Slightly less wonderful, I got the first feedback from my third beta reader, and it was, as is typical, less than glowing. Luckily, I've developed a thick skin for writing critique, and I know well which critiques to pay attention to from this particular beta reader. He's very good at ensuring I don't get too big a head, which is sometimes very needed. Mostly, his advice is very good, and his keen eye is a boon, so don't worry. I'm not crushed or anything. It's a good thing he's so forthright. It's one of the many reasons I keep him as my final beta reader. In any case, he's extraordinarily busy, so it will likely be a long while before I get The Lioness of Shara Mountain back from him.
This means I can focus on other stories that I've started and not completed. I think I'll work on Daughter of the Sea, as it's a great stand-alone story set in the same world as my Avalon series (not yet finished... or properly titled... still). Hopefully by the time I'm finished writing that, my subconscious will have done its thing and finished the narrative of the third book so I can at last finish that series and start the submission process.
In the meantime, I've been off exploring other social media options. After Twitter was sold, many of my friends went off in search of a better space. Many of them ended up on Mastadon. I have an account there, though I've done nothing with it, really. In my research, I discovered a Twitter-like alternative called Spoutible.
It is a black-owned site, and has a user-end interface that is very like Twitter. Instead of Tweets, we have Spouts (in which we spout off. Get it?). Instead of things trending, they're making waves (which I rather like). What I'm rather enjoying right now is the promise of being strict about harassment as well as misinformation. We'll see how long that lasts, but that's what made me decide to go there, not least of all because Twitter is opening up to known liars again with no promises of any kind of fact-check.
There are some key differences in the user experience, but they're small. If you're used to Twitter, and don't want to spend a great deal of time relearning another platform, I really recommend Spoutible. It's only recently launched, and so there are a fair few bugs the needed and need ironing out, but my experience has only gotten more smooth since launch date. An app is coming shortly, and will probably have more kinks to iron out, but all in all, it's been good.
I still have my Twitter account, but I'm no longer active on the site. Join me on Spoutible instead. That's where I'll be doing all of the formerly Twitter-ish things.
If you decide to sign up and want to follow me, you can find me here. As you can see, I'm very inventive when it comes to names on my socials...
Anywho, that's all I've got for you at the moment. I shall return next Monday.
Ciao!