Writing Workshop Woes

I don’t have a lot of time to write right now because work is going crazy! Plus, I am taking a nonfiction writing workshop at Columbia. I obviously write a lot between my two blogs but I’ve never taken a real stab at extended personal nonfiction. Twice during the course I will have to submit a 8-20 page manuscript to be critiqued by my peers while I sit silently listening. This is petrifying to me. I had a nightmare recently that I’ll start crying in the middle. It might actually happen. Lets hope it’s from joy rather than despair.

I would LOVE advice on how to handle critiques in such a setting! Whether you have gone through them in an art studio, a writing class, or wherever else in the world this hellish practice has been popularized, I want to know what it was like and what I should expect!

If you give me good advice I might even share an excerpt from the manuscript I am working on with you next week 🙂