The Beta Has Begun

It has begun! Quite the momentous day for me. I have, for the first time ever, started a beta reading. The first novel has been sent out to select individuals around the United States. They may very well be reading it as I write this up. Honestly I thought I would be more nervous, but maybe that will start when I have been waiting longer without hearing anything. They have an entire book to read after all. Mainly I’m just excited. Nobody looks forward to criticism, even constructive criticism, and I am no exception. But I am all the same excited to get different views of my work. I truly believe I have gotten about as far as I can with only a single source of external feedback, and when I see what a magnificent difference that has made to my work I can hardly contain my hope that the next revision will be that much better again. As of now I still may yet be on track for submissions to publishers by the end of the year, or at least near enough as to make no difference. It is hard to say how this will all play out when it comes to timing, but we shall see.

I do not want any of you to believe that I have been idle as I wait. While my current revision is done I have begun work on book two. I have about 30,000 words already prepped from when it used to be part of book one, but they will need heavy revision to be usable I’m sure. In the mean time, I have begun a different type of outlining then I have used before. A chapter by chapter outline of book two, each chapter with a listed viewpoint and what needs to be covered. Each chapter has about half a page written about it, and now it’s looking like being about 23 chapters long to cover what I want to include. This, I have already completed, though of course it will be subject to change when I actually sit down to write the thing. I can’t wait to share it with you all, and will continue to keep you all updated on my adventure as it continues, both in and out of the story.