I do read my own work aloud — or I tape it to hear it — or I have actor friends read it for me. It’s important — especially with dialogue.

But I find it impossible to critique something if I only listen to it. I’m listening to the performance as much as the content (probably because of my years in theatre).

I need to see the words and hear distinct voices in my head as I read in order to effectively critique it.

Which is why I don’t join groups that read the work in the group anymore.

I also find the discussion is deeper when the work is pre-read, going further into themes, context, logic, etc. than the grammar, sentence structure, and basic editing that happens when you hear it for the first time in group.

With the last writers’ group in which I participated in, for six years until we all moved out of NYC, I would go home and write immediately, still on the rush from the group. I’d read the other material about a week ahead of time, so I could read it several times for comment, and then I’d rework my own material to be handed out at the next meeting a few days before.

Once I broke out of writing up until the moment of the meeting, I found my quality went way up and I was less frantic and frustrated about it. It needed less rewriting, and the critique was less about basic editing functions than content, which is what I wanted and needed.

The negative about the way we worked is that, because we were responding to what was handed out at previous meeting, but working on what was discussed at that meeting, sometimes we were working non-sequentially, and there was a two-meeting time lag (we met every three weeks) between the responses from the previous meeting and the changes we made because of that meeting.

That got a little confusing sometimes.

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For an email group, it’s critical to read ahead. Otherwise you’re scrambling to read and then respond all in the same day.

It really does depend on the group, I think. For us, we send ahead if we want to, but it’s not a requirement to read it. In fact, if it were, I’d be guilty every time. I often work up until meeting time, and I often write the same day. It’s the pressure of the deadline that gets me motivated. 🙂

I think groups with a wide variety of projects are more effective, for me, both as a critiquer, and as a writer, since I work in more than one genre.

I agree that a high level of commitment is important. There’s no such thing as “no time to read” each other’s pieces if you read between meetings. It’s about priorities, and if someone keeps giving that excuse, obviously the group isn’t important to that individual.