Crits and Chocolate Biscuits

Every writer needs feedback. After all, of no-one is going to read your work, why bother writing in the first place? Writers write to be read. Before we unleash our work(which has been a long labour of love, lets face it) to a world full of eager readers (well, wishing doesn't harm anyone) it is best to have a critical eye passed over your writing. Reading aloud to your cat doesn't really cut the mustard,because no matter how clever they are and how attentive, they don't have the skills. Honest, I know.
Receiving feedback can be a very scary time for a writer, we've slaved, slogged and slavered over a page of flash, a short story or even a tome of a novel and we want it to be right. It's an essential part of the process, and without it our writing cannot develop or grow and that goes for the big bang authors as well. 
So writers need to find somewhere safe to obtain feedback whilst providing honest and constructive information about the reading experience. There are many places to go and it's a very individual choice. Here are a few I have used:

• Writing Groups - traditional and online (I'm in debt to my own online writing group, Writers Abroad)
• Online Critique Groups - these can be genre specific e.g. Historical Fiction or very general like Ladies Who Critique and Critique Circle, there are loads
• Beta Reading Groups - again a plethora can be found just googling or searching on Facebook
• Online Writing Communities - groups of writers and readers together in a social community connecting through words, e.g. Wattpad
• Writing Buddies - you may be fortunate to have made friends with another author where you can agree to swap crits

Most of these places require you to participate in providing feedback as well as receiving, which is another fab way to develop your writing. 

And the biscuits? Well every writer needs chocolate, don't they?