Accountability buddies and beta readers

Accountability buddies and beta readers

I am lying somewhat uncomfortably on the couch right now, the chromebook carefully balanced on my tummy, thinking about all the time I have wasted not writing, when I really wanted to be writing. 

Last year I tried setting aside a time for my son and I to write together, but, as he observed to me over lunch this week, every time we met, he wrote while I cleaned.  If we went out to write, I would hook up to free internet and surf the web. I have come to realize that if we are not actively writing together, as we did with our blog about the worst movies ever made, it is very difficult for me to write with another person, even my favorite person. I guess figuring that out was at least worth something. (And my house got cleaned!)

In theory, an accountability buddy is a great idea. I am starting to lean towards a different type of accountability, one where I just get a beta reader and have them give me feedback. Or not. In this case, I am going to write this blog, send the posts to my son, and hope he doesn't hate them. He really doesn't have to do anything, and my feelings won't get trampled on. 

Because, the beta reader idea can be a dangerous one, if you are too attached to your baby and unable to accept criticism, or if you pick the wrong beta reader, who doesn't know what she or he is talking about, or if someone reads your work before you've sufficiently revised it into a reasonable facsimile of some kind of sort-of-okay draft. In my introductory post, I mentioned the first draft of a novel lurking under my bed, that I completed for the 2017 National Novel Writing Month marathon of 50,000 words in 30 days -- during the month of November.  It felt great to "win" since you have to keep up a grueling pace of 1600 or so words a day, but the downside is, sometimes getting in your word count becomes more important than the words themselves. So a lot of Soul Cloud was fluff and crap. An old (former) friend begged to read it, and instead of saying "it's not ready" I said "sure." MISTAKE!

He said some good things, but he said some really negative things too, that I was not prepared to hear. And I quote: "(The villain) comes across like a cartoonish Snidely Whiplash...the dialogue is stilted and unnatural." I am not sure what it was about him saying that which stopped me in my tracks and made me hide the whole thing under the bed. Perhaps writing this blog is cathartic and I will find the courage to revisit my little book, some two years later. I will let you know how I progress on this. Comments are welcome. Seriously, I mean that! And hey, I did get to legitimately order the NaNoWriMo "winner" tee shirt, which I never really wore. Maybe next year.