I told Dotsie I'd try to post some guidelines for the group, and have this post open for two weeks so everyone gets a chance to comment. I think we should have definite guidelines going in, and you all are encouraged to amend/add/subtract and voice your suggestions for this list.

GENRES
because there are currently 14 people who expressed interest in this group, and some genres may not have enough people for a valid cross-section of opinion, I propose that (at least for starters) all members are part of the critique pool. Good writing is good writing (and dangling modifiers are dangling modifiers) so we should all be able to comment on someone else's work even if it's not the same genre as ours. If the # of members in the critique group increases a lot, we may want to split into genres sometime in the future.

WRITING LEVEL
If the group gets large enough to divide into two or more groups, would it make more sense to split according to writing level, as opposed to genre?

MODUS OPERANDI
On a specific day of the week (Wednesday?) the writer-of-the-week will send copies of their work via email to the whole group. People would then comment/critique/discuss both the work as a whole and specific issues in the password-protected forum. For large amounts of rewriting, I think sending the original work back to the author with corrections would also be OK. Or do you feel that all comments should be in-Forum? The comments on a particular author would not have to end when a new work was emailed.

SCHEDULE
Order of presentation could be decided by something arbitrary, like birthday or alphabetical last name.
Do I hear any volunteers to keep track of who goes when, and to send out an email reminder a few days in advance? ...so Dotsie doesn't have to.

GROUP MEMBERS
would be defined as all of us who initially expressed interest to Dotsie.

NEW MEMBERS
Regular Forum contributors who want to join should announce this, and be put into the cycle after one complete rotation. In other words, if we are critiqueing person 7's work, and Woman X says she wants to join, Woman X would present her work before Person 7 gets her next turn in 14 9or whatever) weeks.

OPT OUT
Not everyone will be comfortable with all work presented, or even have something to say. Members should be allowed to opt out of evaluating a work for any reason, and not have to explain if they don't want to.

MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING
Members should offer a reasonably substantive critique for at least 50% of the works in a rotation cycle, or they can be kicked out for non-participation. Do I hear any volunteers for keeping track of this? I feel if someone doesn't help others, they shouldn't be here just to get their own work discussed. Or is 50% too low?

REASONABLY SUBSTANTIVE CRITIQUE
Saying "Good work. I really liked it!" is sweet and supportive but not very substantive. Saying "Good work! I especially like the way you developed Lucy's character. The cloud imagery in line 15 is striking and original!" is better and more informative. Don't just voice an opinion; tell us WHY you have this opinion.

VALUE JUDGMENTS
Saying "this is garbage and I hate it" is unacceptable, and should be grounds for expulsion from the group. It's OK to say things like: "I don't understand the point you were trying to make;" or "that sentence is convoluted and way too long." Criticism is OK if it comes with suggestions for improvement.

LENGTH
I need some feedback here, especially from members who write longer pieces. If you write novels, what is the shortest unit that it makes sense to critique? 3 pages? 5? A chapter? And if we critique 5 pages for one person, should the women who write short work have the option of submitting several pieces for critique? FEEDBACK, PLEASE!

CENSORSHIP
Should we set any guidelines for censorship of subject matter or language, or is the Opting Out option sufficient? (I would say: no censorship, but different individuals may have other ideas here.)

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Remember, I previously said I didn't want to moderate or be in charge? and here I am setting down the 10-page book of guidelines. Where is the icon for SOOOOOOO typically Meredith??" LOL

Hi Meredith/Moderator (who isn't really moderating but I appreciate that you have taken the time to post these guidelines and if you decide to actually be the moderator, you have my vote)

I agree with everything you've done here so far.

I vote, along with you, for no censorship and that opting out is a sufficient way of dealing with that.
And due to that I think that 50% is a fair percentage to keep you in the group. I am Pro-Choice, no one should be forced to critique anything that they find offensive to read.

One group is fine with me because I enjoy reading many different genres. I may not be as helpful with some of them, such as maybe poetry, as I've not really studied what is proper for that type of writing, but I can definitely tell if I like something or not. Or if it seems to be flowing or not.

I also think that emailing some critiques would be fine, especially if it is being harshly criticized. The point of the group is to be helpful and honest,right? Not to just give a pat on the back or embarrass anyone. If we are going to use the forum for counting and keeping track of percentage of participation, we could just post something like, Sent personal message, at the forum. This would work for the longer critiques also.

I'd go with alphabetical order as I think it would be easier to keep track of (and because I'm an "S" and would most likely not be going first We could even consider using our forum names for this (you see then I become a "T"

As far as length, I have no idea, I write mostly short pieces, but I think again that the opting out would work here. If you really don't have the time to critique a longer piece, you could just opt out and then post, Opting out, at the forum (for keeping track of percentages)

Thanks again Meredith!
Robin

Meredith, I'm not ignoring your e-mail. I've been swamped. Look for an e-mail sometime today or tomorrow!

When you get things rolling definately include me. I agree with all your guidelines Meredith. Only we should go by our real names alphabetically for submittal. My last name begins with W so i would get to wait a while. Leave the genre open because even though my fiction is fantasy I have been writing my articles and they are essays and nonfiction.
I'll be waiting to hear from you.

Thanks,
Chris W.(angel)

I am part of a couple critique groups, and we follow these guidelines:
http://www.yellapalooza.com/tutorials/critique.html

I would like to participate, but I will say up front that I will opt out of critiquing anything with profanity or erotica or that which promotes idol worshiping.

I write magazine articles, short stories, and I am working on a novel length project.

Keeping track of everyone is going to be the kicker. I would love to be involved more heavily, but this week I accepted the Editor-in-Chief position at Sisters in the Lord, which starts December 1. I don't want to commit and then have to back out. I will help all I can, though.

Ummm, Meredith? You would probably be a pretty good moderator!

Of course, interested in participating and like the guidelines outlined by Meredith. Similar to another post . . . I enjoy reading different genres, but will probably not be as helpful to those writing poetry, for example.

I, too, wonder about the length issue. I'm focused primarily on my book manuscript (at this writing). So, would like to submit chapters or sections of chapters, if that's acceptable. So having a page limit or word count would be helpful so that what I submit (for example) is equivalent to what others are submitting.

Because this is all new to me, I don't have an answer????

First: I don't want to volunteer for Moderator because of time constraints. September-October I work 60 hours a week; November, December and May, it's closer to 80. The money in my business is VERY seasonal and I need to be able to allot that time as necessary; otherwise, I'll be bussing tables at Burger King in January.

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Additions to last night's post:

ORDER OF ACTION
Please read the emailed piece and form some opinions of your own before reading what everyone else has to say.

QUESTIONS
It's OK to ask questions of the author, and to have the author answer.

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Dian, thanks for the link. I recommend everyone here reads it.

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some things to look for in POETRY CRITIQUE:

Grammar, word choice, etc.
Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?
If so, how well did I present it?
Does it succeed in what you think I'm trying to do? -- even if you DON'T entirely understand it.
Does the work flow?

My work is all free verse, but if someone submits rhyme:
GOOD rhyme
flows seamlessly
never produces convoluted sentences
doesn't dredge up irrelevant or poorly chosen words for the sake of rhyming

BAD rhyme:
da da THUMP
da da THUMP
da THUMP da THUMP
da da THUMP
and rope I will jump
da da THUMP.