Weeks 1 - 6:  Each writer took it in turn each week to post a poem. The remaining five writers critiqued and discussed.
Week 7:  No Posts. All writers revised their work.
Week 8:  Writers posted their revised poems and a general discussion of the work ensued.


There was no discussion during the sixth week. Instead, the writers focused on using the critique and discussion to re-work their writing. At the end of the week, the revised pieces were posted up in the workshop once more, where they were more generally discussed and commented on. This in-site 'publication' was accompanied by 250 - 300 words of reflection on how the online workshop process helped them develop their writing and discussion skills.


Guidelines were provided on how to post a message, response or document as follows

• Go to your Online Workshop in the Discussion Boards area and click to enter.

• Click on 'Reply to this Message'

• When the window has opened, write your message then click send your reply.

• If you are posting a poem, click 'Attach documents' then choose the word file and then press 'Upload Selected Files'.

• If that doesn't work at all, then try copying the text from your document and pasting it directly into the message box.

• If you're still having problems after trying this, press 'Alert a Moderator' to send a direct message to Kate.

• You might find it helpful to receive an email alert whenever a message is posted in the Cafe area or your personal thread. In order to receive New Thread Alerts by email, please do the following: When logged into the Private Discussion Board area go to 'My Account' then go to 'Notify me each time a message is posted to the following discussion boards' and tick the two boxes: 'general notes' and 'welcome'.


The practicalities

• Creative work was posted as Microsoft Word attachments, accompanied by a short introduction. The introduction was an opportunity to focus attention on specific aspects of the work posted, just like a workshop submission cover sheet.

• Critiques (responses) were written, checked and saved as Word documents then posted directly into the discussion boards. Opening attachments takes away the immediacy of response and introduces an unnecessary layer into the process.

• A critique was a minimum of 400 words and a maximum of 600 words. Anything much shorter looks cursory and anything much longer seems verbose.

• A critique was a freestanding piece of writing and not merely a set of cryptic notes. It was, generally speaking, structured into three main parts: introductory remarks (readability rating), detailed observations about the text (troubleshooting), and closing remarks (overview), which could recommend other reading, refer to other texts, raise more general questions etc.


Focusing your critique

Your focus should be on writing technique, but you should also become aware of structural and narrative issues in longer work – the way the writing has been put together and the pitch it makes for a reader's attention. How successfully does the writer invent, sustain, and make the reader inhabit an imaginative space? How successfully are other technical aspects of writing deployed: imagery, metaphor, formal styles, rhyme, use of the space on the page, point of view, narrative voice, consciousness?


How to handle criticism

Even in a small group you will each receive plenty of comment in relation to your work. Sometimes the advice given will be contradictory. It's important not to treat the online workshop as a tribunal that you must satisfy. As the workshop proceeds, you will become adept at sifting through comments, identifying what rings true for you. Sometimes these might be sympathetic remarks and sometimes ones that feel initially unsettling but that turn out to be mobilising or thought provoking. Make sure that you feel certain about suggestions or developments you intend to pursue. Ideas for changing your writing will only work effectively if they proceed from your own conviction.


Rewriting

Sara Maitland, whose chapter on rewriting your work was posted in the Writing Library, comments 'I have just read a research document that says that in the UK the average number of drafts of a successful first novel is 12. (That is of the whole novel!) So be comforted.' Re-writing for poems is likely to be even more intense - because the form is so tight, and every single word counts.