#IWSG May: What have I learned this month?

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time to share our hopes, dreams and fears with the Insecure Writers Support Group, the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, and this month’s hosts are; Lee Lowery, Juneta Key, Yvonne Ventresca, and T. Powell Coltrin!

Do stop by and say hello to them!

So, what have I learned this month?

Feedback.

Feedback, feedback, feedback. Really, it is SO necessary.

Situation no 1: I asked my writing group to look at my agent submission package. I only included the first scene of the novel (didn’t want to bore them 😉 ), and the overwhelming feedback was that the voice was Middle Grade, not Young Adult.

I only need to be hit on the head so many times for something to sink in. And as MG was the age range when I really fell in love with books, I’m delighted to write for that age group. It makes it even more exciting, imagine being be that author for someone!

Situation no 2: After that I went through my novel again, taking out the odd cuss words and making sure that it all reads as MG.

Three days in I realised I’d been editing version 5, not version 6 (which was the post beta-reader version).

Yep. Annoying to say the least. But I was determined to find some silver to line my cloud with, and this is it:

You’d think I’d have noticed.

Part of me did. But that part just kept saying ‘Oops – can’t believe I missed that!’ and ‘Oh man – did nobody else see that either?’

What I did not do was re-write it to the extent that it needed following my beta-reader’s comments. Because I’ve read it so many times, I’m blind to my / its faults. Even after having them pointed out to me!

So I’m doubly grateful to my beta-readers, because this has reminded me of just how much I need them, and how brilliant they are.

For the record, going back and updating version 6 wasn’t too painful or time consuming, and reading over the updated version was reassuring.

Mistakes are often the best things you can make.