Current Reading: Outrageous Fortune, by Tim Scott

Inspirational Quote: "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book. I'll waste no time reading it." -- Moses Hadas

It's been six months since I consigned the Magnus Somnium to the tender mercies of the Critters writing group. When I offered up the work, I had 10 interested parties. That's a decent response, and gives me some high hopes for the effectiveness of my pitch, which will someday form the heart of my query.

However, in the six months since then, I've had only one of those readers actually complete the novel and provide feedback. Some have let me know that life had intruded and they wouldn't be able to honor their commitment within a reasonable time. I'm fine with that. Life makes its demands. Most of the others, however, have just dropped off the radar.

Unfortunate. I was hoping for some good critique.

It seems most readers, even motivated by personal gain, were able to put the manuscript down AND WERE NOT SUFFICIENTLY MOTIVATED TO EVER PICK IT BACK UP.

Or, if they did pick it back up, they didn't feel moved to critique it.

And, of course, this is critique of a sort. I want my work to be the kind that grabs and compels, not the kind that lies limp on the coffee table until the next cleaning day.

Obviously, I won't be able to achieve that by blogging about it...