Critique groups: intro

I've been blogging about the craft of writing for more than two years now, but I realize I haven't said much about critique groups.

I will be remedying that this week. But I decided to call in an expert, who will be featured in a guest post and giveaway!

As a little intro to the subject, I'll share some of my own experiences with critique groups here.  I'll start with this picture:

copyright 2009 Kathye Fetsko Petrie

This is a picture of me at my in-person critique group. Why am I laughing, you a...