I received word about a lawyer who decided to give back to his community of Valentine's day this year. To do something special for the townspeople that he lived and worked among during his professional career. Like all of us, he donated what he could. In this case, his expertise. So he gave away one free divorce.
Yep, the man stood up, announced to the world that he was going to give away a divorce for Valentines Day. It may be one of the more tasteless things I've ever heard of someone doing. The worst part?
Apparently... that man is me!
Yes, a lawyer with my name has decided to do something that should make other lawyers put their heads down in shame. I apologize to the world as well. I feel like he has sullied my good name.
Regardless, as anyone who follows me on twitter may know. I've been taking a break from my crappy novel to let my wife read it for me. She's a pretty good beta reader and has already pointed out several problem points that I missed. My issue is that she is so slow. I'm not sure I can have this thing ready by March now or not. I think I've bugged her so much that she's ready to shoot me for not leaving her alone about it.
The part that worries me most though, isn't what flaws she finds, it's that she doesn't seem to have a great interest in reading it in the first place. Is she bored already? I could be in real trouble here.
Well, the short story I've been working on in the interim is pretty cool, although I'm getting dangerously close to Novelette territory now. I should get it wrapped up in another day or so. Then hopefully cleaned up and ready to submit somewhere by the end of the weekend. So, I do have that.
Oh well, still keeping the dream alive.
7 comments:
Aarrg! The lawyer sounds like a... well, a lawyer!
Good luck with your wip! It's good to meet you, fellow crusader.
It is tasteless, but kind of funny, too. Besides, what would expect from a lawyer.
A dentist office near me gave away free root canals in honor of the White Sox winning the World Series a few years back. Funniest sign ever:
"Sox Win! Free Root Canals!"
Greetings from a fellow Crusader.
Dan
She's gotta be faster than my friends. I have four friends that asked if they could help beta-read my novel for me so that I could get some feedback. This was last September or so. I think the furthest anyone got was page-8 (double-spaced) by now. They're all stay-at-home women who spend time on Facebook and doing cooking stuff. Truth is, they own a lot of books but don't read anymore. I think that reading is dying personally. The only ones in denial are the writers.
great post
Tony - it's good to meet you too. Thanks for the well wishes.
Dan - Free root canals? At least that is more value than a divorce (which had conditions).
Michael - My worst horror story regarding having a beta reader is someone who was just dying to read it for me. I had never, ever, had anything critiqued before. She handed it back to me a few hours later and said she couldn't get past the first page. Eep.
Actually, I may have told that story before on here. Totally true though.
As always - thank you Mister Sharaf
Great post! Nice to know it wasn't you. Welcome to the crusade!
Hmmm...who is your intended audience? For me, I would never have my husband read my work--EVER. He's not my audience and he's not a reader by any means. I have a critique group who reads and gives me feedback as I go, and then I have a few people(in my target group) who are my beta readers. They're mostly friends or relatives of members in my critique group. People I've never met, because I don't want them to say, "Yeah, that's good." I need more from them than a pat on my head. I give them each a form to fill out as they read. Something like this: Does the title grab ya? Do the characters seem real? Call me out on anything that doesn't feel right or flow (I call this the B.S. issue).Etc, etc... Anyway, that helps for me. I tell my readers to be blunt and honest with me, if they aren't buying it, I need to know. If it reads slow in some parts, I need to know.
I don't agree with Michael. There are plenty of readers out there (even though Borders declared bankruptsy). They're buying e-books or buying from Amazon where the deals are. We as writers just need to make sure we're picking the right beta readers.
I'm open to helping anyone who would like it. I'm a pretty fast reader and I'll give you the down low--the good, the bad, and the ugly. I tell it like it is.
Anyway, keep going. If your wife is too slow for your liking, look into finding another reader or two. People you trust to give you honest feedback.
Good luck.
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