Category: beta readers

Admit when you’re wrong

On By TomIn Achievement, author honesty, author ideas, beta readers, editing, General, Insight, killing your darlings, Novel, reading, relaxation, Review, self-publishing, thriller, work in progress, writing

For a few months, I’ve been working simultaneously on different projects. This has always been an effective way for me to keep the ideas and words flowing, therefore avoiding the dreaded writer’s block. My method has a drawback that I’ve only experienced twice before, but it happened recently.

Whilst on a caravanning holiday in the Scottish Highlands, I reread MacLennan from the beginning, and found that although I’d produced lots of words, the story I’d created wouldn’t have captured and held the attention of a reader. I removed and saved approximately 20,000 words to a folder designated for that purpose, and then I began reworking the remainder.

Over a period of ten days, during early morning sessions and occasional hours spent sitting in the awning, I applied myself to injecting more intrigue, suspense, and action, and the words flowed once again. Like many of you other scribes out there, I know when the story feels ‘right’, and I’m pleased to say that in its new format, MacLennan is in that category.

Yes, we must all have self-belief, but we must all be brutally honest with ourselves. We must utilise beta readers, editors, and anyone else recommended for guidance and the polishing of a tale. It remains, however, our responsibility as authors to produce our best efforts at each stage.

It’s vitally important to admit when you’re wrong.

I now have 50,000 words, and I’m comfortable with the new characters, those being reintroduced, and the pace, which is crucial in such a story. The action works, and so do the occasional breathing spaces, so I feel I have another viable thriller in the making. It may or may not be ready for publication by the end of the year, but I’m in no rush.

I’ll give plenty of notice in the IASD group on Facebook with an approximate date for when I’d appreciate beta readers.

If you’d like a flavour of the story, here is a link to Chapter 1, The Invisible Man.

As always, comments are welcome. Thank you for visiting.

Karma and Summary Justice

On By TomIn Achievement, author ideas, beta readers, collections, Competitions, editing, General, Insight, Novel, Promotion, reading, self-publishing, series, Short Stories, thriller, work in progress, writing

Harriet: and other stories is now available. You’ll find more of my brand of karma and summary justice within. This is my first anthology for four years.

Three of the tales were written for this collection, and nine were created over the past three years for the regular 1,000-word challenge in Connections eMagazine. Fellow author Melanie P. Smith produces the quarterly digital publication. Each edition has short stories, new releases, special features, and author profiles.

This is the eighth collection of short stories I’ve published featuring only my work, and with my collaboration anthologies, it’s my eleventh collection to date. (Not including erotica).

I aim to publish Another Taste of Honey during December. The manuscript is now in the hands of my beta readers, so when their reports are returned to me, I’ll work through their comments and suggestions, followed by a final punctuation and grammar check.

This sequel has been a long time coming, and I want it to be received as well as the first part of the heroine’s story, A Taste of Honey.

As always, thank you for dropping by, and for any comments.

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