Picking Up Anotther Beta

As I stated earlier this week, although to many people Betas are beautiful fish, for me betas are people who I help authors with their writing.  I picked up a new girl yesterday.  It will require time that I really don't have, but I see a lot of potential in her writing and she really needs the additional help.  Again, she is a writer for whom English is a second language.  This time she is Brazilian, not German, but the basic issues are the same.  I really enjoy helping these authors fine-tune their work.  The imagination and visions are all theirs, all that I do is polish the flow, correct the word order and occasional incorrect words, and check the spelling.  After work with their pre-beta they send the story along to me for a look-over and correction phase.  Then, after one more back and forth look, they can post their story.  I don't like to do this without them having a pre-beta working for them also - changes are just too major otherwise and it's too time consuming, too much work.  But when the authors have a pre-beta I can commit.  She is asking me if I would be willing to do her next story that has 20 chapters.  I'll finish this little 3-chapter story first and we'll see if we can work well together.  If so, I might just agree, although I am crazy to want to fit anything else into my crazy schedule. 

I love these beautiful Halloween witches.
Happy Halloween

Tomorrow is Samhain, a day of celebration and renewal, thanks and gratitude, and prayers.  It is a day when the borders between the living and the dead weaken and communication between the realms happens with greater ease.  It is a day for reflection about the value of life and those who have passed ahead of us.  It is a day to spend with friends and family, enjoying what we have and thinking about the future as well as the past.  I will think about my parents, two wonderful people whose presence I miss in my life.  But I will look ahead into my own future also - it is a bit clouded and very uncertain at this point.  I am grateful for this last Sunday off for several weeks, though, and plan to enjoy the day even if I will probably spend most of it raking leaves.