Battlecruiser HMS Divorce with Mark IV Shrill Spouse Torpedoes
As an unpublished novelist, I am careful when dispensing writing advice. What would I know, anyway? There is some advice, however, that is spectacular in its mediocrity: sub-standard writing advice that is like watching a rabid chipmunk and a flying squirrel on crank mating on your keyboard while alternately squeaking and grunting a Bach fugue in D minor. It is bad and hard to miss. The age-old adage “write what you know” makes me want to take a screwdriver and stab myself repeatedly with it, hoping the pain will take away the vision and sounds of the terrible scene before me.
I will pull out a common American cultural occurrence as an example: divorce. I married in my twenties and today I am, um, older. Yes. Let us just say “older,” shall we? Thank you. In March, I will be married fifteen years (I love you Honey!).
While I am a child of divorced parents, I only have personal experience with marital breakups in the context of a child’s eyes. In other words, sitting on the sidelines, a spectator not a participant—breaking up from the love of your life, indeed, the mother of one’s children is unfathomable. My brain just cannot go there—on a personal level.
How can I write about something so foreign to me? I can claim to have seen it up close, but not experience it. The question becomes, why? Why would I?
Why indeed. Take a lot around at the society we live in. Divorce is common. If wrote a modern tale of living in contemporary society, and the characters in my world live in an insular segment of America where the divorced are less common, this novel would be like science fiction. I might as well have been writing about getting into a space ship and breaking the laws of physics by traveling Faster Than Light. There are many people who do this and are good at it, and that is my point. If you are going to envision the Battlecruiser HMS Divorce with Mark IV Shrill Spouse Torpedoes (TM), you had better examine your world with a critical eye. You have to leave your comfort-zone and put yourself in the unfamiliar.
That, my 8.3 readers, is the why. In a Young Adult novel under contemplation, the main character’s parents are divorced. I can write about this in the context of my own experience, but as soon as her parents step into the story, I have to translate my observations of the world not familiar. I could cheat and make life a bed of roses for our main character, but should I?
This is where the honesty comes into play. Do not write about what you know; write what you are passionate about. As fiction writers, we have to write about what we do not know, and that, my friends, is difficult. It takes observation, analytics, critical thinking and empathy. If you are not observant, analytical, contemplative and empathetic, then your writing is flat. You have described a Divorce Going FTL, without the thinking necessary to make it believable. It made no sense, and why it made no sense was not obvious. Life does not always come with humping rodents on your keyboard waving placards. Write what you don’t know. I dare you!
Ding!
Writing is a joy for me, but sometimes it can be an unmitigated pain in the ass. Some days I will write and write and write, then at the end of the day, read what has spewed forth from my fingers and say, “this is crap.”
I am right, too, 100% of the time. I know crap when I see it; my crap meter is skilled and effective.
My brain sometimes will not go “this is crap, yanno” before I waste an hour-and-a-half. It irks me.
My desire for publication is intense. Not because I want the money, not because I want the fame, but because I love the genre and I am a storyteller. I also want a filter in my head that goes “Ding! Don’t write that!” A “Ding!” that was backed by dollars, a “Ding!” of experience of having your agent and editor smack you around with your own manuscript.
“Hey look at me I can world build!“
“Ding!”
“Oh, yeah, that wouldn’t really add to the story now, would it? Oooo look at this word, it’s shinny!“
“Ding!”
“Fine. Ohhh, breasts!”
“DING!”
“Look, I’ll only write about breasts for a paragraph. 75, no 50 words, max.”
“Ding!”
“Sigh. I suck.”
…
“Hello?”
…
(sob)
Sunday Reflections, 4
Are there any specific elements of craft that beginning writers tend to neglect?
I think beginning writers tend to not think about a reader. They tend to think about themselves. They think about making themselves sound smart and good, and they forget that this is really all about telling stories. I used to joke that I was going to put a big sign over my desk that said, “Quit writing and tell me a story.” The problem is that they just write. They fall in love with their own voice. They write and write and write, and they lose sight of the fact that they’re trying to entertain somebody. You have to reel them in.—Chuck Adams, Q&A With Chuck Adams
Treason by Orson Scott Card
It takes a special novel for me to read more than once. Reading more than twice, that to me is an indication that there is something fundamentally engaging about the novel. Since 1988, I have read Treason every two years.
Treason by Orson Scott Card is back in reprint and comes recommended for anyone contemplating writing science fiction. A thought provoking tale of personal sacrifice, redemption and doing the right thing even though it is the hard thing, the book will ping your inner science fiction child. Somewhat forced in places, the story is engaging and, at times, surprisingly warm for such a bleak premise.
As any classic science fiction book should do, the ending will leave you with a feeling of wonder. Indeed, after I finished the book, I was smiling. The ending is so endearing I yearn for more of the two characters, but the bittersweet truth of the story demands we leave them right where they are. The ending of the book is so personal, it calls to you, and few speculative novels can match it, either before or after its publication.
Card is a monumental storyteller, and this sometimes overlooked gem is one of his best. I say this with no hesitation or reservation.
Point of View
D. M. McReynolds is a guest blogger over at Alex Moore and writes a concise and effective article on Point of View shifts. Recommended!
Be careful what you wish for
Based on feedback I have been thinking of ways to interweave my subplots to make them more integrated. One subplot I want to resolve at the end of the book for a satisfying conclusion. I have a clear roadmap on how to do that.
The other I want to carry over to the next book. This one disturbs me mightily, for I came up with a way to do it that is particularly heart wrenching. I had written before about a scene that was brutal. This chapter received accolades by my beta readers, including someone with experience with the plot details in question. My story telling instincts served me well.
Last night I came up with a way to tie this remaining subplot in but it is spectacularly harsh. The story is demanding that I go this way, indeed, it would make the book even harder to put down because it carries a lot of momentum with it.
I am not sure I can do it. It is too much. It is too sad.
I am setting aside the entire decision for a day. We will see how I feel tomorrow.
FEEDBACK NOM NOM NOM NOM
Bunny Trouble rolls over another beta reader, drawing her into the story and putting her into my world. Caroline weighed in last night and I respect her opinion mightily. She has very engaging and honest prose even in her casual writing. When she gets going, it is a delight to read because it is personal and she strikes me as someone comfortable in her own skin.
She thoroughly enjoyed the novel.
Moreover, boy-howdy did I get a lot of feedback! Secretly, I was expecting her to deliver the verdict of “crap,” and that had less to do with a lack of self-confidence than my overtly analytical nature. The Hack Writer is, after all, an arrogant ass. The likelihood of a first-time novelist getting the “crap” verdict from an honest genre reader/writer is high.
I struggle and worry about prose, but life throws you a cure. Sure, I pop up a grammatical boo-boo and the wretched mangle of sentence structure and every time someone points it out, I am embarrassed.
The real feedback I am getting however, is not “your prose is the suck,” but rather matters pertaining to plot, style and characterization.
Things I absolutely cannot have in my novel:
- Subplots that make no sense
- Preachy-ness
- Gratuitousness without a reason
- A slow start
Caroline delivered a good amount of feedback in this area, and some of it mirrors what I heard from David #1. I need to hear from two others, but, my 8.3 readers, I believe we have a winner. There is a mile of difference between “your story is boring” and “your prose is bad” to “fix this, fix that, and when can I have the next book?”
Beta feedback is wonderful, as are my beta readers. The feedback thus far will let me spit out Draft 3 a month early. The feedback was that good.
I win critique!
Nom!
Mouhahaha!
Bunny Trouble claims another victim as an additional beta reader reports that he could not put down the manuscript and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Of course, Caroline the English teacher could come back with YOUR PROSE BLOWS, but I think it is safe to say the basics of the plot, theme and my characters are sound. I have reached critical mass.
Get it? CRITICAL mass? Ha ha ha I kill myself, I really do.
I am evil writer! I am evil writer!
This is an excerpt from an unnamed YA book that I will start to write in… oh let’s see… 2010. I think I will make it the beginning chapter. Maybe. I don’t know. What do you think? Is it any good? I sorta kinda did the literary equivalent of pulling it out of my butt one evening.
I thought for a while, why post a big tease? Then I remembered that Kiersten with her Pixie Post (PIXIES!!!) and let us not forget ~*Courtney*~ with the Most Massive Tease Ever were doing it, so I would do it too. Only, of course, I am just the Hack Writer… but I still am evil.
Lisa sat in the car in the airport cell phone lot, staring at her phone, contemplating the worst call ever. She sighed and pressed the send button when her dad’s picture displayed on the screen.
“Hi Kitten,” Dad said.
“Hi Daddy.” She tried to say more, but the words just caught in her throat. It had been a great effort to convince her father that she would be okay at home. It had only been a month since Andy died. They needed the money and she needed to catch-up at school.
Now there was… this.
“What’s up? Are you going to be late picking me up?”
“No, I parked at the cell phone lot; I wanted to call you when you landed right away.”
“What’s up?” Her father sounded somewhat worried.
“You know how you don’t like surprises?”
Her father sighed. “Just spit it out Honey. Whatever it is, we can work through it.”
“I have a tattoo,” she blurted out.
“Ugh,” her father grunted. “Wow Lisa that is just… wow. Please tell me it’s somewhere you don’t normally see, like on your butt or something.”
“Weeell… it does go down… there… eventually.”
“Oh? Where else does it go?”
“It kind of wraps around, it starts over my left eye and works its way to my right foot.”
It was quite the lovely tattoo, actually, Lisa thought, other than the almost dying part.
“Lisa. This isn’t a funny joke to play on the Old Man. The flight was long and bumpy. I think I am actually green.”
“Sorry Daddy, but it is a real tattoo. Can we talk about it after I pick you up? The only reason why I called was I didn’t want you to freak when I picked you up. You can freak in the car.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll have my bags in ten minutes. Door 6.” He hung up.
Oh no, not the ‘fine’, thought Lisa. She fought hot tears, and then bit her lip. She was her father’s daughter. She would not cry; she had already spent an entire month crying for Andy, she would not!
The tears suddenly stopped, almost as if it was… magic.
Lisa shared a belated sigh with her dad. It was going to be a long day.
LibraryThing just taunted me
Cracked Up to Be in the Early Reviewers Program:
40 review copies available
1060 members requesting
YA SFF CAT is not amused.
LibraryThing: Crack for Readers
Does anyone else use LibraryThing? I’ve started on the process of adding books. Slowly but surely I will add my entire library in there.
Here is why I think LibraryThing is the Cat’s Meow: Amazon has this spooky cross-referencing program that finds a person (or two) who closely match the books you have bought, finds the books she has bought through Amazon that you did not purchase, and shows you those books in various ways.
This is more than just the lemming effect. You are getting a book recommendation from someone with similar tastes. I have found many wonderful books this way. If that gem did not show up on my suggestion list, I would have never read it—or more importantly, bought it.
LibraryThing is just like this, only on a bigger scale with more features.
LibraryThing is going to sell many books through word of mouth.
The Research Analyst has spoken. Go sign up. No need to thank me, that’s just the kind of guy I am.
The horror movie you live in
Let us pretend. Pretend you are the smartest person on the planet. Indeed, you are so intelligent and physically superior; you actually might be the next step in the evolutionary chain between one species and the next. Do you help the species you share the planet with, or do you keep to yourself and hope for the best?
Then you encounter something like this:
CARNATION, Wash. – The parents of a 14-year-old Carnation girl who nearly starved were arrested last night after formal charges were filed against them.
The girl’s father, 43-year-old John Pomeroy, and stepmother, 44-year-old Rebecca Long, are charged with criminal mistreatment for allegedly starving and mistreating the girl. They were released on bail.
The couple faces as many as four years in prison if convicted, King County prosecutor’s spokesman Dan Donohoe said. Investigators say they denied the 14-year-old girl food and water, leaving her in such bad shape she looked like a concentration camp survivor.
The couple is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 27 in King County Superior Court.
Police say the girl was just 4-feet-7 tall and weighed only 48 pounds when deputies discovered her emaciated, dehydrated and starving to death two months ago.
The investigation began August 13 after Child Protective Services (CPS) received a call from a neighbor who heard screams coming from the house. CPS called the King County Sheriff’s Office and a deputy conducted a welfare check at the house.
The deputy talked with the daughter privately after her father said she was the one screaming. Appearing pale and skinny, the girl looked like she was 7 or 8 years old, rather than her stated age of 14.
“He weighed her, she was 47 (48) pounds,” said King County Sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart. “Very malnourished, teeth were in horrible shape. As it turned out, all of her teeth had to be pulled or the remaining ones had to be capped.”
She said her stepmother disciplined her by restricting her water intake and that she was given only toast to eat. She also said she hadn’t seen a doctor in several years.
The girl and her younger brother, 12, were immediately taken from the house.
“The boy was not as bad as she was,” said Urquhart. “He had very bad teeth… but at least he was being fed.”
The girl was admitted to Children’s Medical Center where she was treated for severe malnutrition for two weeks. Officials say the girl and her brother are currently in foster care and doing well.
In the month and a half the girl has been in foster care, she has gained more than 20 pounds, prosecutors said. Her foster father says she is attending a private school and making friends.
Upon investigation, detectives discovered the stepmother restricted her daughter’s water intake to about half of a small Dixie cup per day, say sheriff officials. The stepmother monitored her daughter’s showers and bathroom habits to keep her from drinking water, and showers were limited to every two or three weeks.
“During the day and night, she was locked in her room. There was a double deadbolt on the door,” said Urquhart. “But her brother had a key and he occasionally would let her out and she would sneak into the bathroom and drink out of the toilet because she was afraid to turn on the faucet because she thought it would wake up her mother.”
The stepmother figured out that she had been drinking from the toilet. As punishment, the stepmother duct-taped the girl’s hands behind her back and dunked her head in the toilet, said officials. Both the brother and the sister were then forced to sleep on the floor in a room with a dresser pushed in front of the door at night.
“It got so bad that during winter, water would condense on the windows and would run down on the inside of the windows,” said Urquhart. “The little girl had a straw and she would suck up what water she could. At some point, her mother found the straw and took that away from her.”
Detectives served a search warrant on the house and found the girl’s room had a double deadbolt on the door, confirming she was locked in the room at times during the day. Both children had not been enrolled in school for years.
The detectives also collected evidence showing the family had health insurance and that the girl’s younger brother had seen a doctor in the last few years. Detectives add the family’s two dogs were in good health and had recent trips to the veterinarian. Investigators say Pomeroy is a software engineer and Long does not work outside of the home.
KING 5 News has also learned CPS had been called to the home before. Three years ago, the girl told teachers at school she was being locked in her room for long periods of time. CPS found the complaint was true and recommended counseling, then closed the case. Some time after that, the parents began home-schooling their daughter.
Criminal Treatment in the First Degree is a Class B felony.
My question is interesting now, is it not? This, my 8.3 readers, is the question I ask in my Bunny Trouble books. While the series may end in a glorious look at the future, the road between is a bleak tale that has a firm basis in reality.
If you were Homo Universalis would you have a tolerance of such wickedness in self defense or would you anchor yourself in righteous fury? Down one path, you could go about saving the society you live in as it starts to collapse upon itself. Down the other path is death and destruction: the end of almost everything. Your civilization is not worth efforts to save it.
The Reset button is there before you. Do you press it?
I love the smell of fresh criticism in the morning.
Had a lengthy chat with one of my beta readers, and he gave me wonderful feedback on Bunny Trouble.
He found the novel riveting in places, but had some specific suggestions:
There are two characters in the novel that more or less “stay hidden” until the end of the book. They on occasion pop up in the story at times to do certain things (of which I cannot tell you). He wanted either more of that or less of that.
He felt the story was too gratuitous in places.
The dialog between three teenage girls was described as stilted.
Finally, he said my voicing was off. One of my main characters was bleeding into the others.
The “less or more” commentary is telling. I made a conscious choice to do this, but I did not know how it would pan out. I will have to see what the other readers think. I am trying to convey a sense of the unknown, but I may have been too cute about it. Cute is bad.
The girly dialog and the gratuitousness of the manuscript is somewhat related. I set out to have a sexy story (for the premise of the novel is a dark draw) but not cross a line I had for myself. It is now obvious to me that I failed in that regard. Just to see how the novel would go, I cut two-thirds of the teens in question. This eliminated some unnecessary sex, made the manuscript tighter, and improved the plot. I am confident I will not receive feedback that says I should leave that where it is, so I believe I am good there. There are other places to cut, but I have to have the rest of the feedback first.
The voicing is a killer, because he is right. Essentially, that is an amateur mistake, and out of all the suggestions thus far, will be the most time consuming to correct. I am confident I can overcome that problem… now that I know about it.
Despite the pile (and I mean a pile) of improvement suggestions, I remain upbeat. When the first three beta readers come back and report that the novel was “riveting,” that to me is a big win. My fear was the entire thing was preachy and essentially a big snooze, and who wants to read that?
Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
This book review is for novelists. If you simply have love a reading, John Grant does an excellent review on Infinity Plus.
Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl is an extraordinary Young Adult novel—an entertaining, thought-provoking story and a fine technical achievement. The novel itself encompasses not one or two genres—but three, one for each point of view. From the forward by Lois Lowry:
“How rich a literary landscape is the one that enables the reader to enter several worlds and make a home in each.”
Reviewers throughout the decades have attempted to define this gem as a blend of science fiction and fantasy. This, perhaps, is an incorrect interpretation of the novel. Enchantress from the Stars is a book that deftly switches between three points of view: Elana, the daughter of a field agent from an advanced galactic civilization, Jarel, a medical officer from a space faring race and Georyn, the youngest son of a woodcutter whose life is turned upside-down when the Dragon invades the Enchanted Forest.
The plot is thus: A space-faring race has invaded a planet where the inhabitants are in a primitive, medieval state. They go about clearing their landing site of their future colony with little thought to the impact of the people already there. The Dragon is a mechanical demolition machine, but to the natives it is a fearsome beast. Above both these two peoples, Elana, her fiancé and her father must try to save the primitive civilization, but they must do so in a way as to not interfere with the cultural advancement of the colonists. Simply, without a doubt, a marvelous bit of plotting.
One point of view in the book comes from Georyn, and as such is “fantasy.” The other point of view is from Jarel, and could be classified as “science fiction.” The third point of view, and the most important, comes from Elana, and is, in my humble opinion, visionary fiction. The three genres come together in a rapturous conclusion that is both harrowing, contemplative and finally, bittersweet. If you do not become misty-eyed, or at the least wistful at the conclusion of the book, then you heart is hardened to the likes of love gained and love lost in sacrifice for a noble purpose.
As a writer this technical achievement deserves your study, for Engdahl carries it with finesse and a unique style that has stood the test of time and is without peer. That is only the half of the reason I recommend this novel.
You will never find me disparaging the Young Adult novels that have reached a resounding success yet never come near the thoughtfulness offered by Engdahl. How many new-writer doors have opened because of Rowling and Meyer? Not just from a commercial perspective, but simply from an audience-building standpoint. This week, there is agent calling her client with a book deal that never would have seen the light of day without the expansion of the teen market. No matter how much the protagonist personally grates on one’s nerves, we owe that literary vampiric mouse of a girl a debt. Would the reprints of Enchantress from the Stars be possible if Harry Potter only existed in an Edinburgh coffee shop? It is not for me to say, but the influence of Rowling’s speculative work on publishers is as obvious as the sun rising each morning.
This is the heart of my review. There is, in my mind, the achievement of this novel from 1970 and the commercial success of the contemporary mega author. Like a greedy child, I want both. I demand both. I want novels that meet the standards presented by Engdahl, while commercially fulfilling the dreams of agents and publishers because their audience is legion.
Enchantress from the Stars explores personal ethics and morality and presents a cosmos that demands personal sacrifice not just for the good of who we know, but also for a greater purpose beyond our immediate universe. The personal growth of Elana through her great efforts, sacrifice and loss was awe-inspiring as it was a heartbreaking journey to behold. I could go on and on about the little gems inside this book, such as the psychological insights offered to the reader on human nature and matters of the heart. Nevertheless, I will not for that is not my purpose in writing this review. What I will do is toss down a literary gauntlet.
Dear writers, this is my challenge to you. If you are a fantasy author, there is much to learn from Enchantress from the Stars in the creation of legend and myth and the personal trials of the human spirit filled with curiosity. As science fiction, it is a wondrous universe filled with more questions than answers. As a Young Adult novel, it is, simply, without equal. Read this novel and then read your work in progress, and attempt to rise to a higher measure.
Firebird reprinted Enchantress from the Stars in paperback. I encourage you, however, to order the signed hardcover edition published by Walker, and send the author a note thanking her for her efforts. If you already have a copy, blow the dust off it. Enter once more a universe that does not talk down to you, assumes you can handle characters that grow and wonder despite hardship and love lost, and, ultimately, expands your mind to new horizons.
Sunday Reflections, 3
“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”
The beta reader cha-cha
Everyone now has his or her copy of the Bunny Trouble manuscript.
Officer Brian completed his read-through, and is now reading it again because he did not want to slow down so he could learn what happens next. WHN(tm) is a very important component to my writing. It is how I judge entertaining novels. If a reader does not want to know WHN, that is an indication the pacing and plotting is off.
Seems somewhat obvious, but I have personally spent money on a book I was looking forward to reading, only to set it down without finishing. It does not happen often, but life is too short to spend time reading something that does not entertain and move you in some way.
Anyway, Brian liked the novel. Since it has a heavy police officer element to it, this is pure feedback goodness. He is going to go back through the manuscript with a more critical eye and point out where I boofed any of the cop elements and missed grammatical errors on my line-edit.
I still am nervous about the whole thing. It feels strange to spend so much effort and then toss the manuscript to other people. Not good, not bad… strange. New.
Ugh. My poor fingernails!
Moving right along…
I finished the second chapter of The Baby Dancers. The fight with the protagonist and the pregnant former-Sister Lucinda went in an unexpected direction. The scene ended in a sweet, friendly way and it took a bit of thinking to work the humor back into the chapter.
Writing is funny that way.
Sister Lucinda is going to kick your ass
Bunny Trouble: No update, the manuscript is out to beta readers.
The Baby Dancers: 747 words, much less then my usual offerings in the evening but better than the night previous of 500. I could have gone on but stopped at a point where the main character is about to get his ass handed to him in ritual hand-to-hand combat by a pregnant former Catholic Sister who is now his aunt. Since the scene in my mind was so vivid, absurd yet wonderful, I want to do it justice when fresh.
Yeah, do not piss off pregnant former Catholic Sisters. It can be hazardous to your health. This has been a public announcement by Anthony Pacheco: Hack Writer.
First two chapters are coming slowly. Slow and steady wins the race.
Blog: Will be reading some YA fiction this week. Tune in Sunday evening for a comprehensive review. For you YA or fantasy writers, this will be up your alley. No need to thank me, that’s just the kind of guy I am.
Updates and
Bunny Trouble: Officer Brian received the manuscript in the mail yesterday. The UPS driver on the way to Spokane must have tossed it out of his truck as he rumbled on past. I enjoy next day service at ground rates. I tip my hat to UPS.
Meanwhile, I am running out of fingernail.
The Baby Dancers received a mere 500 words yesterday. Almost literally, as I reached word 500, a little something in my body went “bing!” and I became tired. Unlike a vast majority of the people I know, when I become tired I… (wait for it) go to sleep.
Meanwhile, my blog traffic has picked up. I have 8.3 dedicated readers, and several shy lurkers.
Hello!
I have a favor to ask. I went to a writer’s blog (Amber Lynn Smith) and saw that no one said congratulations when she said she LANDED AN AGENT. Stop by and tell her congratulations!
Awesomesauce!
New Blog Tradition: Media Wednesday!
Edit: Slow loading video moved behind the lines for speedy blog loading purposes. No need to thank me, that’s just the kind of guy I am.
David Weber Channeling Anaïs Nin
“But, I’m in the mood to raise some angst… So, how many 90,000 word (or higher) projects have you completed? I’m not worried about quality or whether or not it was published, but simply how many of you have even gone the distance… Once.”
When I sat down to see what kind of novelist I was, I picked someone else’s intellectual property and decided to write an epic story around one of the characters that struck my fancy. This certainly was not fan fiction, for I will not post it anywhere, ever. Indeed, I do not intend to show anyone the novel. Well, The Wife Unit could ask and get it (there are, after-all, benefits to being married to The Hack Writer).
In other words, I decided to write a novel purely as a writing exercise. In that regard, the work was a resounding success. It validated my plotting style, defined my characterization and established my distinctive voice.
The story was a grand tale of 150,000 words. I am very fond of this novel. The prose is wanting, but the story telling is very entertaining. You could describe the style as “David Weber Space Opera meets Anaïs Nin Hot Lesbian Sex”. It is a pure science fiction romp and very sexy to boot.
Book One can never sell, sabotaged on purpose. I owe a lot to Book One. Book One, I salute you and your service!
I do not suggest my kick-start method for everyone. I am however, right there with Ken. Write a book. Then go post around the interwebs.
* * *
Disclaimer: I am nowhere near David Weber or Anaïs Nin, that’s not even remotely what I was suggesting kk thanks.
I love you long time beta readers!
I found my last beta reader. 7.3 blog followers, meet Caroline:
Caroline: A high school English teacher and a voracious reader, she has more than a passing familiarity with firearms. She is a fan of the fantasy genre. Caroline wishes to remain under the radar, and therefore I have bestowed upon her the name of a kick-ass hunter from Bunny Trouble. I am very excited to have Caroline on board, she is a passionate and action-orientated writer. I hope I can live up to her expectations!
Beta Reading Squad Doki Doki Team Alpha SIX is now Beta Reading Squad Doki Doki Team Alpha SEVEN. Boo-YAH!
