Terrie

Why do you say you’re a terrible beta reader?

It’s a bit like when I had to read books for exams at school. It was no reflection on the work itself and I’ve read many of the books since with great pleasure. Something about picking up a book for a purpose (a meta-purpose if you like) that isn’t simply pleasure, idle curiosity, whatever, and my…[Read more]

Thanks for the topic. May I add that I’m a terrible beta reader. I would like to be more useful and hope to pick up some tips if this discussion develops and hopefully turns into something more.

Sorry Ath, but I didn’t reply to your “images have always been here, just not uploading images” because I wasn’t sure what you were getting at.

Hi – that was a reply to Sandra, just for avoidance of confusion. Yes, there are several very appealing forums available, including Discourse (and I must say as a longtime repairer, I like your forum and the topic). That said, with Discourse, we would need a VPS or similar non-shared server arrangement*, unlike a traditional web-host, so the…[Read more]

OK, but what about the many other advantages of discourse?

I do think Bella’s beta readers might be an idea, but perhaps, at least to start with, omit the financial bit and just set up a register of those willing and those wanting, with some detail of genre, etc and the willingness to send a sample chapter to see if they’re compatible.

And the possibility of uploading pictures, I’d say Handle With Care,…[Read more]

@athelstone have you looked at moving to a 21st century forum like discourse? I use it on talk.restarters.net and it’s pretty slick. You can get email notifications and reply by email; can upload pictures, has trust levels and you can restrict areas.

Also – apologies of lack of participation. The Covid situation has totally mucked up my mojo. I’ve not written a word, stopped playing my (relatively new) sax, hardly even read a thing blah blah blah. It is what it is. I have developed an obsession with weightlifting, so haven’t been entirely idle! But I’m starting to feel the odd twinges of…[Read more]

I’ve long thought that people would bite your arm off for a decent beta reading service.

I flung out an idea on Jericho Townhouse ages ago along the lines of: author pays £X to Jericho who assigns the MS to a selected beta reader from their pool. There is a standard rubric the beta reader must follow (timescale, topics covered, length of…[Read more]

Sand

Mum was a good woman. I say was; I mean is. She’s still alive. But since the diagnosis of dementia, well, for a long while before that, I knew she was slipping away.

She sits with me as I work.

I have a phone to repair. A capacitor has failed, a tiny surface-mount component. It is fiddly and the manufacturer won’t replace it. But I wil…[Read more]

“Above the tideline”
first line provided by Thomas A Clarke

Above the tideline, an old blue rope is entangled in a bramble bush. I gaze at it while retying my hair, turning to face into the wind, risking the scratch of sand beneath my already sore eyelids; its crunching against my teeth.
Sand, salt and shell fragments speckle the twists of it,…[Read more]

Well done, Libby – a deserved win!! And thanks Ath.

DoW problems: Usability just isn’t what it should be; not being able to post pictures is a pain; definitely doesn’t promote idle chat.

The wordcloud was very far from perfect, but had one significant difference: the course offerings meant new people were always joining, wondering wth was going on, some figuring it out or persisting without fig…[Read more]

Well, there’s a lot to think about. And to get started on.

I certainly agree with the point about idle chat.

The Den’s been a lifeboat for my SE group. And I love the inspiration the winter writing challenge brings. It’s also lovely to be able to see the successes of people I met on the cloud.

But I wonder if, for the main page to be active, we need writers at different stages. I think we’ve all got a fair amount of experience on here, have writing…[Read more]