The third draft is underway, and I\u2019ve stopped been able to see any improvements in the work. I\u2019m too close it it, so I\u2019ve enlisted outside help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My wife bought me a Writers Consult<\/a> at Queensland Writers Centre so I can get an outside opinion\u00a0on my work in progress and identify next steps. She bought it because she is a lovely person and it\u2019s a lovely gift.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve just had the session and it was super helpful and super nice to talk to someone else about my project. The big news was that Softening might not be a romance at all. It reads more like women\u2019s fiction. I was weirdly shocked by this but it\u2019s honest feedback which is always good (so I tell myself repeatedly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n My plan was always to get some of it out to beta readers as soon as possible, so I can check that I can actually write. That time is here. I\u2019ve polished the first three chapters as much as I can and given it out to five beta readers.\u00a0Softening emerges into the world<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a big moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My beta readers are<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ann thought I was mad to give the work in progress to my line manager. She might be right and I\u2019ve probably crossed the line on that one. But it\u2019s done so it\u2019s forward only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside this emerging, I\u2019ve attend my first class at Queensland Writer\u2019s Centre<\/a> and met other writers for the first time. They look just like me \u2013 except they are nearly all female. So not like me really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The course was on how to construct a personal writer\u2019s plan for 2024. A lot of it was around motivation, but right now I don\u2019t have problems getting down to writing which is extremely fortunate. Still very useful and has inspired me to write my own plan<\/a>. Let\u2019s see how much of it I can stick to as the writing year rolls on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo by Claudio Schwarz<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The third draft is underway, and I\u2019ve stopped been able to see any improvements in the work. I\u2019m too close it it, so I\u2019ve enlisted outside help. Writer\u2019s Surgery My wife bought me a Writers Consult at Queensland Writers Centre so I can get an outside opinion\u00a0on my work in progress and identify next steps. 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