Conferences are an excellent way to improve your writing and when one-on-one critiques are offered, you have a rare opportunity to get a professional assessment of your work. Often, though, we as writers are so in love with our words, that we expect everyone else to be as well. New writers may feel devastated when editors don’t immediately laud their manuscripts or offer the writer a contract on the spot. But a seasoned writer will go into a critique intending to pick the brain of the professional, and they will value honest criticism, which will make their work better. Editors and agents see hundreds of manuscripts yearly and they have a very good eye for what works and what doesn’t work. They are the best reviewers an author can have because they can see what is best in your story as well as where it slows down, becomes too wordy, or goes off track. So to get the most from your critiques, take a deep breath, and focus on what you can take from the professionals that may make your work good enough to make a future sale.

                                                                                                  ~ Pat Weissner