Yep. It's me.
Nothing like a lengthy, unplanned hiatus to make you forget you have a blog, eh? But I've remembered, and what's more, I've decided to keep on remembering. In other words, I think it's time to get back in the proverbial blog saddle and start posting again. Because I'm inches away from finishing my first revision of SUNCHILD, and that means more time for other types of writing.
Which brings me to the main purpose of this post.
I need beta readers.
(If you don't have the foggiest idea what a beta reader is, click this link and have a look at what Casey McCormick has to say on the subject.)
What I'll be asking you to do, essentially, is to read the manuscript from beginning to end, while keeping a shrewd eye out for things that slow you down, things that don't make sense, and things that make you want to stop reading and go vomit instead (although I hope there will be very few of those instances). Your assistance in this vital step of the revision process will help me iron out kinks in plot, pacing, and flow, and will demonstrate to me what more needs to happen before SUNCHILD will be ready for querying. But please be advised, should you decide to offer your help, that the manuscript is still in rough draft form. It will at times be very like slogging through a swamp.
The book, in case you are wondering, is YA fantasy, and it is currently floating at a little over 100,000 words. Essentially, it's about a girl with a magical connection to the sun who lives in a land that's cursed by darkness, facing this question: how can a sunchild be who she's meant to be--and save her kingdom to boot--when she has never even seen the sun? (For more, please click here.)
If you are interested in being a beta reader for SUNCHILD, please email me at hanna.c.howard(at)gmail.com, and I will add you to the list of people whom I will love and adore forever and ever, amen, and send you a very fat attachment on Friday, July 29, which is my self-inflicted deadline.
If you are not interested, then this post is largely irrelevant to you, and I must therefore beg you to stay tuned for my next missive, because I promise I'll return soon. No more shlepping along silently. I'm back, now, and I'm determined to stay. Let's talk writing, folks, and let's talk life.
Let's be e-friends, shall we?
