Critique Options

(Please note that this is an in-person event. We at Writing Day Workshops plan both online/virtual as well as in-person events. This next WWOC is an in-person event happening in Chicago on June 24, 2023. See you there.)

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Add $69 — for an in-depth, personal critique of your one-page query letter from Brian Klems, one of the day’s coordinators. (This rate is a special event value for Writing Workshop of Chicago attendees only.) Registrants are encouraged to take advantage of the specially-priced critique, so they can send out their query letter with confidence following the workshop. Also, if you are meeting with an agent at the event, you’re essentially speaking your query letter aloud to them. Wouldn’t it be wise to give that query letter (i.e., your pitch) one great edit before that meeting?

Add $89 — for an in-depth personal critique of the first 10 pages of your novel. Spaces with faculty for these critiques are very limited, and participating attendees will either 1) get an in-person meeting at the workshop, if the faculty member is attending the live event, or 2) get a 10-minute phone call with the faculty member, and have notes passed along via email, if the critiquer is not attending the live event. Options:

  • Middle grade and children’s picture books (virtual critiques): faculty member Denise McConduit, an author, will get your work in advance, critique the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book, meet with you online (Zoom, etc.) or by phone for 15 minutes sometime around the workshop to discuss her thoughts, and pass along written critique notes before or after the meeting. If you are submitting a picture book, make the submission 1,000 words or fewer, and it can or cannot include illustrations.
  • Women’s, mainstream, science fiction, fantasy, romance, crime, thriller, mystery (in-person meetings June 24): Faculty member Michelle McGill-Vargas, an author, will get your work in advance, critique the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book, meet with you in person at the event for 10 minutes sometime to discuss her thoughts, and pass along written critique notes at or after the meeting.
  • Middle grade, young adult; adult fiction in the areas of low fantasy, literary fiction, romance, contemporary fiction, women’s fiction, historical fiction, and mainstream fiction (in-person meetings June 24): Faculty member Joel Brigham, a writing coach and author, will get your work in advance, critique the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book, meet with you online (Zoom, etc.) or by phone for 10 minutes sometime before the workshop to discuss his thoughts, and pass along written critique notes before or after the meeting.
  • Literary fiction, general fiction, women’s fiction, science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, mystery, thriller, historical fiction, memoir, young adult, middle grade, and children’s picture books (virtual critiques): Faculty member Laura Biagi, a writing coach and former agent, will get your work in advance, critique the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book, meet with you online (Zoom, etc.) or by phone for 10 minutes sometime before the workshop to discuss her thoughts, and pass along written critique notes before or after the meeting. For children’s picture books, projects should be 1,000 words maximum, and can or cannot include illustrations.
  • More critique options possibly to come.