The Book

Of Bloody Reflections, has been leavening in its file since the equinox/eclipse. I've hardly poked at it all, see, last time I finished in 2013 I was all caught up in project completion and I submitted too soon. Way too soon. I committed a cardinal sin, one which must clog up the slush piles of agents and publishers world wide. Sorry about that, dears.

Thing is: I'm serious. This is my career. I am going to, after years more to come of building audiance and polishing voice and skill, make a living. This takes time, and wit, and luck.

I aint got luck. My wits are healing. I'm giving it time, I'm working on my patience. I listen to advice.

In this time I've let the poetry flow, on paper, in performance, and read others, and worked on marketing ideas. I've created a bit of promo material that people responded well to but needs further development. I've been poetry busking and made £35 in a couple of hours, leaving me with an actual profit from poetry (astounding). I've met a lot of wonderful poets, writers and storytellers. I've jammed poetry with musicians.

I've begun the second and concluding book, Refractions of Fire, and worked more on the synopsis for that and pondered the themes.

I've drafted my submission package. I've begun to draw up a list of suitable agents.

Now it's time to open that file again. To give it a thorough, critical read through. To tidy up loose words and threads, and I suspect to pull The End into a better alignment. To ask myself honestly and without fear of failure or narcissistic grandeur: Is it ready? Is it viable?

Events in my personal life have left me with little confidence but I can not and will not let that hinder progress. Resilience is a major factor of success.

Then it will be time to polish that submission package and get rejected again...with hope, with acceptance, with a willingness to get stronger.

It's almost time to burn.

This is the End

It is done.

Done and gone.

Which is rather a relief, since facing my critism and the decision to cut, cut, cut, I feel as if I have been scrambling to catch up with myself. Letting go the hopes of dreams and facng the grinding reality of the hard work it takes to produce something of quality. No indulging in writers block- edit, make notes, reread, research! No clinging on to writing that simply does not work, or is not good enough- cut it or improve it. No complaining that you cannot find the time to write. You want to be a writer, be a published author, then you simply have to make the time. It's your job.

This can be difficult, life can be difficult. I'm a single mother, so I know this all to well. There is always housework, shopping in ill weather, a ravenous child needing love and entertainment, homework and all the other myriad demands of parenting. Joyous, hectic, exhausting.

And then there are the inevitable dark times. I was sexually assaulted in the spring, my nose broken. A family member passed away. At the beginning of the summer holidays I suffered a nasty concussion, which has left me with neuropathic damage. It was a bit shit for awhile there and lets just say that such injuries, and the emotional fall out, are not very conductive of writing.

But you have to persevere. No matter the loss of control that life leads to, you are the only one who can control your actions, your reactions, can work toward your goals. Even if that means pushing self imposed deadlines forward two months and planning for a slower rate of writing. Even if that means struggling with frustration and guilt. You have to keep on keeping on. Don't yearn towards dreams and let others drag you down. Be the dream.*

My title has changed. Before I had been working with Song of Sorrow but, well. A Song of Ice and Fire is a rather good series, you may have heard of it, and Song of Stone is also a very good book. There are enough songs out there, I think. Now:

The Otherside

Of Bloody Reflections

Refractions of Fire 

Of Bloody Reflections is complete at 110k, about 60k of which is new material and the rest much revised. Some days, during the revision, I was deleting as much as writing per session. This is good, considering my criticisms, but an odd feeling none the less. The whole has been restructured, during editing I pulled each character into separate files: Mera, Llew, Tomas and alt. The better to edit without getting sucked into the story. Then woven back together always considering pacing: of tension, of action, of suspense and mystery, of character development. The closer to the end the more the earlier scenes were tweaked and expanded. After the restructure came line edits, which were not that bad due to half of it having been previously edited and my habit of reading through and editing when creativity isn't really flowing, or when a subplot arc is complete/reaching height. I don't know that I'll ever be happy with it (no, brain, perfection is not attainable. It is a paradox!) but it is much improved. A good story.

Last night I started contacting my beta readers, six of them already have it. I thought I would feel nervous and twitchy (I mean, nobody has read the new material, gasp) but...It's good this feeling, nice, like I'm finally back where I should be. Proactive.

Next: Working with betas, then tackling the synopsis, covering letter and searching for the right agent. I will do some posts on these. Then NaNoWriMo and using the random scraps of scenes and notes to start Refractions of Fire.

But for now I strongly suspect that something is rotting in my kitchen. Adieu!


*Yeah, that is down right cheesy I know.

Rejection Blues and Burning

I'm editing again. I cannot honestly say that the first draft is done, as I'm never quite comfortable saying that until it is ready to be read by another. And it would be more accurate to say this is, at least, the second incarnation.

This time last year I had just started my collection of rejections. I did my research, soon encountering the vast sea of my ignorance and dived in regardless. I've always found learning by fire a good way to temper knowledge/action, and yes I blundered, a bit, occasionally. Ahem. Instead of the coldly calculating wisps who slid easily into snide that I had been fearing, and seen much moaned about online, I found my correspondence with agents, and their assistants, to be rather friendly. Even the form rejections are written with a hand that holds yours comfortingly, perhaps offers advice from an experienced perspective. It is important to remember that agents are people and, not only that, but people who read. We all want good books.

Over the autumn I carried on writing the next part of the story, carried on submitting, researching, learning. There are some sites that advise that writers can collect a 100+ rejections before getting that longed for acceptance. I've always thought you would do better to try and identify why it elicits such a negative response. A few may just be down to luck or a matter of taste. If it is just based on your covering letter then perhaps that needs to be improved, but if its on a call for your first chapters? That strongly suggests it's your writing, story, or characters (or worse, dread of dread, the whole lot).

"trap of over writing"

"far too overly florid"

"it just didn't grab me enough"

"need to have a better idea of what the main drama and thrust of the plot is"

"the writing can be tightened up and simplified"

Some of the constructively critical barbs that struck. It took a few months for objective scar tissue to form, for me to figure out whether it was just the first three chapters that were a shambles or if the problem went deeper. To figure out how restrictions cause friction, how to utilise that and when to let go and recognise that structure is not rigid, but more a glue, an anchor, a backbone. Your writing does not hang from, nor frame, your plot but flows from it. There is a part of me amused that one of the themes explored is that journey, those concepts of innocence and experience.

In the spring I burned around 51k of prose, plus an unknown amount of sentences, paragraphs, phrases, a few characters; sub plots died or evolved. The 30kish that had been the beginning of book two merged with the old, contracted, expanded. The chronology fell to chaos. The arc in Of Bloody Reflections was shaken down and combed over, redistributed and refined into a duology. I certainly understand the value of a working synopsis (not notes or plans) better now. Like an ultimate spoiler guide/battle plan/literary analysis.

The discordant mess of  Song of Sorrow settled, slowly, into something approaching a story once more.


I've missed my self imposed deadlines, but am not too fraught over it. With every cliff I jump off it gets a bit better. I think. I mean...not just florid, not just far too florid, but overly far too florid! Florid to the third degree. FFS. That haunts me.

But summer is maturing into autumn once more, and the writing has ripened.

Soon it will be ready to be read, again, for the first time.

When the End is Nigh: Understanding Narrative

   On lock down.

Pressure of last ch.s, followed by yearned for and feared readers, leads to much stereotypical anguish.

Coffee, how I used to drink it, and cigarettes, note to self:

Less words written is more.

Re-read: MS; structural edit and synopsis, time-lined plot/s/arcs/themes/clues. Re-examine chara's action/reaction vs motivation/conflict. Hold disparate threads clear in mind and view as a whole.

Word count is important (whatever it may be): data to delineate pattern of story structure. All those pies from childhood, less strenuous to an already chaotic mind.
-how aligns to classic structures?
-how/why differentiates?
-overlay/overview

//buisnesshead: Look at what sells in market, commerciability consideration to temper creativity.//

Re-writes: Understand what you meant to say, but probably failed at.
-Keep final ch.s trim//pacing
-Expand within rise/fall of earlier tension (just replace the unnecessary description from where your subconscious knew where something was meant to be but wasn't quite a kenning exactly what it was yet.)
-Keep taunt

Restrictions create necessary friction but beware constriction. Don't hold back. Let go of fear and remember the smell of books on a rainy summer day, curled up around another world.

(also: blogging doesn't count)

London Author Fair

On the 28th of February I attended the first London Author Fair in the rather luxe setting of Covent Garden's Hospital Club.

 "The London Author Fair will host hundreds of authors across three floors of the private members club, for a day of radical seminars, intimate workshops, one-on-one collaborator hubs, educational films, the live PitchUp! literary agent submissions event run by LitFactor, and a lavish late-night drinks reception and networking event to close."

This conference is different to others in that it is not a writing 101 affair, it is taking a more in depth look at the industry and is also trying to break down artificial barriers between traditionally published and self published authors and the more tangible barriers between authors and the industry. An excellent networking opportunity.

If you click through (and I recommend you do, the programme is available on the site, videos of seminars to come and there may be a sneaky picture of me looking pensive in the audience) you will notice that the founding collaborators are Kobo, Blurb, Createspace and Nook Press. At first I was concerned that this implied that it would have a narrow focus on self publishing.

Be reassured there were so many seminars and workshops to attend, looking at lots of different aspects, that any attendee could organise their schedule to meet their own personal needs and interests. Alongside representatives for the collaborators there were many agents and folks connecting with the industry in varying capacities (and all were happy to mingle and chat in the in-between times).

I was lucky enough to book a pitch, with David Headley of DHH Literary Agency, but as the result is yet pending (you'll have to await a later blog post).

It was a wonderful day, so many exciting and interesting things going on, getting to listen to and speak to agents and industry folks directly, swapping stories and support with other writers (the cafe was lovely but under the eyes of several industry stations, the smoking area was the easiest place to skip through social awkwardness and get chatting. Even if you don't smoke!). The atmosphere was really comfortable, but with an edge of excitement and determination. I definitely recommend booking a ticket, the next fair is going to be in New York in the autumn, then in various locations in Europe next year.

Here I'm going to share my pickings, this blog post has already crept into essay length although I have only really written what floated to the surface. What to expect from industry, what you need to be; developed, identifiable, aware.

Developed

Your book. Edited, revised, beta read. Again. This may seem like standard, basic advice. It is. But as writers we have to be as objective and professional as possible when viewing our work against this criteria. Specially if you wish to self-publish (or be an author-publisher as the new phrasage seems to be swinging toward) as one of the reader concerns is the slew of published e-books that are terribly edited, formatted, gaping plot holes ect. We are the minders of our integrity.

Which is, of course, equally important if you wish to take a more traditional route. Perhaps more so as you will be confronted with critical gate keepers at a sooner stage. This is a lesson it took me a whiles to grasp, or rather I understood it but I did not have enough distance from my work to make a good assessment. It took a few months of rejections, some personalised with useful critique, to make me have a good hard ponder. And, after buying my ticket and booking a pitch with an agent, a few weeks before the fair was to take place...I cut nearly 40k from my book. An entire childhood! It's now up on my blog as a free novella Innocence in bite-sized chapters. Was it bad? No. It just wasn't good enough for today's market. Book two merged with A Song of Sorrow and rather than a series I am now writing a duology. I feel my work is now a lot stronger, the reader is pulled more directly into the plot and I have let go of the constraint of my fledgling writing style, embracing my development.

Your craft. Study stories, story structures, your genre, different writing techniques. Know your industry and market. Research. Saturate yourself.

Asses your resources and skill sets. Offset desire with logic when considering a publishing route.
Self-publishing or traditional. What wealth do you have? If you go the typical self publishing route you will need to buy services: editorial, cover designs, advertising, distribution. All the things a traditional model would provide.

Identifiable

Your Brand is a concept that is under ever increasing focus. Whether trad or SP authors need to be quickly identifiable to their audience. What sets you apart from other writers in your genre, what is unique or interesting about you and your work? If a reader becomes a fan what values or ideas are they associating with?

I believe this can be separated, somewhat, into two categories although those certainly overlap. Core message with personal brand association, and visual/material branding IE the cover designs of your books being of a theme and standing out on the shelf/web page.

If you are anything like me this may be a struggle. Good luck! If you're not? Bah. Grumble. ::admiration::.

Marketing. This is why you need a strong brand. All authors are increasingly reliant on their own marketing skills.Whatever route you take, you will be doing the leg work. If this is a particularly strong skill for you then this would help SP, if not then perhaps a trad route will offer more guidance (the level of which depends upon what agent/imprint/publisher you catch).

Social media presence. Twitter (get on it now if you are not. Lots of industry folk and fellow writers are on it and tweeting tidbits of advice, industry buzz and engaging debate.) Facebook (specially if writing romance, crime, general fiction). Have a voice. Listen.

Genre presence. Goodreads is good here, connecting with readers and writers over their love of reading. Lots of groups that are genre specific to join. Blogs: find out who is blogging and keep an eye out for trends, concerns, movements, debates. Community sites. Get involved.

Gigs. Find out what goes on in your local area. Literary festivals, writing/reading groups, poetry/spoken word nights and slams. Get involved.

This all boils down to community: Embrace it! Between writers, connecting to readers. Something I hope to see imprints and publishers embracing more. It is a symbiotic relationship between book lovers, one that we all should nurture and revel in.

Aware

When you are in the development stage I'd recommend looking at what this assessment brings to light and letting this inform your decisions. There are more and more services that are catering to different writer's needs and these could prove very valuable in shaping your journey. IE if you plan to SP then look at what companies are offering what services, at what prices, look at what community sites they have attached to these services. Take advantage of them, from the earliest point in your writing career. You will form friendships with other writers in the same position as you, you will have a network to share advice and experiences with. Something to consider here is the processes your book will have to go through before it reaches the reader, looking at the distribution channels of those you are associating with and if this is the best for your book. Some still use the same companies as the big publishers, other are looking to invest in more dynamic print-on-demand methods. Cost is key here, both for the providers of services, and for authors in what they are willing to pay. Investigate carefully before making a decision.

Here I must admit that I walked out of the distribution seminar. I was looking for nitty gritty, and the panel was made up of representatives from the sponsors detailing what they have to offer in this area. Excellent if I was shopping around for such, but, alas, not my agenda for the day.

In this regard there were some concerns raised from the industry folks in services that demand up-front fee's. This is still frowned upon, but becoming an increasingly grey area. As reflected in the phrase Author-published. Implying that not only is a writer an author upon publication, with all that entails, but they are also a publisher and have to consider their choices through a business perspective, purchasing services publishers purchase. (No picking peppers, promise.) It also worth looking to the growth of imprints and small press here, routes that mingle different aspects of trad and SP.

If trad? Research who's who and who's representing what, what trends are shaping the mainstream and what gaps you can fill. #MSWL is useful here, agents and publishers use it to tweet their manuscript wishlists. Look at what agents offer as part of their representation, consider what sort of publication you want to pursue, of what you want your career to be. Make no mistake: you do not hand over your ms and then wait a few tense months before the gold and accolades role in. This is work and if you want success you will have to work your ass off.

Porter Anderson's review and discussion can be found here and is a fascinating read. (And yes that's me, A Fox, lurking beneath Wise's crafty quote. No joke. Caveat: I get nervous in front of cameras!)

If you are already SP and thinking of seeking representation to expand? Be careful. You will have to demonstrate clear success. Think 50k units sold, at least. And that is sold, not given away for free or at a very low price. The Bookseller's monitoring of digital sales (as much as they are able what with notorious silence from a certain uber publisher/store) demonstrates this: they only count a sale as a unit sold above £2.

There was some discussion of hybrid authors; authors who print publish traditionally but keep their digital rights, or fight for a contract which sells these rights at a competitive rate. Which, as an aspiring author sounds very appealing but so far it is authors who already have traditional deals, a back list and platform that are doing this. It is this which plays a big factor in many writers choosing to go SP, sacrificing trad experience, access level to market and marketing avenues. I hope the future brings more reconciliation in this area.

The democratisation of the industry was another hot phrase. Breaking down the barriers between writers and the industry. My concern here is that this seems to hinge upon services offered, many at an outlay cost. And if you are poor this may increasingly become a limit on your options. This is not democratic. We shall see. But we must also remember that this industry is at its best when it transcends social class.

And the biggest thing to be aware of? The industry is modernising, in a time of recession. This leads to much that is precarious, a shifting landscape, but also lots of innovative opportunities...and opportunistic traps.

There was an undercurrent of doubts, an uncertainty after technological upheavals, but also a sense of determination, a flash of a gambler's chance, and a question: Where are the publishers? A call for unity, stability with healthy competition in a modernising market.

And after? Adventures to be had...

The Acquistition of Beta Readers

On the morning of the 18th of April I finished The Final Read Through. A riot of strange feelings and uncertainties. Fear, excitement, joy, loss. Weird shit, y'know?

That afternoon I gathered together necessary info and learned to let go of my book, which sounds far less demanding than the reality after all these months of hoarding my words to myself, and sent out the manuscript to my Beta Readers. The Heart in Mouth...all too accurately named.

I cannot help but wonder that a story, once read, is then truly awakened. The soul of it pulled through different perspectives and transmuted. Into what, though?

I must say I'm rather happy with my group of readers: intelligent, diverse, trustworthy. There are eleven now. Some friends that are keen of mind readers; genre fan and aero-tinker Dan Morley, post modern ingenue and feminist Imogen Pickles, ear pleasin' music blogger Jo Byron, writer and photographer Leanne Williamson & the gentleman of geek taste Miles Houghton. A couple of folk from my writers circle; John Clay & Leanne Moden. And some intellectuals that I have got to know, and respect, on Tor; George Brell (GBrell), John Graham (JohnPoint), Steven Shalter (Shalter) & Thistlepong. Over the last couple of years I have follwed and participated in Jo Walton's obsessively detailed reread of The King Killer Chronicles (so far...) by Patrick Rothfuss. This awesome conversation has hummed through my downtime from writing. Trial by fire. And so masochistic tendencies of a writer emerge.

The waiting....Well. Yes. Over the last couple of weeks there as been the occasional tidbit of positive feedback that has somewhat elevated the manic dreariness. The deadline is for the first week of June. 'Deadline' is such a dramatically terrifying turn of phrase, is it not?  This was the first time in a long time that I was not writing or editing. I indulged in a few hedonistic nights, stealthy escaping routine as night pulled in. It's good to see the stars once and a while, and if wheeling? Even better.

Then Ms Moden's grammar checklist started trickling in by chapters. Pleasing and galling all at once. Pleasing because the mistakes were often silly ones. Incorrect auto-corrects, typos, misplaced apostrophes, the occasional clunky sentence or confusing possessive pronouns. Galling because of the embarrassingly consistent misuse of its/it's and to/too. Two of my latter Beta's received the revised version.

I began to put some effort into researching publication possibilities, my mother's day gift of the Writers & Artist's Yearbook proving useful. Drawing up tables of agencies, agents and publishers open to fantasy submissions.

I finally bought a chair and officiated a corner, on the borderlands of my son's toys, as my workspace. My mural got a tidy up, and even did a pen sketch of Cerid.

As you can see, on a post it note. Which, after the bath escapade, I thought I would use to map the time line of OBR:2 in bullet point. The earlier chapter plan proved useful but the editing process has helped give me a clearer structural overview, resulting in some reordering of events. As I marched forward with the bones of the plot I could not help but dance my way back along them, fleshing out. Pen on paper anchoring me, the notebook opened, then typing out in modernity the sentences. Watching life bloom on digitalised skin.

At the last: Writing. As necessary as breathing.

Editing

I thought I would write a little on my editing process. I'm working on my first book, A Song of Sorrow, and so have little experience with such. Editing is a very daunting challenge. Writing a book seems like it is the hardest part, with it's ups and downs. Creative fire and words that pour off the tongue. Nights spent chain smoking and glaring at that horrible fucking curser, flashing impatiently on a blank page. Oh that little black line of demand, how I hate you. Then, when the ink has dried and enough time has passed for a deep enough breath to be gulped down, you open that file again.

And are confronted with a book. Your book. Covered in wiggly lines and lamenting your every fault and foible.

And there's so much of it! Word after word, line after line, chapter after chapter all demanding attention. Tender touches and cuts that sting.

When I began writing I allowed my consciousness to pour out over the page, delightfully chaotic, manically jotting down notes with no heed to cohesion or linear timelines. As those notes became plot order seeped into the edges. I found a balance in writing. I still obsessively make notes, all carefree and what not, then mold those notes into chapter plans before actually writing. So, in an attempt to quell my nervousness (What if I cut something I later want to keep and it's lost forever!? Gasp.) I tried to apply a similar method, starting in January.

1. Cover to Cover.
    Quite simply I read. From start to finish, with as few breaks as possible. I needed to get a feel for the whole thing. The flow, the plot progression, the peaks and dips in tension. Essentially see if it all fit together like it does in my head and notes. If I came across a small mistke then I would correct that mistake. I also wielded red font like it was nobodies business, brutally applying for the slightest infraction.

1.2. The Ponder
    I walked away in a swelter of emotions. I made notes. All and everything that popped into my head. Questions, things that were overdone, underdone, themes, motifs, things that needed expanding, things that needed severe cutting. This may sound like a verbose red penning. It was. But I found it helped me collect my thoughts.

2. The Dread of Red
    At first I fueled myself with coffee, after dropping RoRobot at school, and attacked all that red with...well if not enthusiasm, then certainly determination. This was a mistake. The time to pick him up from school came and I was exhausted, having gone through four chapters. The next day I reread those chapters and reapplied lots of bloody red.

    Fine! Ha! You can't beat me! I'm the ginger bread man or something. A chapter at a time then. A read through to refresh, tackling simpler problems: clunky sentences that had an easy solution, silly mistakes, repetition, word choice, missing names. Then I tackled each part (my chapters move between the perspectives of Mera, Llew and Tomas) at a time, giving it a thorough going over and then having a break. Collected myself. Repeat. This was a much better way. I could set myself targets and see a reasonable progression. I would even put up my progression on facebook...in percentages. I'm not sure that my friends were particularly interested, mind. But every like and comment helped lift the isolation a little. The red began to erode.

Sometimes a problem would arise that had to be set outside of this pattern. Like a couple of overly long descriptions of Rosalind Castle. I chewed over those for awhile, looking at them in situ and fretting. Copy, paste into a fresh page. Notebook, pen, cigarette. What is the purpose, what does it achieve, how does each characters perspective change what they see-both literally and figuratively? I felt rather cunning and cut. Copy, paste back in situ. Reread.

3. Re-structuring and Holes
    I wrote the end of the book during NaNoWriMo. I came nowhere near winning, with the 50k, but didn't really expect to. I needed a final push. In my writing break after Nano, after the book was finished, I wrote a chapter by chapter plan for book 2. That's what I'll be working on this coming NaNo, and I will *try* to get the 50k this time around. I can feel my insomnia cackling gleefully already.

Whilst NaNo most definitely helped it had its draw backs. Structure fled. Well, faded into a mass of text only broken up by chara perspective and a vague notion of chapter breaks. I knew that there would be one or two alternative chapters to add. I had saved them for this part of the edit so I would have a firm grasp on what the story needed here, and how those alt.ch.s worked with/against the meat of the story to either side. But during edits it became clear that I would actually need four. And that I wasn't entirely happy with the order of events.

Much gnashing of teeth ensued.

I stole a sheet of paper from my sons art book. I ran a bath and hunted down scissors to cut that paper into palm sized cards. On them I wrote brief descriptions of each chapter, on some just the parts if I was unsure what chapter they would end up in. I got in the bath and used the steam as an adhesive, sticking them to the tiles. Then I conducted what I can only describe as a mad woman's splishy splashy orchestra of ideas. I spoke out loud, I rearranged the cards and told the story, abbreviated, to myself. Occasionally a card would fall into the increasingly tepid water. Undeterred I added more hot water, slapped the card back onto the tile and shouted at myself some more. And yes when the order started to make sense I may have laughed. Loudly with much 'Ahas!' and 'Of course!'. I dread to think what my neighbour thought...

You don't have to have the bath, but I do recommend the cards.

 I restructured the end, wrote three of the alt.ch.s. This is where I'm at now. That last ch. is swilling away in my subconscious, I can feel it. I've made notes. I know whose perspective it's going to be from...but I'm not sure how much of that story arc needs to happen here...and how much in book 2. I'm waiting for that last niggling chapter to be ready. Once that is written I will commence:

4. The Final Read Through 
    Which is kinda self explanatory. Catch any stray stupidities/auto corrects. Tweak a few little things that have occurred to me. Check to see if I keep the original structure or the bath structure. Check the new alt.ch.s work well. Fine tooth the bugger.

5. The Heart in Mouth.
    Beta readers. So far I have one definite and a couple of loose yeses. This is still a secretive stage. I want beta readers I trust...for good, honest critique with no pussyfooting. And for other nefarious reasons. I will have to think more on whom I can badger/sweet talk into beta reading for me. Though my definite is good.

My goal was to be ready for the publishing journey by the end of spring. Fair weather an' all. Amazingly I seem to be on target..we'll see if that remains the case once the beta readers have rent my lovely book with their claws.