New Editor Feedback and Beta Readers Too
Her very first sentence was, “I loved this — or rather, I loved <name> and the fact that you managed to make her funny despite all of her appalling experiences.” Her letter was three pages and all of her words were extremely encouraging – even the recommendations and suggestions on changes. We are now into editing it page by page. She indicated “I do believe you might well be published one day…”, and I have to say, I have read that sentence over and over, I hope she’s right.
In the meantime while I waited for her review, I sent the ms along to some “beta” readers. I know what everyone (publishers, agents, editors) say about the feedback you get from folks you know…they say, “well of course they are going to TELL you they love it – even if they HATED it. STILL! I mean really!! Sometimes they DO love it! And they CAN give you honest feedback!! And, who else are you going to send the ms to when you are working on it? And besides, all writers do it, and guess what? Not all ms are bad, and not all readers are lying when they say it is good. So there! :>) Anyway, despite all the hoopla about what family, friends may say, I trusted my beta readers and I felt good about their feedback. (actually one of them I didn’t know – she was the wife of a co-worker, and I’d never met her) It made me feel like I wasn’t wasting my time when they said “they couldn’t put it down” or “it IS really good”. If they enjoyed it, and I didn’t torture them by asking them to read it, then that’s all that matters to me…
So, I’ve been busy working on what Ms Editor has suggested needs fixing, and I hope to have the first three chapters (which have morphed into five) to send to her shortly. I hope she will like the changes and I guess what I’ve come to realize is I better get used to that heart pounding feeling each time I send something.
So back to re-writing. In the next post, I will share how I get past that notorious writer’s block and believe me, I’m not sure I’ve ever read of anyone who has used this particular method.