Draft Two Done: Let the Beta Reader Games Begin!

Guess what, everyone? I’ve completed my developmental edits for Without Light! 🎉 It’s a miracle, really, because I feel like I could edit until the end of time—forever lost in a whirlwind of dialogue, character arcs, and questionable metaphors.

I had a noble goal: one chapter a day. And on weekends, when the kids were safely away at grandma’s (God bless that woman), I sometimes reached 2–3 chapters a day! It was blissful—just me, my laptop, and the sweet sound of silence. To my family, you might be wondering what I’ve been doing? I assure you, I’ve been hard at work. And... Respectfully, I haven’t been listening to you!

Now, let’s talk about pride. If I was proud of the first draft (which, let’s be honest, was about as solid as a Jenga tower on the brink of collapse), and this second draft is worlds beyond that, what does that make me? A literary genius? A humble word wizard? A slightly more refined hot mess? You decide!

A huge shoutout to my editor for her invaluable guidance. She helped me recognize where I needed to give a little more, which is a polite way of saying she had to prod me to fill in some of those glaring gaps. So now it’s time for my Beta readers to step in. I’m sending this draft off to them to double-check that my editor and I aren’t, you know, completely out to lunch together.

Here’s to hoping that this story is finally ready to take its next big leap into the wild world of feedback! Fingers crossed that I don’t end up crying in a corner over another round of edits!