A long time ago, in the little state of Utah, one of my critique group members has moved away.
Now this had happened before. Our little critique group has gone through some serious fluctuation as people have come and gone. But this time, something different happened.
WE REALIZED WE COULD STILL SKYPE!
And suddenly, the world became a much better place. As such, we ended up using some google thing to talk to each other. Which is nice, because you can see everyone’s faces on the bottom of the screen, but the top main screen will change to whoever is talking at the time.
(From left to right: Deborah and Chersti, Karen, Kevin – who doesn’t have a webcam, Rachel, Shallee)
Now the biggest problem is that the google program has this awesome app where you can dress up. Seriously. Check it out! Apparently mustaches are really popular in my group.
And after staring at myself onscreen for a few hours, I realized something… I think I’m going to have to start wearing makeup to group now. Ack!
Chersti Nieveen 
BA HA HA HA! I didn’t know you took these pictures! Too bad I’m not twirling my devil-stache. 🙂
I’ll have to warn you next time. Screenshots can be so sneaky though! 🙂
What a great idea! I live in a small town where there aren’t many (any?) other YA writers, so this would be a good idea if I wanted to do it (and had a cam LOL). Right now all my critiquing is online ms swapping with no Skype. 😀
I do a lot of manuscript exchanges, too, but there’s just something about having a conversation about whatever is being critiqued. You can hear if others disagree, or come up with ideas for solutions, or even just realize that you’re not quite at the root of the problem yet. I’m so grateful for modern-day technology.
Love Skype! My writing group currently touches all continental US time zones, and once upon a time, we even had someone in Japan.
Wow, that is awesome. So how do you critique?