So I sent my draft of the Beacon to my sister-in-law, Sarah, to get feedback and to have her help me edit it. I went through a lot of different emotions throughout having someone else read my book. I thought I'd have no problem with it but I was very wrong. Let me tell you about the journey I went through.
1. Anger - The first message I got from Sarah just told me where she was at and that there was some confusion. I'm not really sure why I got angry other than someone is telling me a problem with my book. I had to walk away from my phone and pray because I knew Sarah was only helping and I shouldn't be angry. Prayer made my mind switch gears, I reread the message, and I explained what I envisioned to clear up the confusions.
I was like, "Ok, I've had my little anger spat so the rest should be good."
2. Deep Thinking - The message I got was questioning a curse word I used when I am a christian and my book has christian undertones. I politely explained that I wanted my characters to shine through and used the characters personality as a way to justify using the word. After I sent the message I was greatly trouble by my excuse. So I prayed. God gentle let me know that using the curse word wasn't the best idea and as Sarah told me there are plenty of other words I can use.
Me to myself: "That was humbling."
3. Uncertainty - At this point in the update from Sarah I was questioning why I even wanted to be a writer. I really just wanted to bang my head against something. I had left out some minor details and things that would make the world of difference to include. So this time I read my Bible and prayed a lot. When I was finished praying I felt this overwhelming sense of peace. Even though I left stuff out I can still go back and fix things. God reassured me my dream of being an author would soon be a reality and that I needed to patient and do things in His timing.
Me: "This book will be awesome when it is finished!"
4. Foolish - Sarah was very confused by what my antagonist was ultimately planning. My goal was to keep things about my antagonist a secret because I wanted the ending to be a big surprise. I ended up doing too good of job on that, there wasn't much information on my antagonist. So again I prayed and did some brainstorming. I hadn't given much thought to my antagonist in the first book because I am planning to iron out all my antagonists plans in the second book. In my brainstorming I found what information I needed to give my readers to understand my antagonist in the Beacon.
My thoughts: "Disaster averted, man I am good."
5. Excitement - At this point in receiving updates from Sarah we tossed around ideas on what would book so much better. When I first sent her the draft I had already been thinking my book needed some more oomf to really catch peoples interest and to make the world I created more magical. I was grateful for her ideas because it really helped me to think of things I hadn't given much thought to before. I was very excited to being editing and adding things to the Beacon.
I talk to myself when I get excited about things but talking seemed like it wasn't enough so I did a happy dance.
6. Joy - When Sarah finished reading the Beacon she really loved the Beacon. All I could think was "this is great." Despite my many errors Sarah really enjoyed the Beacon and I couldn't have been happier. I told I was really happy she liked the ending because it was really hard for me not to spoil the ending.
And today when she gave me the manuscript she asked a few more questions about two characters I used in the beginning of the Beacon and then never mentioned again. I confirmed her suspicion of them coming into the sequel. There were a few other things one being my lack of really mentioning the Higher Power. I didn't say much on that because I didn't really think of the Higher Power as his own character but as a version of God without calling him God. So after thinking it over I've decided to keep the Higher Power as a background character and in the sequel I'll really bring in the Higher Power. I'm not going to say more about my plans for the sequel because I want to leave people in suspense and not spoil anything in the Beacon.
Monday I will begin the second round of edits on the beacon. My goal is to have all the edits completed and the Beacon up for sale on December 1st. I'll keep you updated if the date changes, hopefully, the only change is to release it sooner. After I'm done with edits I will being writing the Forsaken. This time I'm going to be emailing Sarah chapters as I finish them to get feedback and make sure I don't have any plot holes.
My dream of being an author is becoming a reality. I cannot be happier. I thank God for guiding my steps and leading the way on this journey.
(p.s. I'm pretty sure there typos in my blog posts but I'm ok with them. I write the posts like I'm talking to someone so they do not resemble the way I write in my books. Just thought I should day this to put people at ease.)
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