Beta readers/ Writers groups

Hi all,
Education is important.  I had been out of school for umpteen years before I started my first novel and frankly, english wasn't tops on my list of priorities during my academic endevaors.  I didn't realize how much I needed a refresher until I had completed it and started getting feedback.  So I took a creative writing course at our community college.  I really enjoyed it.  And the saying 'you can't teach old dogs new tricks is bull.  I was the oldest student and got an A-, the highest grade in the class.  (The dufus teaching the class told us he didn't believe in giving A's.)      

Beta readers are also very important to your project.  Relatives are nice, there's only one problem with them.  By nature, they don't want to hurt your feelings.  You need people who will will be truthful.  That's where a writers group comes in, and not just any writers group, but one that critiques.

I can't stress enough how important this is.  The critiques, not just on your work but on other writers material as well, is invaluable.  I think the biggest satisfacation I get out of belonging to the Henderson Writers Group is the improvement and increased confidence I see in our  members.  It's awesome to see.       

BEWARE!!!!!

Okay.  You've finished your novel.  You haven't had anyone but friends and releatives vet it and they tell you it's great.  So, in your mind, you're ready for the next step.  So, you grab a writer's magizine and look for agents. 

BEWARE!!!!  If they ask for money  BEWARE!!!!! 

I did.  A year, and six hundred dollars, later, nada.  It took awhile but it finally dawned on me dawned on me.  I was being taken.  

I quit sending money.  Now, you would think the guy would send me an over-due notice.  Another nada. 

This soured me for a long time on writing.  DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!!!!

Checkout anyone you are considering to send your work to on "Predators and Editors"  the best rating source around.

More next week.

#7 Busy writing

Sorry, one day late.  Our daughter is visiting from Oklahoma.

So, picking up from last week, I burn the midnight oil on my new computer. I finish my novel.  My friends and family tell me it's great so I find an agent in the back of a magazine that says he will get me published .  All I have to do is give him fifty dollars a month for expenses.

A year goes by.  Nothing.  Apparently the only thing good about my 'wonderful novel' is the idea.

To be continued.