Audio Edits on the John Deere

I just sent off the Beta Reader kit that I pulled together and I am so nervous. I’ve never shared my work before and this is utterly nerve-wracking. Authors out there, is this what it’s like or do I just have newbie butterflies bouncing this way and sideways?

I have learned over the course of our 5 years of farm life that the best medicine for extreme emotion is to hop on my lawn mower and just cut down 5 acres of tall grass. So off I went this afternoon, headphones and Uncrowned Heir on audiobook, my author hat sharing space with my farm hat, tearing down the driveway — which happens to be the length of 1.25 football fields. Yes, we have — in fact — measured it!

Needless to say, my yard looks very trim and proper right now. In the mean time, 6 beta readers will be opening my email any time now and I’m really hoping I did enough to give them a great first impression.

I am going by pure instinct here on what would be a good beta reader kit — A welcome letter, the questionairre, and…the book. However, when I was preparing the files, I was in a flirty mood so instead of drafting a welcome/thank you letter from ME, Kaia found her way to my pen and drafted one.

Since she and I are currently living in the same skin at the moment, I gave her some creative freedom. For the sake of sharing, I’ve taken a screenshot of my beta reader email — just in case another indie author needs some inspiration.

If I got it all wrong, please don’t tell me — at least not yet.