Writer groups and wisdom from Isaac Asimov

Let's see, what's happened since last posting. Had a fun luncheon with Lois and JOan at Chuey's. We were celebrating JOan's birthday. As always, it was a great time. She is always so positive and encouraging. Met with Dave and gave him my final thoughts on his 'rite of passage' story. Good story with interesting takes on life and surroundings as interpreted by a teenage boy. I felt he got a little heaving with some Vietnam War info. I think he can use some of it, but it has to be in 1st person to match the rest of the story. He gave me feedback on 'Abby'. He is upset with Abby and feels she's a user of people. Boo Hoo :-( I mean for her to be a doer, with a positive attitude. I'll have to look at his remarks and maybe tone Abby down some. Then, Thursday night was our monthly meeting at Hasting. Only five showed up, but heard some good stories. Dave read some deep poetry that stirred everyone. Vivian was all excited as she shared her recent cruise and trip to New York. Saturday was our local writer's group meeting. Small group, but good crits. We had time, so we really talked the stories through. I submitted my story 'Weathering a Storm' to FlashXer. The feedback was mostly negative as to the plot believability. Seems a man can't know his wife is having an affair and have him react with reconciliation vs anger. Did get a couple of positives. Guess we're the romantics in the group. I sent my 'Happy Faces' story out to Flashers-Dozen and DeskDrawer. Also, got negative crits regarding the plot. Guess a man's baby MUST be his own, no matter how happy a child makes his wife. What great groups to get such good feedback. I should quit one of them, but I do like the people and would miss several of them, so I do, at least, the minimum requirements each month. Hope to get to submitting again tomorrow. I have a quote by Isaac Asimov tacked by my computer. 'You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.' Thank you, Mr. Asimov, for the proverbial kick in the butt!