I think this is the most nerve-wracking part of writing any book. I\’ve read my manuscript many, many times by this stage. This makes me the alpha reader – the first one to see it. Now it\’s being read by my beta readers – the second ones to scrutinise it.
I can\’t contact them.
I mustn\’t influence them.
I want to look over each of their shoulders and read with them, line by line, word by word. But I can\’t and I won\’t.
It\’s imperative that they give me their honest, possibly brutal, opinions and feedback. Only then can the real crafting and polishing begin where I iron out errors, continuity flaws, dialogue clunks, plot twists and dips in the tension.
It truly is torture waiting for the verdict.
In the meantime I have some short stories to edit which I\’m hoping to publish very soon.
The short story collection is just a little taster of some of my other work and will contain three very different tales. It will be called \’Trio\’ and will be available to buy very soon.
www.intheplottingshed.com 