by Brad Whittington

At the turn of the millennium I stumbled into a publishing contract and had three novels published. I was living in Hawaii at the time and tried to connect with other writers, but it’s a small place and the few writers I met were not serious about writing and getting published.

I eventually returned to Texas and continued to write. A few years ago I stumbled across NIP and began attending. It only took a few minutes to realize that these guys were serious. Exactly what I was looking for.

About the same time I decided to change course, abandon traditional publishing, and go indie. Since then I’ve published two novels, both of which are drastically better than they would have been if I hadn’t had some NIPpers to knock me around a bit and point out the flaws in my stories.

The thing that amazes me the most about NIP is the quality of feedback you get at a roundtable critique. Back when I was wasting my time writing screenplays, I paid for critiques from professional screenwriters that weren’t as thorough and helpful as what I hear at every meeting of NIP. And it doesn’t cost a dime, just spending the time to do the same for your fellow writers.

If you’re in need of feedback and are serious about improving your craft, I can’t imagine a better place to start than NIP.