It's another Work in Progress Wednesday, but this Wednesday the WIP is out of my hands and into the hands (or rather the computer screens) of my beta readers.What I am asking of my beta readers is nothing more than answering the one big burning question: Does this story work?
Now after spending over a half of a year writing the first draft, another month of two smoothing that first draft over and plugging all the major holes, you'd think that I'd know this for myself. But I don't. And I don't think anyone really does.
Oh sure in reading through their were points where I thought, "Oooh, I like that", or "Okay, yeah. That works." But those are just bits. And pieces.
However, to know if the whole darn things works, well that requires a bit of distance. I mean a book is a big thing. Mine actually grew to 99K words during revisions, and there is no way I can look at all of those 99K words and be able to know how well they tell my story as a whole.
Maybe if I took two years off, and let it sit on a shelf, while the memory of it slowly disintegrates. Then I could go back with fresh eyes.
I don't have the patience for two years, though. I barely have the patience for the weeks or maybe even a month that it will take my betas to get through it.
So, now I wait. And while I wait there are other things I can occupy myself with. Query letter, short stories, and beginning to put together my list of agents to send those query letters to. For now though, I'm just waiting.
What about you? Where is your WIP at?
And if you want to participate in WIP Wednesday, simply post your own WIP Wednesday entry on your blog and leave a link to it in the comments below. Or if you don't have a blog, feel free to report your progress directly into the comments box.
For more detailed information concerning what all this nonsense is about please consult the original Work in Progress Wednesday posting.
Feel free to also make use of the lovely little WIP Wednesday logo as well!
