I finally tried that writing group my sister pushed on me, turns out it's not all bad
My sister has been begging me for 3 months to join her local critique circle over in Portland. I kept saying no because I figured it would be a bunch of people patting each other on the back. Last Tuesday I showed up with a mess of a short story about a talking raccoon who runs for mayor. I warned everyone it was a joke draft. Instead of laughing me out, one lady pointed out my dialogue sounded like actual people, and a guy showed me where my pacing falls off a cliff around page 4. I rewrote that raccoon story twice since then and it's still weird, but now it works somehow. Has anyone else found a decent feedback group after dodging them for ages? I'm curious if this is the exception or the rule.