When I wrote my first real book, <em>Semana Santa,</em> I did so in secret. Told no one. No friends, no colleagues, not even my wife. This was primarily because I didn't want to admit to anyone it had failed, as fail it must because every other attempt to write a novel I'd made wound up that way.

Today not much has changed. When I'm working on a book <em>I'm</em> working on it. I never discuss concepts much with others, be they editors or agents. Unless there are very pressing reasons I never show part-finished work to anyone either. I don't see the point. I'd never try to sell a book on the basis of an opening few chapters. Seems a bit insulting to me. How does anyone know you're going to finish it?

And more than anything I do not seek opinions of anyone until there's an actual manuscript, beginning to end, to be read. Lots of professional writers I know work this way. Probably most. Lots of people who want to be writers don't. They constantly share scraps of work with each other in writing groups or informally. Is this a good idea? Or is it a way never to finish a book?

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It depends, of course. On you and the people you share your work with. I've never been part of a writing group. I've never attended a writing school except to teach. To my mind everything you need to know about the craft of writing is out there already, freely available in a very obvious format. It's called 'books'.

I learned to write by reading them. Yes, I've picked up ideas along the way listening to other writers talk about their working methods at events like Craftfest and the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. But I've never set out to <em>learn</em> writing, or to seek assurance from others, part way through a work, that I'm not barking up the wrong tree.

Yet writing groups abound. Sometimes they produce authors who go on to greater things. Mostly though, it seems to me, they take up the time of people who never quite get round to finishing a book that finds its way into print. That's understandable if they work the way I think they do. You write a chapter, hand it to twelve people to read then, while waiting for their opinions on your work, read <em>their</em> opening chapters and try to work out what you make of them. I find it difficult to hold one book project in my head at one time. Writing group members seem to want to stay on top of multiple nascent books by different authors, often in a range of different styles, <em>and</em> get on with their own book too. Good luck. I'd never manage it.

One of the great benefits of writing groups is, it seems to me, the companionship they provide and the discussion that takes place about style, working methods, tactics and the rest. They obviously provide support too, and I'm sure that if you have someone on board who is a professional author, able to give you the benefit of their experience, that can be great for insights and tips too.

But what most budding authors lack more than anything is time, and writing groups can, if you're not careful, devour that in spades. If they overload you with so much reading it interferes with your writing they're counter-productive. And -- sorry, I have to say this -- you have to weigh up what those mutual opinions are worth. This is a bunch of people who usually haven't made it as writers yet. So why is their view on where you've succeeded and failed relevant? How do you know if they're right or wrong? Even professionals in this business -- seasoned writers, agents and editors -- disagree over what's worthwhile and isn't. If they can't manage a consensus, what value can you place on the views of people who haven't managed to make an entrance into the business?

If you're in a writing group I'd ask yourself the hard question: is this really helping me finish my book? Would the time spent going to meetings and reading other people's work not be better spent working on that instead? Like it or not the business of writing is essentially solitary: it's between you and those words on the page.

Best get them down first then invite the world in to see what it thinks.