Closed for Remodelation

​My second draft of The Circle of Awareness is with the Beta Reader. I won’t get it back until this Friday. I have learned that during this time I should leave the draft alone, because if I make any changes on my computer, I create a mess that doesn’t match up with the hard copy the Beta Reader has.
 
A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of writing, who gives feedback to the author from the point of view of an average reader.
 
So The Circle of Awareness is Closed for Remodelation until I get it back. 
 
I’m fortunate that this particular Beta Reader also does proofreading. I hardly ever make any mitsakes, so proofreading my writing is an easy job!
 
Until Friday I’m just working on the fourth in the JR Johnson series. The book was finished, but I wasn’t happy with it, so I hired a developmental editor to look at it. She made some great suggestions, but I had to start at page one and write the thing over. I think the end result will be worth it.
 
People have asked me what writers I read for inspiration. It might be a surprise, but if I want to read a clear-headed writer who knew how to focus on the story and drive forward: Agatha Christie. Her stuff is dated, and she was clearly a prejudiced Englishwoman; she looked down on foreigners, Americans were boorish and crude, followed closely by the Irish and French. Belgian Hercule Poirot is the exception. But old Agatha could really tell a story. I just listened to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
 
Last week I gave a couple of talks. At the end listeners came up and bought some books. I coerced them into letting me autograph each copy, whether they wanted me to or not. 
 
I can always tell right at the beginning if a talk is going to go well, based on the percentage of listeners who laugh at my opening true story about meeting Bill Gates. Last week almost everybody laughed, but I’ve had times when I bombed. It’s quite an experience when you tell your best joke, and the entire audience sits there in silence with their arms crossed. It’s okay; I always blame them. It couldn’t be me!
 
The Circle of Awareness will be ready for September release.