Sep 12, 2016

Hey, everybody. It’s a beautiful day in my part of the world. I’m enjoying my peripheral view of the deciduous trees, awash in sunlight, while I incorporate into my manuscript feedback from one of my beta readers.

Here is an excerpt from the chapter on which I’m working. It wasn’t part of the feedback, but I can’t help but tinker every time I read through the book and I’m pleased with the results:

"Ada tried to cover her nose and mouth against the hot stench of rotting refuse and the lingering smell of Ray’s sewer bath, but she couldn’t. She kept her visor up because having it down trapped the noisome stink. There was no escape. Breathing through her mouth was no alternative to using her nose; the detritus was as palpable as it was rank. She retched and retched again, but managed to swallow down the hot bile that burned the back of her throat."

Pleasant, eh?

I’ve got two people who said they’re still reading and will have remarks for me, soon, and I still owe Cara Weston a copy as she volunteered to take a look at Disintegration. I’m hoping to at least add the inestimable Rich Cernese’s feedback before I send it. What’s halfway between beta and alpha? I like the term "gamma reader" but that’s (paradoxically) going backwards.

I recently finished beta-reading the first half of Cara’s She is the End. I look forward to getting the other half; it’s one of the books about which I’m most excited. You should check it out.