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Monday, September 6, 2010

Happy Birthday Reader Fan #1!!

Well, hello there! While everyone around here will be celebrating Labor Day I will be celebrating my mom's birthday! (HI MOM!) Today she turns, well, she turns a year older. Unfortunately, since she lives way out west in Utah, and I don't, we will not be eating cake together. Instead we will talk over the computer where she will watch my oldest child sing her heart out while the youngest one screams. That's pretty much how he shows his enthusiasm. And everything else he feels. You get used to it after a while. Kind of. So happy birthday, MOM! We'll be screaming at you soon!

In honor of my mom's birthday — seeing as she's my biggest reader fan — we're going to talk a little about readers. How important it is to have them when you are writing and what makes a good one.
I know you're all asking, "what's a reader?"
And I have to say, "Hey, thanks for asking!"
A reader is someone who:
1. wants to read your book
2. tells you how it is
and...
3. still loves you 12 revisions later
I think my mom has read my books more than I have. *applauds mom*
As lovely as it is to have a mom that loves me and my work it is also important to have readers that will read with a critical eye. Luckily in my family I have three sisters who tell me straight, actually enjoy telling me straight and do it often. So there's that. Yeah me! And I'm also blessed to have some great friends who read A LOT!!!
I always seek their advice before I send it to my agent. In fact once I have compiled all their suggestions I sit down and work out that final edit. And then I leave it alone. And don't read it. But think about it a lot. And then go back after days and days have passed and the material is no longer fresh in my mind and then I tweak it some more.
And that's how I work.

Update: Almost done with my revision on book 2! Looks like I just might be writing book 3 soon!! HIP HIP!

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