Thursday, August 02, 2007

The first beta reader . . .

hates it and he's only a few pages into it.

Not a good sign at all. Still twitching from all the probably well-founded criticisms he unloaded on me.

I will not whine(swallowing hard here). Primarily because my husband's voice always plays out in the back of my mind when I feel this way:

Him: Mary? What did you want from them when you asked them to do this?

Me: I wanted them to say they loved it. I wanted them to pronounce this the best thing they've ever read. I wanted balloons and confetti and a publishing contract.

What kind of idiot do you think I am? What am I supposed to want? 'Yes sir. Please hit me again sir.' I'm pretty sure it's okay to be uncomfortable with negative feedback as long as you get over it and face the facts.


Yes. I even argue with him in my head. You would too if you had to live with Mr. Right (not the romantic kind either). I can just feel the infuriatingly patient look he always puts on when pointing out my lack of logic and I know what he will say.

Him: "It's just advice, not the gospel. You can either choose to accept or reject it."

Oh fine. Thank you Socrates. You can go back to surfing the net for fast cars now.

Today is his birthday by the way. I'm going to slip out later and pick him up some breakfast stuff. He's hard to do for, not because he's hard to please (not even close), but because he's a caretaker by nature and is uncomfortable with others doing things for him. So I'll get to sneak around while he's still sleeping and surprise him when he wakes up.

He'll be 46 (though he still tells the kids he's 28). How'd I wind up married to such an old guy? :)

9 comments:

Scotty said...

Happy birthday to the old fart from me, lol.

:-)

Unknown said...

Did your beta reader hate it so much that they called to tell you they hate it? Or did you get anxious and call them?

Hopefully it's the latter.

Mary O. Paddock said...

Hi Scotty,
I'll be sure and pass that along to him.

Hi CD
The word "hate" was not actually used, but "I lost interest after 30 pages" along with a number of criticisms related to the premise is a pretty bad sign. On the other hand, he was a huge help with respect to some very important technical issues. I needed that.

My husband tells me I need "chick readers", that this isn't a guy's book (though he likes it). I think he's on to something there.

mary

Laura said...

My daddy's 46 today. Happy birthday to your husband xxx

Anonymous said...

Hey Mary ~

Just remember JK Rawlins was rejected 12 or 13 times before her fist manuscript of the now legendary Potter fame was accepted....hand in there...

and happy belated 46th to the "immovable object"!
(ha, ha ~ does he KNOW you call him these adorable names?)

Bandersnatchi said...

"One swallow does not a summer make."

Bander counsels patience.

Scotty said...

I'm not convinced that it's a wholly a 'chick book', Mary. I read several chapters as you sent them to me and I was drawn in, waiting for the next installment. Perhaps it's just a subject that simply doesn't appeal to one beta reader; it happens.

Mary O. Paddock said...

Thanks you very much everybody.

Mary O. Paddock said...

Oh yeah.

Anon--
Yes, he knows. Mostly. He likes be known as the immovable object.