One of my alpha readers texted to tell me that she loved my novel and couldn’t put it down.
I about died of relief.
You spend a year or more writing a novel alone with no feedback. It’s hard to be subjective about your work because what you dreamed it could be is SO MUCH better than the drivel that actually comes out.
So you learn to hate your novel and are completely insecure about its quality.
Then you send it to Alpha readers and bury your head in the sand while you wait. You desperately want the feedback but you’re also terrified of the feedback.
This. THIS IS WHY AUTHORS ARE NEUROTIC. Because we spend so much time alone, buried in our own work, and can simultaneously feel that the work is good enough for others to read and enjoy and pay money for AND believe it’s the worst drivel on Earth.
I’m waiting for her feedback, so I’ll see what needs work soon.
But.
She likes it.
And that made me SO HAPPY.
