The temperature outside today is 62 degrees, which is highly unusual for a December day in my small neck of the woods in Illinois. I'm beginning to wonder if mother nature will ever stop teasing us. And as I sit here typing, I'm tempted to take my laptop outside because it is actually warmer out there than inside.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I made my first turkey. Thankfully, I have no horror stories to share. I remembered to remove all the junk and the neck made for a nice treat for Chip, after it was boiled of course.
This time last year I was in full query mode. Now I'm back in beta mode, which I don't mind. I have received some great initial feedback and look forward to getting the rest. While I'm waiting, I'm cleaning out my email. I have several rejections that I have left sitting, and I have been meaning to file them away for quite some time. I think today is the day to accomplish that goal.
One final update, I will be starting a new job in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to it, too, because the schedule will allow me more time to write. I'm already dreaming of everything I can accomplish...
Hope everyone else is well. Several of you just finished NaNo. Congrats to you for tackling that challenge! I've never participated, but maybe I will some time.
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Betas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betas. Show all posts
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
An Interesting Holiday
Happy Monday to everyone. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving; I certainly did. My husband and I spent Thursday and Friday with my family, Saturday with his, and Sunday with our church family. We had a great four days and can't really complain...except for the mouse which decided to show itself after our Bible study group left our house last night and for the possible break in we had to our garage. And before you worry, I assure you all turned out well. The mouse will be caught quickly (they always are), and the person who attempted to get in through our garage door was unsuccessful.
As for writing, I didn't get a chance to work on my query. It needs revised, terribly so I'm afraid. Quite frankly, it has me stumped. A few more days of thinking it over should solve the problem. Also, my beta finished reading my manuscript and sent me his comments. I did a quick review of them, and they are very helpful. I can't wait to sit down and make any necessary revisions.
Hope everyone is doing well. :)
As for writing, I didn't get a chance to work on my query. It needs revised, terribly so I'm afraid. Quite frankly, it has me stumped. A few more days of thinking it over should solve the problem. Also, my beta finished reading my manuscript and sent me his comments. I did a quick review of them, and they are very helpful. I can't wait to sit down and make any necessary revisions.
Hope everyone is doing well. :)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Glad To Beta
Last week I finished beta reading something for a fellow writer. It was just what I needed, but I didn't realize it until I turned my focus back to my own story. As you all know, I've been editing my novel for quite some time now. And as close as I am to my story, it's hard for me to look at it objectively. I can't just do a critique on it the same way I would on someone else's work. And whenever I take a break from my story, I don't really take a break. In other words, I might not write or edit anything, but I still focus all my thoughts on it.
So after deciding to expand on a certain element in my story, I needed another break. It's taken up tons of my time to get the word count down to a reasonable amount, and this decision was going to force me to add more words. Not knowing where to start had me frozen, even though I didn't think it would take much to change it up. About that time, a fellow writer made a request for a beta. I jumped at the opportunity. And I am glad I did!
I read the story submitted to me before offering my critique. Then I went back to my story. Without getting worked up about how to start, I started on page one and began reading. Errors I had never seen before jumped out at me. Why? Because I'd gotten used to watching for them in the story I was beta-ing. Critiquing somebody else's work helped me to see my errors, which is always a good thing. And not only that, it really cleared my head. My over thinking about my novel had become my stumbling block. Now that block is gone, and over the weekend I sailed through a third of my 113K word manuscript. I tweaked here and there, added a bit in a few places, and removed unnecessary narrative/dialogue/etc. And it's reading much better.
Sometimes the editing process can be draining. And for me, it's seldom fun, although it is necessary. Thankfully, after putting all my focus on somebody else's work, my excitement for my story has been renewed.
So after deciding to expand on a certain element in my story, I needed another break. It's taken up tons of my time to get the word count down to a reasonable amount, and this decision was going to force me to add more words. Not knowing where to start had me frozen, even though I didn't think it would take much to change it up. About that time, a fellow writer made a request for a beta. I jumped at the opportunity. And I am glad I did!
I read the story submitted to me before offering my critique. Then I went back to my story. Without getting worked up about how to start, I started on page one and began reading. Errors I had never seen before jumped out at me. Why? Because I'd gotten used to watching for them in the story I was beta-ing. Critiquing somebody else's work helped me to see my errors, which is always a good thing. And not only that, it really cleared my head. My over thinking about my novel had become my stumbling block. Now that block is gone, and over the weekend I sailed through a third of my 113K word manuscript. I tweaked here and there, added a bit in a few places, and removed unnecessary narrative/dialogue/etc. And it's reading much better.
Sometimes the editing process can be draining. And for me, it's seldom fun, although it is necessary. Thankfully, after putting all my focus on somebody else's work, my excitement for my story has been renewed.
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