…when I send off my manuscript [ “The Rogue Rainlord“, book 1 of The Random Rain Cycle ], to my beta readers.

I am making a few last minute changes, doing a final spell check, and so on, attaching a bit of a sketch map … and then off it goes to the hungry hawk-eyed vultures to tear apart.

Who are my beta readers?

• Fellow published writers (bless them, wherever do they find the time?);
• writers not yet majorly published;
• fantasy fans with wide reading experience;
• a speciality bookseller;
• several part-time professional editor friends who love to read fantasy;
• West Australian Perdy Phillips (professional artist who does the maps).

Some of them are people I have never met, some are friends, some are connected to the publishing business. They all have one thing in common: they love the genre and want the finished book to be special, so they are devastatingly honest, even when it hurts.

This last makes their praise, if it comes, very special indeed, because I know they really mean it. So as of tomorrow, I will do other things while I try to be patient and not develop a tic, or a desire to bit my nails, or a need to hit the gin.

Oh, note the title: here are the titles I finally decided on (but who knows whether these will be the final ones.)