’ll grow as a writer . . . and as a person.

--Cheryl