This morning I woke up thinking about the quality of my writing. Questions for myself. How do I know that my writing is good? How do I make it great? What do I use as a criteria to know if it is improving?

I belong to a critique group and their feedback is helpful. After I present a piece, I go home and make the suggested corrections and changes. But does that make it better? I don't know. And if I present a piece to which there are no corrections or changes suggested, does that make it good? I don't know.

I guess the real question should be, what is the appropriate gauge by which to judge my writing? And, how do I determine if progress is being made?

In order to pursue successful writing and avoid the dangers that the 'publish or perish' mindset holds, I need to find the answer to this question. The problem is that this is such a subjective area. For example, someone could absolutely love the story and because of that not notice problems in the writing. Or on the other hand, someone could hate the story and attribute that to the writing. In either case I am still stuck with the initial question, is it good?

What I would like is a clear standard of measure, but I don't believe such a thing exists, at least not for writing. Yet, there has to be something that will assist me in my pursuit of great writing. I long to hold the reader captive, cause their heart to ache, breath fire into their spirit, and leave them panting for more.

That is what I crave and I won't stop until I have it!
J