A Little Wordslingers History

Wow...first I need to absorb the shock that every word I type is visible by the entire world and not just the six of us. That was fast, C!

One of us (our first member to land a book deal, who will hopefully hop on here any second now and PROMOTE her fabulous book Freeze Frame, due out in October 2008) suggested we start a blog, since we are all catching fire in various degrees (some are burning like the sun, while others of us, like me are just glowing ever so slightly).

Anyway, as the most longwinded member of this group (or any group I'm a member of for that matter) let me take on the mantel of Wordslinger's historian.

For me it began two and a half years ago when our founder (whom I will let identify herself once she realizes with a huge shock that this blog even exists) started a crit group. The two of us, who knew little more than squat about writing at the time, found kindred spirits in each other. We were both YA fantasy writers and we shared, a passion and drive for writing that seemed to burn the skin off the others around us. It didn't take us long to realize we needed a more turbo-charged environment to polish our skills, so with her as moderater we set off to create the Wordslingers, a group dedicated only to longer works of YA and MG fiction with a rather intense critiquing schedule. Four of us have been together since the earliest days. We added one new member who has been with us for over a year now.

What can I say other than where would I be without these five marvelous and dedicated writers?

I guess we are doing something right since we formed two years ago, this is what has happened:

March 2006: Member one lands agent
October 2006: Member one gets book deal!
Around the same time our moderator gets an agent. (hope my memory is accurate! the story is complicated and it's not mine to tell).
June 2007: member three gives birth! that would be Christine.
September 2007: While I'm nowhere close to having an agent, there has been a flurry of interest for my YA dark fantasy romance, Darkest.
Another member is retooling her query, since her book is GREAT and other sixth member is totally wowing us with her WIP a delicious and original MG fantasy, which we know will get snatched up in a flash when she finishes.

So how did we come up with the name Sharing the Brain? Well it started with a very silly inside joke I can't even remember, so I hope one of you will chime in. It became sort of our anthem, because our credo is to go to amazing lengths to help each other and support each other. We are amazingly close and have helped each other through tough times, prodded each other to keep writing and most important critiqued each other's work until our fingers bled. Hence we have all grown phenomenally as writers, evidenced by the way a spark has generated a flame.

GO WORDSLINGERS!!!
I just want to say hi! to my other critique group Just Write also know as the Cudas given our bite an attack critiquing style, only formed a year ago, amazing things are happening there as well...but this is the Wordslinger's blog...anyway..HI Cudas!!!