My small romance-focused online critique group, Rumored Romantics, has an opening.  We are a very consistent and well-rounded group of 3 at the moment, and would like to add a 4th or even a 5th member.

Rumored Romantics is run on a private Yahoo Groups loop and requires that you critique one chapter a week (and have one chapter a week critiqued).

Interested?  Our fearless leader, Lynnette is holding a contest on her blog to find our new member.  Here are the details (re-posted):

What we write: Sexy Contemporary, Paranormal Romance, and Romantic Suspense.

The group’s personality: We don’t sugarcoat our critiques because praise alone isn’t going to help anyone improve as a writer. Instead, we offer honest feedback delivered with love and respect (see Roni’s Beta Club days for examples of her critting). Our members are supportive, helping each other get through the difficult moments in this industry. We’re not only crit partners, but friends. Our goal is to stay together through the good and bad times on our publishing journey.

Why should you trust us to crit your work? Both Gwen and Roni have recently placed in RWA contests. See their websites/blogs for a list of their wins. Gwen is an RWA PRO and Roni could be if she’d fill out the forms. In fact, Roni’s latest manuscript is with Harlequin Blaze right now. I’m a certified copy editor and proofreader in the process of starting up my own online manuscript editing/writing coach business.

The details:

• This contest is only for romance writers of adult fiction who are seeking a critique group.

• All entrants must be 18 years or older.

• Entries should be 2-3 pages from an unpublished manuscript, double spaced, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman. Anything beyond 3 pages will NOT be read.

• This is a three part contest. Part One, a 2-3 page writing sample, is open to all contestants. Finalists are selected to move on to Part Two. During this stage, the finalists will be asked to supply a longer writing sample and critique a short piece, which we’ll provide. A select few will continue on. In Part Three, the remaining finalists will critique a longer sample and fill out a bio/questionnaire. Sound like a lot of work? It is. Sorry about that. All of the above is necessary in order for us to see that our writing and critiquing styles are compatible with yours.

• Entries will be judged on the quality of the writing and critiquing, but we aren’t expecting perfection. Please send us your best work without external help. We want to see how well YOU write and critique, not your critique partner or professional editor.

• All entries for Part One of the contest are due by midnight Wednesday, April 28, 2010.

• One entry per person, unpublished work only.

• Send your entry in the body of an e-mail (I will NOT open anything with an attachment) to: lynnette_labelle@hotmail.com

• You should expect an e-mail from me confirming I received your entry. If you haven’t gotten one within 24 hours, check the e-mail address. Note: my name is spelled with two n’s. LyNNette. If you don’t spell it correctly in my e-mail address, I won’t get the message.

• The first round of finalists will be announced on my blog and notified by e-mail some time during the week of May 2.

The PRIZE:

• Membership for one lucky writer to a small, online, romance critique group*

• Note: Rumored Romantics is looking for someone who is willing to critique at least ONE chapter a week. Chapters are no longer than 20 pages double spaced. So, the most your minimum required critique would be is 20 pages. To be clear, you’d only have to critique one chapter a week, not one per member. However, everyone is encouraged to participate as much as they can.

If you have any questions about the contest or Rumored Romantics, ask away.

*We reserve the right to not choose anyone if we don’t find a good fit for our critique group.

Hint #1:
You must write adult romance, BUT we don’t actually want to read the sex scenes or romance scenes in your story (at least, not for the contest). You’ll have better results if you show us a piece that represents how different your work is from everyone else’s. Get it?

Hint #2:
When you submit your entry, it doesn’t have to be a complete scene. Don’t stress yourself out trying to find a 2-3 page scene in your manuscript and don’t cut important parts of a scene to make it fit. In fact, if you cut the end of the scene, I might be intrigued enough to want to read more. Hook me and you’ll have a great chance of winning.

Hint #3:
Here’s how I’m going to read the entries. I’ll copy and paste from the e-mail into Microsoft Word. If the font isn’t Times New Roman, 12 pt, I’ll change it to that. If it’s not double spaced, I’ll modify it. Once the entry is formatted correctly, anything beyond three pages will NOT be read.

I know it seems like an exhaustive process, but Lynnette has perfected it over several years and it really does ensure that we find a member who will get the most from us and have the most to offer the group.  We are all very dedicated to our craft and pursuing writing as a career, so we want someone equally invested.

If you plan to enter, good luck!  I look forward to reading your work.