Call to Armrests · 8:36pm March 28th
The time has come.
As of yesterday, the second run-through of Guppy Love is complete and now it’s time for the scary part: this is an open call for pre-readers. I’m looking for people to go through the story and point out things I missed, be it typos or plot holes, and basically tell me how bad the story is. I have no idea how many people I want doing this. Nor do I know how much I’d be willing to change if someone detects something big, especially considering how long I’ve been working on this project. But I’ve got time, especially since I need to get some cover art for the thing. Then again, maybe I shouldn't go for cover art until I’ve prepped it for release, that way I’ll have a better idea of what size the image needs to be.
This particular stage in the release process always leaves me anxious. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I have this mental lock that tells me a writer is only truly productive when they are writing, and editing is not that. So when a pre-reader tells me there’s a significant problem in a story – and worse, I agree – then I have to wrestle with the fact that something needs changing in a story that is already done and that’s preventing me from exploring the new. Hell, that’s exactly what happened that led to this total from-scratch rewrite in the first place. It’s why my story Songbird took more than a year to release. So now I approach this stage with dread of more delays.
But it is a necessary one. If a story is to be at its best, it needs that peer review.
So yeah: I need some pre-readers.
I used to have a Discord server for this, specifically for Guppy Love. It’s been dead for a while though. I could dust it off and re-use it, or I could delete it and make a new one. I’m thinking that might be best; it gets rid of all the old commentary and prevents pre-readers of previous versions who might not be returning from getting all sorts of alerts all of a sudden. So yeah, that’s probably what I’ll do, although I might go into it with a note that old pre-readers are welcome to follow.
At any rate, I likely won’t be sharing anything until after Easter weekend. I’m going to be visiting family, and they’ve got a lot planned such as multiple big family dinners and (of course) a massive easter egg hunt for the (many) kids. Here’s hoping my aunt doesn’t go vastly overboard for the second year in a row and literally create hundreds of eggs to hide (shockingly, we only lost two eggs). And all of that is on top of the fact we’ve got a familiar guest who arrived just yesterday and will likely be demanding everyone’s attention: Evy-chan. That’s right, she’s back. A year older and hopefully having forgotten her desire to kill me. If you don’t get a blog next week, you’ll know why.
That’s it for this week. Tune in next time (hopefully) for Trixie being denied, consensual horse consumption, and attempts at alicornication gone horribly wrong.
Need some editing done? Working on a story and not sure how it’s shaping up? I’m now doing editing and critique commissions! Check here for more information and PM me if interested.
Aw man just as I'm about to leave for planting again goddammit I wanna help but I can't while I'm living in the bush ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
No, I mean, maybe I could help. I'd certainly like to. I will not have a ton of time, but I'll certainly have some. Was gonna try and finish the second half of Bulletproof Heart out there; it has become my go-to camp read. But I can focus on other Paul Words. Maybe. Good news: I have a much bulkier data plan that last year. Bad news: jury's still out on if I'll even have reception. Part of me wants to ask if I can just wait in the wings and contribute little bits of commentary when I can but I imagine you'd prefer people who can be a lot more present. Which, yeah. Good luck with everything.
Assuming you survive the weekend, I could pre-read for you. It wasn't a complete disaster last time.
5774109
While I would have welcomed your input, it sounds like you'll be better serving yourself by finishing off BPH. Go out there and do what you gotta do!
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"Wasn't a complete disaster" is about as good as any author can hope for. Your level of attention will undoubtedly be worthwhile and I welcome it!
Still alive, but jury's still out for the weekend. It may depend upon how willing I am to regularly push her on her favorite swing (seriously, she loves that thing).
Has it been a whole year since Evy/chan visited? Geez, does time march on…
In any case, I too shall keep my eyes peeled in case your regular posts stop.