critique

Here are testimonials from customers of Janeen O'Kerry's
Critique Service.

If you would like a personal reference, just contact me at okerry@lycos.com and I will send you the e-mail addresses of some satisfied customers.

*****

I would be happy to serve as a reference for your critique service. You were extremely thorough (in the best sense of that word) and your suggestions were all good. Feel free to give them my email.
-- From "J.C."

*****

I 'd be very happy to provide a reference for you.

Your critique was excellent feedback for me. I redlined the whole thing and I still am referring to it as I work.

As a complete beginner when I wasn't ready to begin submitting to editors and agents, or even contests, but I wanted an impartial read from someone who knows what quality the work *should* be. I've been rewriting and rethinking all summer, and National workshops gave me a lot of knowledge to digest and implement, so I'll get those last 800 words to you eventually...

Best of luck with your growing critique service! I think it's really valuable and worth every penny--for the same price as a contest, one-on-one feedback can't be beat.
-- From "G.S."

*****

I hired Janeen to do some critting for me in April, 2003. She offered to help me as I was a bit confused by contradictory contest scores. After her initial "freebie" I hired her to look at more. I sold that novel in May, 2003.

Janeen has a good eye for openers and helped me tweak my prologue so that it was "just right." Janeen has a good eye and helped me put the crux of my heroine's issues front and center by suggesting a few simple word changes/paragraphing structures.

Did she point out flaws? Oh, yes. Painfully so. But that's a good thing. You don't pay to have some one crit your work and have said crit come back without any criticism!

I've been writing and selling non fiction for years. Writing and selling my first novel length piece of fiction was a learning experience, to say the least. Although basic craft is something you learn by doing, I think Janeen would be very good in helping someone "hone their craft." I think she could also, provided she had the time and was paid for her services, do an excellent job "doctoring" a sow's ear into a silk purse. I'd hire her again (and I might!).

Janeen is a professional writer and knows the genre. She's worth the price of a good critique. Moreover, if you have questions, she replies quickly. With crits you take what you want and forget the rest. You should write the book from your heart-- but write it as well as you can. A professional critter can help you write your book so that it is both marketable and enjoyable.

From Darragha Foster
author of Love's Second Sight, Fall 2003
Atlantic Bridge Publishing
http://www.darraghafoster.com