Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Beta WHAT??

Sometimes I disappear for a while. And sometimes that's because I'm lazy and haven't been reading or I've been sucked into a TV series (PRETTY LITTLE LIARS!! And before that it was How I Met Your Mother, and before that, Bones....haha) on Netflix and I can't bring myself to pick up a book until I've watched every.single.episode.ever.made. This doesn't happen on a regular basis though, so where am I REALLY??

Funny you should ask. Actually, crazy as it seems, I'm reading. During these times when I'm MIA, I'm doing what is called "beta-reading"---reading an unpublished fictional work from someone who has asked me to give feedback about the flow of the story, spelling and grammatical errors, and characterization.

Truthfully, if I could do this for pay, every day for the rest of my life, I would be a happy girl indeed. As is, I'm still a very happy girl doing it for free for some of my amazingly talented author friends. I absolutely love to read and especially edit (believe it or not!) and I find that I read all books with a fairly critical eye so it's not much of a stretch to do it when specifically asked to.

I was actually just able to beta read my friend's book. It's set during the Civil War, which I think is such a fascinating time period. The story was very well-written and had very accurate details of the time. I never cease to be amazed at what amazing writers there are (and researchers, because a TON of research is involved in most fiction!) and I am blessed to know a few.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that, even when I may seem like I'm slacking (sometimes I am!), but usually I'm just busy with something that I can't review publicly yet. Patience. One day I will. :)

Happy Reading!

No comments: