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I met my critique partner in the coolest and most unexpected way. I was living in a tiny town in Maine, the easternmost in the country. So close to Canada, I see it out my kitchen window. Anyway, the local library invited me to give a talk on romance writing for Valentine's Day and told me they'd invited another romance author who lived nearby also to speak. The other writer was Ruth Axtell Morren who writes Inspirationals for Harlequin's Steeple Hill line. Well, you couldn't get two more diametrically opposed genres in one place: an Inspy author who isn't allowed to write anything hotter than a chaste kiss into her novels and an erotic romance author writing guy on guy and menages where almost anything goes. And in a town of 1,500 people! What are the chances?

I read one of Ruth's books before the talk so I would be familiar with her writing and actually LOVED the story. She is a wonderful writer who creates compelling characters and scenarios where people suffer and struggle and find deep and abiding love. I was also finding the chaste kisses her characters shared passionate and arousing. I did not expect any of this.

Nor did I expect at all to find my critique partner in Ruth.

We met, gave the talk at the library and read snippets of our work to a small crowd of women who really were engaged in the subject. I loved it and Ruth and I seemed to get along. She offered to give me any feedback on my writing and I offered the same. I was still relatively new to the business and was just waiting my first release, Taming Kate at Loose Id. So I was definitely open to any help I could get.

Ruth and I started sending each other our stuff through e-mails, commenting and sending it back. What surprised me and what was a blessing was Ruth's devotion to writing. The writing came first, before the subject matter so everything I sent her got a fair hearing with REALLY helpful suggestions, especially, believe it or not, the sex scenes. She also found my suggestions helpful and critiquing her work improved my own writing immensely.

Three years later, we're still working together. I re-read her books after they're published and can see the spots where she took my suggestions. It's gratifying to be both her critique partner and a fan. It's been a good way to stretch my skills, critiquing a writer of such a vastly idfferent genre.

Finding a critique partner with whom you click so well is not easy. I feel like I fell upon it in a gracious act of fate. But I also had been through critique groups, getting feedback of all kinds, helpful and not so helpful. So when Ruth and I realized we worked so well together, I hung on tight!

The things to look for in a critique partner:
1. Does the person give your writing a fair hearing or does she make judgmental statements about it based on her tastes rather than an objective evaluation of the craft. (This distinction, to me, makes the difference between a real, dedicated author and a hack).
2. Do the suggestions actually improve your writing or is the person's skill level too far below yours that she's unable to critique effectively? i.e. Does the person not seem to have a sense of creating character depth, ending chapters on hooks, grammar, making sentences wordier and less effective than the ones you wrote originally? Things like that will clue you in if they are happening too frequently.
3. Is the person often unavailable or unreliable getting back to you with critiques of your work, even when you're on a deadline?
4. Does the person give you praise and positive feedback along with the feedback about things that need work?
5. Does the person feel helped by your critiques or does she reject everything you suggest out of hand?

If you're able to answer these questions positively either way, you'll know if you've found a critique partner. They're worth their weight in gold when it's a match and you have found someone who will cheer you on and help your work get better.