beta reader

Three Tips for Being a Better Beta Reader

April 4, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Three Tips for Being a Better Beta Reader

The Golden Rule of “treat others how you’d like to be treated” applies to most aspects of our lives—including our author life. One of the best things we can do to find beta readers for our work (at least among our network of author friends) is to offer to beta read for others. Inside the beta [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

How Should We Deal with Conflicting Advice?

February 26, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for How Should We Deal with Conflicting Advice?

Did you hear? History was made this past weekend. And no, I’m not speaking in hyperbole. *smile* Imagine a writers’ conference with high-quality speakers, matching those found at national conferences. Imagine being able to attend for a fraction of the cost of other national writers’ conferences and with no travel costs. Imagine being able to [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

How to Revise for a Stronger Theme

February 21, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for How to Revise for a Stronger Theme

Last time, we talked about using our story’s and characters’ themes to keep us on track as we draft. But no matter how well we know our themes during drafting, we can probably make them stronger in revision. Maybe we thought a character’s arc would focus on one theme, but another one popped up during [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

Introducing the Query/Blurb Exchange Club!

January 15, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Introducing the Query/Blurb Exchange Club!

The response to my request for help on my query in my last post was amazing. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, we all know you are amazing, right? *smile* But the tremendous outpouring of offers to help also made me feel guilty. I’ve heard stories from others about how hard it can be [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

What Writing Step Are You Afraid Of?

January 10, 2013 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for What Writing Step Are You Afraid Of?

I’ve said before that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. However, I do have several writing goals for this year. Like many writers, my big goal has to do with making progress toward being published, and that means I have to face my fear. For me, that translates into… *dun dun dun* Query letters. That’s [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

The Inbox Explosion: How Do You Manage Yours?

September 20, 2012 Over-Achieving Perfectionist
Thumbnail image for The Inbox Explosion: How Do You Manage Yours?

I fully admit that one of my weaknesses is an out-of-control email inbox. Between my accounts for writing and day job, I have an obscene number of unread emails. (As in, a hundred times the number depicted in this picture.) Granted, the vast majority of those unread emails are list digests and things that don’t [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

Blogiversary Contest — Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

June 28, 2012 News
Thumbnail image for Blogiversary Contest — Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

My two-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th.  Wow, I’ve been writing this blog for two years already? How can something feel like yesterday and forever at the same time? Mostly, I’m amazed that I found that much to blog about, not just in the number of posts but the length of my posts. [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

What Do We “Owe” New Writers?

June 21, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for What Do We “Owe” New Writers?

The last couple of posts have been about beta reading, beta readers, and authors helping each other.  I love positive, uplifting conversations like that.  But the comments brought up an important point: Sometimes the relationships we have with other writers in our circle aren’t all unicorns and rainbows. Sometimes a beta reader might give us [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

Why I Love Beta Reading

June 19, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Why I Love Beta Reading

I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that I didn’t have much time to write my blog post for today.  Why?  Because I was beta reading a story, and I could not put it down. I’ve had several posts about finding beta readers or what to look for in beta readers, but I haven’t written about the experience [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more

What Should We Look for in a Beta Reader?

June 14, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for What Should We Look for in a Beta Reader?

I thought I already had a blog post about this topic, but I didn’t. Is déjà vu blogging a sign of something worrisome? *smile* Anyway, I want to thank agent Laura Bradford, who gave me the idea for this post when she shared several great tips on Twitter yesterday about beta readers and critique partners.  For those [...]

Pin It
Click here to read more