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Three Tips for Being a Better Beta Reader

Magnifying glass over a book with text: 3 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 […]

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April 4, 2013

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How Should We Deal with Conflicting Advice?

Chess knights facing off with text: Whose Advice Should We Take?

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 […]

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February 26, 2013

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

Gift box with text "Want to win 'me'? Wait... 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 […]

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June 28, 2012

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What Should We Look for in a Beta Reader?

Magnifying glass centered on the words "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 […]

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June 14, 2012

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Why Does Feedback Hurt So Much?

Bloody hand holding large knife

Several people I know are going through revisions right now based on feedback they received from beta readers, agents, or editors.  Every one of them is dealing with the “I suck” issue along with that. Yes, sometimes feedback can be a bit too mean or blunt, but that’s not the […]

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April 24, 2012

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Ask Jami: How Do We Find Beta Readers?

Woman reading in a park on a sunny day

My post about combining comments from multiple beta readers in MS Word brought up a great question.  How do we get beta readers? In the comments, Amanda Byrne asked, “[A]ny hints on how you can scare up more beta readers? … [O]nly one of them gets back to me in […]

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April 5, 2012

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MS Word Trick: Combining Changes and Comments

Sunflower with honeybees

We all have weaknesses.  Some people want to deny their imperfections, but most of us do what we can to overcome them. Like many writers, one of my weaknesses is my inability to interpret my words the way a reader does.  That’s not unusual.  We know what we meant to […]

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April 3, 2012

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Do You Write for Yourself or Your Readers?

Empty seats in a stadium

Many writers, especially new ones, talk about how they write for themselves.  When we first start out, we might not know if we’ll even be able to finish the project, so it makes sense that we’re writing for ourselves. We want to get this story out of our head.  We want to […]

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August 25, 2011

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How Do You Deal with Difficult Characters?

Man's hands bound by a strap

(Side note:  Do you know how troublesome it is to find a picture of someone bound and/or gagged that doesn’t look…well, inappropriate for this blog?  *snicker*) Writers all know the type—the character who refuses to play by the rules, who doesn’t communicate with us, or who wants to be a […]

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August 11, 2011

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Milestone Contest – Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

Open gift box with streamers coming out

My one-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th.  The occasion has me doing something I don’t normally do: math.  Eek! This is my 101st blog post, and during that time, this blog has passed 100 Google Friend Connect followers, 250 RSS subscribers, and 1500 comments (not including mine).  I […]

June 28, 2011

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