by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The reviews are beginning to trickle in and, well, people think the public beta of the novel sucks. But quality really wasn’t the point. The point was to just FINISH something, ANYTHING so I could move on to the next phase in the process.
So, as such, I can now begin to work on not only the third draft of the novel, but other novels I have rolling around in my mind. I have decided to focus on reading and development until around September 1st. That way, I will be really tan, ready and rested when I do plunge back into writing.
I have also pretty much accepted that I have pretty much one more year before I begin to seriously query this first novel. And I will query the novel in the context of a number of other novels I want to do something with. I’m ready to rock ‘n roll, as they say.
My storytelling ability has really improved a great deal since I started this process several years ago. Now, to take things to the next level by really giving things a lot of thought.
One person who read some of the public beta said it was really, really bad. It was almost like she was embarrassed for me. Which, of course, put me in a really bad mood that I have yet to recover from.
But I have to accept that I have to improve. I have been doing this novel in a total vacuum — for the most part — so ANY input one way or another sort of rattles my cage because I’ve been very delusional about how well the novel has been going.
