I’ve belonged to three crit groups since I began my foray into the writing world, each of them wonderful in their own way. The nicest thing I can say is I’ve remained friends with all these wonderful folks. I’ve been a part of my current crit group since its inception. They are a group of superhuman folks who listen to my rants, read snively first drafts and teach me so much about this business.

Like every group, we go through busy times and slow times. We just went through one of those slow times, but now, things are picking up. Every time I log on there is new stuff to crit. I think I’ve seen the start of three new books this past week. We’re on a roll–again.

Jump on in, the water’s fine. Stand in the breeze and let the wind catch you up. Catch the wave, baby. If you’ve ever been part of a baseball or football team, a choir, a theater troupe, a band or an orchestra, you’ve felt the pull of what I’m talking about.

Politicians use it, businesses use it, marketing degrees teach you to manipulate this force. And statistics, which boggle my mind, well, I know how they could be applied to study momentum, but it’s all this fuzzy idea somewhere in the ethereal parts of my brain.

It’s the idea behind joining a group like Weight Watchers to lose weight rather than doing it yourself. Or http:sparkpeople.com my favorite new group of people in the whole wide world.  With their support, I’m losing weight like never before.

Every night, I meet a small group of writers in a chat room for power hours. Sure, we chat some, but we write more.

Momentum is a powerful force, like gravity or love. You don’t even have to believe for it to work in your life. When I’m starting something new, I’ve learned to wait for the momentum to build, to wait for the perfect moment to start. I’ve learned to be conscious of the words and phrases people are using and the things they are talking about. Those things are where the momentum is right now.

Feel the force, people!