In early December, I finished the full first pass of TDP-1. I then sent it out to several people I trust to be honest with me. Being the first round of beta readers, I’ve been dreading hearing back from people.
You know how it is. That good old writer’s ego telling you – You know they’re going to hate it? They’ll secretly use it as a dart board and laugh about it. All it’s good for is the trash can.
Yeah – that Writer Ego. We all have it. And if you don’t? I envy the crap out of you.
Please note that my first full pass includes a LOT of stuff. That being said, sending out your baby is always difficult. What if someone tells you it doesn’t have what it takes?
So far, I’ve had four of my beta readers get back to me. Some are still going through and making notes so I can compile them all and make my next edits round viable, but two of them got back to me today.
Oh. My. God.
They love it. Love it. They love my story, the characters. They found my premise believable and my villains plausible.
Don’t get me wrong. They also had suggestions for pieces of information they needed a bit more of to fully understand. There were places they proposed that I reinforce story’s history and motivations. The manuscript is marked up with grammatical corrections and possible places phrasing confuses them etc. There is still a hell of a lot of work to do polishing it.
But, overall, the story is solid and they want to read the next book.
I can now happily work on polishing it and making the writing just that much better. Thank you both SO much for being honest and amazing – for giving me truly constructive feedback.
It makes the fact that I finished the paper edits on TDP-2 yesterday feel even better (yes that picture is, in fact, of THE TDP-2 paper edited). I have a long road ahead of me, but right now, I feel like it’s something I can accomplish.
#writemotivation is doing wonders for me. I’m working on something every day. Today, I outlined H novel. Just on 1500 words of basic outline. I’ll need to work on characters, places and things next, but for now – the basic outline is done. Tomorrow I’ll print out TDP-3 for its paper edits round.
Because I’m holding myself to a loose personal deadlines, I’ve decided to post the first three months of it here to hold myself accountable.
January:
Paper Edit TDP-2
Outline H
Paper Edit TDP-3
Start next pass on TDP-1
February:
Finish next pass on TDP-1
Plot H
Write H
March:
Send TDP-1 back out to betas
Finish H if not finished yet
Revise Query for TDP-1
Write & Revise Synopsis for TDP-1
Start TDP-2 transcription
As long as I make sure to give myself some relaxing/frivolous time every day, I truly think I can accomplish this. I may need to readjust as editing TDP-1 may take more than 2 weeks. I mean, I want it to be done properly, right?
There are some days you just need to tell your writer ego to f*** off. Because raining on my parade today, is just not an option.
How are your January goals going? Are you looking forward to the rest of the year? Do you love or hate beta feedback?
Tell your writer’s ego to have some chocolate and sit in the corner quietly.
I’m very glad you received what you needed back. I’m still beta reading a story myself. Hadn’t marked anything up because I want to mainly make sure the story makes sense and is something I would be interested in buying if I sampled a chapter.
Keep up the good work. You’ve got some great goals. I’m sure you’ll not only meet but beat those bad boys.
I’m not sure how I never replied to these comments. BAD KT.
Writemotivation is working wonders for me – I hope it helps everyone else.
Such a great feeling to get positive feedback on your baby! Congrats and best of luck with your goals (seriously, you’re a writing/editing machine!)!
Thank you – and I can now cross off one more thing 😀
<3
So happy to have been able to help! It was an honor! It truly was a magnificent story. Not much more needs tweaking and I think you've got a winner! 😀 And seriously, I'm like, "who else got back to you today?" LOL I seriously consider my husband and I one single entity! You should have seen me trying to click the link from my phone….LOL
With your OCD I really don't think you will have problems meeting your goals. 🙂 Just school your OCD and make sure you give yourself some relaxation time so you don't burn out! I will definitely THWAP you to keep you in line…much like you TWAP me to keep my inner editor in line and me on the daily writing track! 😀
<3
You guys are amazing. I will start compiling notes tonight. So excited.
Hey K.T.,
You go with your big bad self…. *love* the attitude and yeah, f**k the ego when its time to produce… Ego ain’t gonna write the damn thing, is she…
Re. Jan . goals… so far so good.. written 4k words above and beyond, finished chap. 8 (of 14) Can. Finish. By April 2, 2012 🙂
Yep – must tell that ego to go play with itself in the corner 😉
I loved reading this! I’m so excited for you. I bet your book is amazing. There’s nothing quite like getting good feedback from people you trust–sooo awesome! :0)
Haha 😀 Well, I hope it’s amazing. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But getting good feedback (and good constructive feedback at that) is an amazing feeling.
Congratulations! I’m so happy that they liked it! And you’re so close to making your goals! That is something of which to be proud. You keep going, girl!