This week, as I filled in the marketing and cover art request forms for the Sapphic Signs Scorpio story, I thought back to my mad scramble to submit the story on time.
I’m an organized person. I manage my time effectively. When I signed the contract to write the story, I immediately started an “ideas” file, even though my story was only due in a year. I allocated plenty of time in my schedule for it. So what happened?

The evil beta reader

If you’ve read the acknowledgements in my books, you might have gathered that my beta reader is my partner Jennifer. I’m sure some people roll their eyes at this and think, “Oh sure, her partner just tells her that her stories are wonderful and not to change a word.” Not so, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I first asked Jen to beta read for me, I made it clear that I wanted her honest opinion. Asking a family member or friend to provide feedback puts them into an awkward position. They don’t want to hurt your feelings. We get to snicker through god-awful auditions on shows like American Idol because the families, usually waiting outside, were afraid to tell someone the truth. Okay, I suppose it’s possible that they were all tone-deaf, but I doubt it. It’s more likely that they’ve been keeping the local ear-plug manufacturer in business.

I reiterated to Jen that I’d much rather hear about problems from her when I can do something about them, than when a story is already out in the wild. It took a few tries, but she eventually started to believe me. It helps that, after criticizing a story, she doesn’t come home from work the next day to find her stuff on the sidewalk and the locks changed. We’ve built the trust that’s required between the writer and first reader.

So, back to the Scorpio story. I finished the first draft, Jen read it, and we sat down for the talk. I could tell from her face that it wasn’t going to be good, and it wasn’t. She didn’t like it. After discussing her problems with the story, I concluded that I couldn’t submit it. I must have looked angry, or maybe ill. Jen said, “Maybe it’s just me.” I said, “No, after talking about it, I agree with you, and this is exactly what I want from you when you read for me. I’m not upset. I’m thinking, what the hell do I do now? I have to submit a story soon.”

In my mind, I had two options: try to salvage the story I’d already written, or write a new one from scratch. Trying to quickly fiddle with the story could have dug me a deeper hole, so I decided on the latter route. But that meant producing another story, and fast! I always allow time in my writing schedule for edits. I hadn’t planned for the scenario of scrapping the entire story.

I set my other writing projects aside, put my nose to the grindstone, and managed to write another story in record time. Funnily enough, I went back to the very first idea I’d added to my “ideas” file almost a year earlier. I don’t know why I didn’t write that one in the first place. Lesson learned.

Fortunately Jen liked the second story much better than the first, and so did I. When I have time, I’ll see if I can do anything with the original story, or if it’s a lost cause.

So yeah, my partner is my beta reader, and she doesn’t pull any punches. When the Sapphic Signs Scorpio story, called Like Water and Water, is released in October, it’ll be the second story I wrote for the line. The first didn’t make it past my harshest critic.

I mentioned last week that I was expecting a new computer, and it’s here! I’m writing this blog post on it. So far, I like it, but there will be an adjustment period while I get used to Windows 7 and Office 2010, and slowly reinstall all the applications I regularly use.

As far as Windows 7 goes, I kept thinking, as I squinted at the screen, “Why the hell is everything so small?” Then I remembered that I always update the display setting that changes the text and icon sizes everywhere. Yeah, I’m getting old. We’re back to big icons, large print, and happier eyes now.

Since I have a long afternoon ahead of me shuttling stuff from one machine to another, I’ll keep this short. It was a milestone writing week in that every item on the WIP page moved significantly forward:

• I sent Convergence, the September Rymellan story, to my editor
• I finished the first draft of Threaded Through Time, Book Two, read through it once, and passed it along to my beta reader
• I received the Sapphic Signs Scorpio story back from the editor at Torquere Press, and there’s not much for me to do, which is great. The story, called Like Water and Water, is tentatively scheduled for release on October 19th

The new computer arrived at a good time, since I wasn’t in the middle of anything.

Okay, I lied about spending a long afternoon dealing with the computers. I’m going to indulge myself by firing up a favourite game (already installed!), cranking up all the settings to “as high as they can go, baby!” and putting this spanking new gaming machine through its paces. I have to test it, you know. Yep, gotta test it.  ;)

Enjoy your weekend!