From Endings to Beginnings

It's done. And I'm relieved.

For all of February, March, and into April, I took part in a beta reading swap on one of the writing websites I use. It was extraordinarily helpful, and the ladies they partnered me up with are wonderful, so it was well worth it.

But this time of year is a terrible time to pile more stress on. March is a trauma anniversary. I don't know what date exactly, but I think somewhere in the 20s of March. Starting in February, things steadily grow worse with my sleep and mental health, and then it all comes to a head in late March/early April. For years, I would be hospitalized each April. That hasn't happened since 2009, fortunately.

Things have been getting better for about three weeks now, which is fantastic, but I'm still struggling. However, things are improving more rapidly now that the beta swap is done.

Let me tell you, I will not be doing these swaps at this time of year again. They're held in winter and summer, and I'll be doing them in the summer from now on!

Now, it's time to move on to other steps in the process.

One thing I'll be working on now is editing the novel that I just had beta read in the swap. The other thing is having the second book in the series critiqued, which I will do on another website. So, I have to critique regularly again, which I haven't done in a long time. Critiquing and beta reading are not the same thing, so it's been a while since I did this regularly. I'm looking forward to diving back in, though!

My goal is to publish the first book in my series later this year. We'll see how this goes!

Photo Credit: Kristin Hardwick