Divorce – Critique Group Style

by Lupe Fernandez

Almost three years ago I joined a writing group with Teri Fox. There were four of us, but now there is only Teri and I. Teri Fox writes YA. She lives in cool house in the San Fernando Valley. We meet once or twice a month on Saturdays. She always has cookies and or fruit. The house is quiet, no screaming kids or barking dogs or jetliners roaring overhead, her house does not require satellite triangulation to find.

Teri, a former journalist for the Los Angeles Times, is a meticulous editor. My YA story is a better manuscript thanks to her efforts. She devotes the same attention to her own manuscript, scrutinizing each word and fearless in her rewrites.

Adjectives, adverts and clichés: Beware of Teri’s mighty pen. She takes no prisoners, and she’s usually right.

Here’s what Pen & Ink’s own Susan Berger has to day about Teri:

“Teri and I were in the same critique group for three years. In 2009, we lost a member which led us to put up a notice on Critique connection. We received so many replies that we ended up having a large group meeting at Hilde's house. At the end of the meeting Teri chose to go with a the newly forming YA critique group and Channe and I went to a picture book group. I knew I would miss Teri's critiques, this group meeting yielded enough writers to form a YA group and that's where Teri belonged. Hilde said she needed a Tuesday night group and I also joined that group. The four of us became Pen and Ink. I know Teri will be an asset to any group she joins. I really enjoyed working with her.”

With such a great writing partner, what’s with the divorce? The only reason I ever do anything drastic is because of a woman. In July, I’m leaving Los Angeles and moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, the land of my birth. So I will be unable to continue my writing relationship with Teri, hence the divorce. It’s an amiable divorce. Teri gets to keep her house. I get to keep my manuscript. Teri isn’t letting mourning our separation, she always looking to start a new writing group. But don’t take my word for it.

Teri, what did you to at the Los Angeles Times? 

In Los Angeles Times' glory days I produced feature articles on contemporary products and modern architecture. I designed sets, directed photographers and wrote the copy. 'Home Magazine' under Otis Chandler. It paid well. 

What are you look for in a writing critique group?

I want to be critiqued by YA writers who kill cliches in their work and bomb all adverbs. Most commas can die. 

What will other writers benefit from working with you?

Short sentences and chapters require sharp word choices. I help writers express their deepest intentions. 

What are you working on now? 

My YA novel is an historic adventure. Nineteen-year-old Jacob, a New York stage actor, struggles for his lead in D. W. Griffith's first silent western.

How do potential critique mates get in touch with you?
I would like to do an online YA Critique of four members. Reach me at Foxystory@aol.com

Anything else, you’d like to say? 

Thank you Lupe. Keep up your good work! 

I’d like to say, it’s been a pleasure to work with you, and eat your cookies and assorted sliced fruit. I enjoyed washing my hands in the sink full of rocks.
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No, no. don’t worry about me, gentle reader.
I’ll be fine…sniffle, sniffle.