Round Three

I've given it enough time.

When I finished my second draft of Dark Water, I gave it to four people to read, in the hopes that I would get some feedback and criticism. Three are dear friends; the forth person, DW, who is always my biggest critic and biggest supporter.

One friend left a couple of comments on the shared online document but has been silent for a few weeks. Another friend said that she'd read through the full story, first, and then go through a second time and leave her comments.

At the time of writing this post, I haven't heard anything from her other than for her to tell me that she's enjoying the book.

Another friend didn't commit to a timeline for reading Dark Water and I haven't heard from her, either. And I understand: people are busy and have lives of their own.

DW downloaded the book onto her iPad and read the first two chapters while we were on vacation, whenever we had downtime. And she provided comments right away, tearing the content to shreds (in a good way, I'm sure). But since we've been home, she's fallen back into her regular routine and hasn't touched the book.

While I appreciate my wife's and my friends' offer to review my book, I can no longer wait.

DW hit on a great point right from the start of the story and I've given it a lot of thought. I've worked out changes I want to make, based on her feedback, and I want to address it while everything's fresh in my head.

I'm ready to start on the third draft of Dark Water.

This means that while there are no major changes, there is one significant alteration that will bring a bit more suspense. It also introduces a new minor character, and I've fleshed him out already.

I still hope that my friends and DW continue to read what they have. While the second chapter has the significant change, I don't think it'll be an issue if they don't read it. If they come to the part in the book with the new character, they might be lost for a bit but I'm hoping they'll get through it.

And of course, as I read the story, myself, for the third time, I expect that things with jump out if they don't make sense, and I can correct them.

It's been more than a month since I've looked at Dark Water. And, indeed, I had even started work on the next Calloway and Hayes mystery, The Watcher, so I hope that this third reading will be approached with fresh eyes.

Stay tuned.