Welcome to the RWNZ family! It’s lovely to have you with us.
Our non-profit organisation was founded in September 1990 by Jean Drew and ten other enthusiastic writers in Auckland, New Zealand. Since then RWNZ has flourished and has now grown to over 400 members (both published and unpublished writers) from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, USA, and the UK.
RWNZ is dedicated to promoting excellence in writing and the romance genre, and helps writers achieve publication by organising contests, conferences, and critique groups.
Members across the country meet on a monthly basis. We urge you to contact the regional co-ordinator closest to you to be added to their contact list regarding meetings. In some areas, regional meetings are held throughout the year. Details of these—and the contact person—can be found in on our website or in your Heart to Heart newsletter.
COMING SOON – those of you living rurally may be able to join Regional meetings via Zoom, our webinar platform.
Our full-colour newsletter Heart to Heart is published 11 times each year and is emailed out to members, usually at the beginning of each month. Now you’re a member you too can download it from the Heart to Heart Page in the Member’s Only section of the website:
At the moment, RWNZ runs five contests every year—
You can find out more about our contests by clicking here:
Our Annual Conference is usually held in August, and is a great way to meet local and overseas authors, overseas editors or agents (or both). Conference information is featured in the newsletters and on the website.
RWNZ has a main Facebook page where members can share with the world any snippets they want. You can share new releases, specials, awards, etc. As we have to keep an eye on what is posted there or else porn or something could get on the page, all members must submit postings via a request for FB posting page found under Members tab.
Our members keep in touch with each other, sharing knowledge and support via our Members Only Facebook page. There is no promo allowed on this page.
For an invite to the RWNZ Members Facebook page visit the page and ask to join the group or drop our membership secretary an email .
As a new member we encourage you to introduce yourself on the facebook page. We’d love to hear all about you and your current work in progress.
We also have a Woo Hoo’s sharing request page which allows members to have successes or new releases placed in the monthly Heart To Heart newsletter.
To join an online workshop, send a blank email to
virtualchapter@romancewriters.co.nz
This is only active when a workshop is in progress. Watch Heart to Heart for up-coming topics.
Our webinar platform is ZOOM. It’s quick and easy to join any webinars RWNZ may run. Download Zoom Client for Meetings.
You will be notified of webinars via email, Heart to Heart and on the RWNZ Members Only Facebook page.
In some areas, regional meetings are held throughout the year. Details of these—and the contact person—can be found in on our website or in your Heart to Heart newsletter.
Eligibility:
Most RWNZ contests are only open to financial members of RWNZ (except the Koru Award). Published writers may enter some of the contests. Check the details on the entry forms.
How Contests are Judged:
It depends very much on which contest you enter. For the best information visit the Contests page and then select the contest you’re interested in.
Finalist Logos
Logos are available to entrants who final or place in an RWNZ contest for display on their website or blog. Apply to Contests Coordinator.
Who Can Enter Contests?
If you’re a new writer and have never entered a contest before, the thought of exposing your work to the scrutiny of others might seem a little scary. That’s understandable. But there are a few good reasons to jump out of your comfort zone:
Dreams are free, but the realisation of those dreams is not. If becoming a published writer is your dream, then you need to be committed to its achievement and determined not to miss any opportunity that could make that dream a reality.
Look at contests as an opportunity to bypass that daunting slush pile and get your manuscript on an editor’s desk. What’s the worst that can happen? You get your entry critiqued by three readers. But if your contest entry is requested and—after a nail-biting interval—accepted, you will have realised your dream. And yes, it does happen! See Success! below.
Attention to Detail:
Entry forms contain a lot of information and instructions (all necessary) so be sure you read the conditions and submission requirements carefully.
If you are unsure about the entry requirements of any contest, email the contest manager. The contest manager’s name and contact details appear on the entry forms. He or she will be only too happy to assist you, so don’t be afraid to ask.
Success!
Anne Oliver and Karina Bliss both received THE CALL!!! after placing in RWNZ’s Great Beginnings Contest and the Clendon Award respectively. Having sold to Kimberley Young of Mills & Boon, Anne says:
“I owe my success in being published to the RWNZ Great Beginnings Contest. You’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve lost count of the number of contests I’d entered—RWNZ, RWA and US. The early ones didn’t do very well but, after I got over being ‘precious’ about my work, I used the judges’ comments to improve it. I didn’t always agree with them but if more than one judge makes a similar comment I look at it more closely.
Karina, winner of both the Clendon Award and the Golden Heart, sold her third-placed 2005 Clendon Award and Reader’s Choice manuscript to Harlequin Superromance. She believes
“Contests are not everybody’s path to publication but they help you improve your writing, meet deadlines, handle criticism (good and bad) and get some credentials in your query letters. Contests are a great way of easing yourself into being read because all entries are strictly anonymous.”
Before Yvonne Lindsay joined RWNZ’s growing ranks of published writers (her second sale to Silhouette Desire was a Clendon Award winning manuscript) she was no stranger to the contest circuit. She has this to say on the benefits of entering contests:
“Competitions are an invaluable resource tool to aspiring authors. They train you to write to deadline, to guidelines, and to hone your craft to be specific to the line you’re targeting. If your manuscript makes it through to final judging by an editor, you have the added advantage of recognition the next time you submit a manuscript for consideration (and it looks darn good to be able to quote competition successes in your query letter, too.) It was the Clendon Award that first drove me to finish a manuscript which won the then Emma Darcy Award in Australia.”
Nikki Logan and Zana Bell both sold as a result of placing in a RWNZ contest. Nikki offers this advice to contest entrants:
“Competition can be addictive. I tried to be strategic in entering contests, making sure the final judge was someone I could benefit from and to circumvent the slush pile. Competitions provide market research on a budget. $30 to find out how your story, characters or voice fly in the “open” market around the world. Of the three competitions I’ve won to date, two were RWNZ contests (the Great Beginnings and the Strictly Single) and both resulted in requests for a full manuscript. One led to my double-sale to Harlequin Romance.”
Zana lists five reasons to enter contests:
RWNZ members who have received the call as a result of doing well in contests include Annie Featherstone (w/a) Sophia James), Frances Housden, Bronwyn Turner (w/a Bronwyn Jameson), Lisa Chaplin (w/a Melissa James), Helen Kirkman, Karina Bliss, Adele Gautier (w/a Abby Gaines) and Nalini Singh.
What book(s) on writing have helped you most and why? This was one of the questions Heart to Heart posed in a survey of RWNZ members. Here are the results.
The Top Three
Hot runners-up—these books received multiple recommendations:
Specific to Romance Writing:
The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines is all about the archetypes and how to use them. Particularly useful is their match-up of, for example, the bad boy with the librarian and how they will clash, mesh and change in a relationship.
General story-telling techniques:
Inspirational/Motivational:
Nuts and bolts:
Websites:
eharlequin.com: http://www.eharlequin.com/
Romance Writers of New Zealand: http://www.romancewriters.co.nz/
Romance Writers of Australia: http://www.romanceaustralia.com/
Romance Writers of America: http://www.rwanational.org/
Paranormal Romance writers: www.paranormalromancewriters.com
Chick Lit Writers: http://www.chicklitwriters.com/
Sisters in crime USA: http://www.sistersincrime.org/
We hope you enjoy your time with us. Contact details are always in the monthly newsletter, Heart to Heart. If you have any queries, please contact me at: membership@romancewriters.co.nz
“The starting point of all achievements is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak result, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.” — Napoleon Hill.
