Editing, Editing, and Reader Calls: The News · 7:21pm June 13th
Well, this week has been a busy one. Which I will now recount to you as a form of … accountability? Honestly, I think that you guys appreciate knowing what I’m up to, and what sort of work I’m putting in. At the same time, it gives readers an idea of how much effort goes into something like getting a completed draft ready for publishing. Which is … well, a lot. My draft for The Phoenix declares that it was open for 115 hours of work. And that’s before the editing process started.
Basically, I want you guys to feel like “Hey, I’m doing stuff” (no gold swimming pool here, or even a pool), as well as be informed as what’s coming down the pipe.
So, first up, let’s talk about The Phoenix. The first Alpha Read is done! I went through all of it this week, make numerous changes and tweaks, which included both cuts and some small additions/enhancements. Now, does that mean it’s ready for Beta? Well … No. The changes I made were substantial enough, as with Blood Less Vile, that I want to make sure they add up in the proper way.
In other words, The Phoenix is getting an Alpha 2! And that means … Alpha Readers.
This also means that if you’ve Alpha Read before (but not read The Phoenix) you are strongly encouraged to reach out and contact me. At this point Gmail’s been such a problem that I can’t properly count on the old list being a great way to contact prior Alpha and Beta Readers anymore. A few that I have managed to get into contact with through other means have confirmed that they never saw the emails I sent, and if they were found were found to have been sent by Gmail right into the spam folder.
Granted, I had a similar problem a few months ago. I found that Gmail was sending, automatically, all emails noting the comments left on the Alphas and Betas, right to the spam folder. No questions asked. Then a few weeks ago, after fixing that problem, Gmail abruptly decided that such emails should no longer go to the “Updates” tab, but right to my main inbox, and again it took several forceful attempts to correct it before the change stuck.
Man, remember when the goal of computers and corporations was to be helpful?
