As the school year winds down, I work as a school librarian, I promise myself that I will while away endless summer hours writing. On the upside, I recently finished a children's book which I hope to start submitting once I hear from my two first readers. I also have a plan for lengthening a short story into a novel length work. I need to get to work on this. However, my children are still at the age when summer days are full of swimming, reading, boating, camping, softball, etc. You get the picture. Lately, I have had an increased awareness of a key component of writing that I have been falling short on, that is utilizing feedback from early readers.
Having your book read for the first time is sort of like standing naked in a room full of people under unkind lighting. Still, it is absolutely critical that you subject your book and yourself to this process. I am very fortunate to have a several excellent early readers (Jessica and Sharon, you know I appreciate you). Sometimes, though, once I have worked on a book for a while, I become committed to sending it out. I fail to give my early readers the time to read, make suggestions, and then implement those suggestions into the text. I have been reminded with my two, most recent, completed works that incorporating the opinions of good "first readers" is critical in the evolution of the novel.
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