A Friendly Plug

My good friend, Jo Myles, has a release today. Jo and I are beta reading partners, and I've been intimately acquainted Handle With Care from the beginning--I even had an input in the title. Now I feel like a proud godparent.

Not everyone knows what a beta reader does. The term possibly originates from fanfiction, but the role is as old as writing itself. The beta is someone who reads your raw manuscript and gives you an honest opinion. All writers crave praise, but we all need someone to tell us when something doesn't work. Jo has beta-read all my stories. The first one was the hardest. I ended up doing massive rewrites, but the book became much better for it.

Being a beta for someone else offers you an insight into their creative process. Watching Handle With Care take shape was fun and educational. It's a great story.