Spring                                                                     Bloodroot Moon

Up early and down to the western burbs to the beautiful home of Lonnie and Stefan Helgeson on the banks of Minnehaha Creek.  Stefan expanded on his written critiques of Missing, all helpful.  Each beta reader has had a different perspective, offering me a valuable look at the manuscript, that of the reader.

Here’s an example.  Each time I had a clearing in the forest, it had a stream.  Trouble is, as Stefan points out, streams don’t often flow through clearings since trees and shrubs tend to grow up along their banks.  What I had done, invisible to me, was provide a stream with a clearing each time the horses needed to stop for water.  In solving one problem I created another.  This kind of thing does not become obvious without help.

Others found the frequent use of the first person distracting from the story; Stefan found it engaging for exactly the reasons I had wanted to use it.  Perhaps the best solution lies somewhere in between.

This is the last but one of the beta readers to check in and I’m almost finished with my read through.  Probably this week.  Then, I begin revising in earnest, going back over everyone’s comments one more time, getting a preliminary strategy and starting the rewrite.

With five other novels written I know this revision process is the piece that has stood between me and publication.  Well, I can hear Kate say, there is that marketing piece, too.  And she’s right.  But the two together.  Then I can start working the various markets.  With the short stories, too.