BETA READERS/friends (that are not your mom)

readers

So, it takes a village to edit a book.

Well at least one of my books.

So they are not a hot mess per se; I have no problem getting from the first page to the last page plot-wise (I can do it with my eyes closed) what I can’t do AT ALL is edit. I mean, I can, I just suck at it. Ask my dear friend Erica Mills (a wonderful critic partner and editor and storyteller. Check out her book KEEPING HOUSE). I just don’t, know, how, to, use, comma’s. Or! Punctuation;) in:0( general? … I also occasionally, sometimes, not very often, miss the little things that make each and every plot line really shine.

THAT IS WHY I/YOU NEED BETA READERS and self-sacrificing friends that will edit/read for you and ask nothing in return except the ability to be the first eyeballs on your story. (I’m sure you’ve see plenty of typos in my blog posts. Welcome to my world! I affectionately call it  Theresa Land: where typos are the air we breathe.)

One tiny example of the hundreds I have:

I am currently putting a huge addition in BLOOD OF THE GODS. The reason for this addition is a conversation with my friend Erica. She mentioned that she wanted more of the Gods conversations, she wanted to see things from their side. This is a comment I’ve had before but she added something. She gave me a specific place where it would have really helped her to understand, that’s great BUT best of all, she gave me an example of what she would have liked to see. It was a simple idea, maybe one sentence but once she spoke it my brain went crazy. She hit upon the thing I’d been struggling with, a bud of an idea that I just didn’t want to implement throughout the entire book.

However once I commit, it’s a done deal and having just finished up peppering my story with these conversations, I can tell you it added soooo much. (Thank you Erica!!) To prove it I am going to post a little taste of a scene. I’m adding it to the BLOOD OF THE GODS page up above. So check it out.

Friends people. BETA readers! Get yourself some and then do the work.

 

Love, Me!

P.S.

Thank you to these BETA/ FRIEND readers:

Naomi Sawyer, Trevor Mason, Katie Bell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Bailey, Chelsey Hooper, Sarah Carvajal, Jessica Lawson, Esther Pruiksma, Amanda Jensen, Cara Tomco, Brett Cain, Trudy Mcfarland, Wattpad-ers, Erica Mills and many of you that only read partials (you’re still awesome). Thanks! I love you!

Honorable mentions: Dorothy Olsen (who always listens to me read to her if I ask), My husband who will tell me how to make things better, if I ask and who gives me time to this ‘annoying hobby’. <3

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