When I set out to learn about my mother's bridge club, the Jewish octogenarians behind the matching outfits and accessories, I never expected to fall in love with them. This is the story of the ladies, their game, their gen, and the ragged path that led me back to my mother.
I totally agree that MFA programs and writing groups can be hazardous to your health. I had a nervous breakdown after my first semester. I can’t really blame it on my program. I was an unmedicated breakdown waiting to happen. Still, there’s nothing like the thrill of having your work killed by a thousand cuts. The most important thing you can get from a writing workshop is connecting with an ideal reader. Someone with whom you can exchange pages and be honest and constructive. It may not be the person who “likes” your work the best, but who gets what you’re after and responds. For me, that person was and is Jean Monahan. I’m still reading her poems almost 40 years later, often as her first reader, happily making notations, questioning line breaks, word choices. I love when a poem of hers turns up. As for me, from the moment I graduated I never wrote another poem.
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Betsy Lerner 
Good to go with your strengths. Fortunate if you can identify them…early.
“The most important thing you can get from a writing workshop is connecting with an ideal reader. Someone with whom you can exchange pages and be honest and constructive. It may not be the person who “likes” your work the best, but who gets what you’re after and responds.”
Amen to that. And to keep in mind even bestsellers have those who hate their work. And, Pulitzer prize winners. Writing, as we’ve all heard, is NOT for the faint of heart. I don’t know what it is about writing that sets people off. Even now someone can come along with a review that stuns me b/c its so vicious – and unnecessary.
I think it’s worth noting that critique at 20 probably feels much different than critique at 50. When we’re younger I think maybe we don’t realize that the viciousness of the one criticizing speaks more to their character than to our writing abilities. Of course, I will still dig around to see if they have a valid point or not.