Writing friends. Is there anything better? This picture was taken a year ago when I was in Houston visiting good friends, (from left to right) Bev Oz, Allie Standifer, Me, and Betty Hanawa. You may have read some of our books; we did two anthologies together for the holidays - "Tales from Christmas Town," and "Love from Christmas Town", for 2006 and 2007, respectively.

I know its not the holiday season, but our anthologies were such fun to write together, I keep you get a chance to pick one up someday. But this isn't about my books (well, its always about my books now isnt it - lol), but rather about the value of writing buddies or critique partners. There simply is no more unique friendship then the one shared by two writers. Who but your writing buddy understands when you say "I had no idea that character was going to do that". They don't look at you like you've lost your mind.

A good writing friend is honest without hurting your feelings. She loves you enough to not let you do something dumb like include a scene that is pointless no matter how snappy the dialogue or how amazing you described the sunset.

I tend to bounce ideas off my buddy Jo Barrett (another TWRP author check out her titles at www.thewildrosepress.com), and I know her so well that her silence usually tells me more than her words. If I share an idea for a scene and she doesn't say much, I know its probably not a good idea. When she loves something she talks a mile a minute and can brainstorm like crazy all the possibilities.

I know not everyone can meet face to face with a writing buddy. In fact, I've never lived near any of my writing friends. Heck, I went all the way to Houston to be with these ladies and Jo is in NC so that's a bit of a drive from Upstate New York. But the internet solves all that. If you aren't part of a writing group or a critique group you may want to consider one. I know at The Wild Rose Press there is a critique matchmaking group called The Rose Trellis that helps writers find each other.

This June I"m releasing another anthology with some writing friends. Stacy Dawn and Cindy Pape both TWRP authors joined forces with me to bring you "Return to Wayback", part of the popular series in the Yellow Rose line at www.thewildrosepress.com. This book features three siblings, Free, Grey and Dusty all part of the rodeo circuit - one barrel racer, one bull rider and one bronc buster. I hope you'll pick it up and enjoy the work we put into it.

If you haven't thought about a critique partner or writing buddy before I urge you to take the chance; it could be one of the most rewarding friendships of your life.

Thanks for stopping by.

Roni