Erratum

. . . speaking of words I don't get to use nearly enough . . .

I am informed by Many Concerned Persons that almost everything I posted last night was glitchy in one way or another, so! Below is what I posted last night under the Liaden Read-Along on splinteruniverse.com.  Follows the whole of what I posted.

So, what happened here?

Some people have noticed that the Liaden Read-Along has, to put it gently, foundered.

Some people, not necessarily the same people, have wondered what the heck is going on with that.

I will explain.

For those who are short of time and impatient with explanations, or excuses, the short form is: I was over-ambitious.

That’s it.  You may move on, as the rest of what I’m going to say past this point is an elaboration on that single fact.

Still with me?

OK.

So — over-ambitious.  I had a book to finish — not due until mid-April, but I had already missed two self-imposed deadlines for producing a draft that was complete enough that I could ask beta readers for help.  Ordinarily — ah.  Old speech forms. What I mean to say is — Previously, I would have talked out scenes, concepts and characters with Steve and he would, in essence, since I’m Lead on this book, help me catch unfruitful discursions on the fly.  I no longer have that luxury, and so find that I don’t know how long it actually takes to write a book, single-brained — thus the missed deadlines.

The alert reader will have noticed that mid-April isn’t getting any further away, so I — pushed to make it to An Ending, basically ignoring everything else in the process.

I wasn’t helped in my last minute push by the manifestation of Murphy, who decreed that I would catch a “viral something” just after the new year, so I couldn’t write for a few days.

However!  I have just achieved the Good Enough for Rock ‘n Roll Draft and will be putting out a call for Beta Readers.

Which means I’ll have a couple weeks to catch up on all that stuff I let slide.

Including commentary on the Liaden Books.

I will not be continuing in a chapter-by-chapter sort of way — for one thing, I’ve been reading in the evenings, and I’m half-way through Carpe Diem, while the commentary stalled at Chapter Six in Agent of Change — and for another, that really wasn’t working for me.

What I will be doing is commenting on the books, on things that struck me, surprises, dismays, and reflections of Real Life into fiction.

And that?  Is where we are.  Thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm for the concept of a read-along, and I hope you’ll continue to read on until the end of Diviner’s Bow.

I certainly intend to do so.

Official call for Beta Readers

This is the official call for Beta Readers.

Things you need to know upfront:

This is a Beta Read; which is not as nitpicky as a line-by-line hunting of tyops, but requires attention to story, character motivation, setting, narrative flow -- you know: the easy things.

This is a volunteer gig.  Nobody's getting paid, except in Auctorial Gratitude, which means that I will with great joy list you on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished book (unless you don't want me to, ref 2(3) below).

At this point in the proceedings these are the things I need to know in order to preserve the last rags of my sanity and turn the book in on time:

1 Does the story make sense/keep your interest?

2 Are there deadends/extraneous/unresolved story lines? Tell me what they are

3 Does the story and/or a particular section lag? are you confused? Tell me where.

4 Have any of the characters changed their name? If so, tell me where and who.

5 Anything else that bothered you as a reader.

5a If you find a particularly ugly or confusing sentence and feel compelled to mention it, you must give me a search string so that I can find it. Again, typos/grammatical errors are NOT the reason for the season.

6 A Vow of Secrecy is required: You may not reveal the plot (or, in fact, the title), or any details of the novel in question.

7 There's a fast turnaround: I'll need comments no later than February 11.

If this sounds like something you'd like to do, and can commit to, here's what you need to do:

1 Email me at liadenuniverse AT gmail.com (where AT=@)

2 Tell me: (1) your preferred format (.doc, .odt, .rtf. I can probably cobble up an epub, but it will be ugly); (2) where I should email the file (even if it's the address you're writing from); (3) how you would like your name to appear on the Acknowledgements Page of the finished novel (if you don't want your name to appear, explicitly state that, please).

Because we're scattered throughout a zillion time zones and countries, I will be taking volunteers until Friday, January 23, 9am US Eastern Time.

In the interests of preserving the above-referenced rags of my sanity, only those people who have been accepted will receive an email. If you have not received an acceptance by Saturday, January 24, noon US Eastern Time, know that I love you, and honor you for standing up, but that all positions are filled.

NOTE: You do not have to be USian to be accepted as a Beta Reader, but you do need to realize that I am USian, and be certain you can accommodate our crazy spelling and sentence structure.

. . . I really do think that's it.

Let the volunteering begin.