I sent Queen Witch to three beta readers on Monday. One of them wrote me back with incredibly helpful comments on the first four chapters the very next day, and another returned the entire manuscript with her comments late last night. I am very excited to hear more about what the others think, pore through all of their comments and incorporate their edits. It’s looking like Halloween week for a release — maybe I can get it out the weekend prior to Halloween. That would be super!

All of my beta readers are awesome ladies, all of them have different strengths and they always point out different things. That’s why having multiple people look over your book before you publish is definitely a good thing. One of my betas is an author of paranormal romance (we do a beta swap, and it works really well because we have complimentary skills and strengths), and the other two are hard-core readers. Something they all have in common is their taste for many genres of fiction. Just like me. That’s helpful since I’m still not sure what to call Queen Witch. It’s fantasy. That’s for sure. 🙂

Early in the week I had this overload of energy — it wasn’t creative energy. It was more like panic energy. After I sent my book to betas, I didn’t know what to do with myself. And truth be told, I’ve done virtually nothing writing related. My brain has touched on other plots I have waiting in the wings, but I haven’t put pen to paper on anything. I’m good with that. I would have been fine with diving into research for an upcoming book, or drawing maps, or working on outlines…but the fact that none of that called to me meant my brain needed a break. I haven’t even read anything. Ooh, actually, that isn’t true. I started the Shadow Spinner stories by Andrew Leon. If you haven’t met Andrew, you should stop by and check out his blog Strange Pegs. He’s full of great resources, and he’s taken an interesting approach to the Shadow Spinner releases. His writing is top-notch. I’m only on the second one, since even with short stories it’s hard to find three seconds by myself to finish reading. (Seriously, my husband is out of town, and I’ve had to dive back to the office no less than eight times to write these three paragraphs. It would probably help if I did a better job limiting tangents.) I also had my thirteen-year-old niece read the first couple Shadow Spinner stories when I caught her bored at a family gathering yesterday. We didn’t get to chat about them, but she’s coming over today and I want to get her opinion since these stories are written for kids a bit younger than her.

What have I been doing when I snatch a little time to myself? Planning a birthday party for my youngest — she’ll be two next month. Working on yet another home refinance. And spending quality time with my kids. You know, the stuff of life! 🙂

I hope all of you ROWers had a great first week of the round. Keep on keeping on!