Finding the right beta reader can take some time and thought. Like any relationship, it can be complicated and there is the risk of feelings being hurt. It’s important to take the time to choose the right person and establish the right tone in moving forward. I can say from personal experience, I have benefited tremendously from my beta readers, not only their feedback, but their support in validating the work I am doing.
Now here we are again, planning for another full year of extremely local literary excitement. So much has changed and grown since we began. What has not changed is our passion for regional voices. We will continue to publish quarterly in 2020, as well as provide our quarterly Workshops and other events. However, we have a mind for growth and are working on some very exciting opportunities and literary initiatives in the next year.
As writers, we bring our own set of experiences and perspectives to whatever we write. That’s part of what makes writing compelling. But with collaborative writing, you bring in the experiences and perspectives of several other writers as well as your own. By including more writers in the process for a single written piece, you enrich the word choice, syntax and thematic elements dramatically. Sometimes the product gets muddled with competing ideas and approaches. But more often than not, particularly if there is no ego or agenda brought to the table, the product of collaborative writing is something that astonishes the participants.
This feeling only grew when I bought a used copy of Ralph’s book – an autographed copy, it turned out— and began reading. Ralph’s True Stories is a lovely compilation of articles that reminisce about a life lived fully, mixed in with folksy observations and no small amount of humor. Even more wonderfully, these vignettes are accompanied by photographs infused with the vintage charm of old-fashioned cars, clothing and past traditions. There’s Ralph in a gaggle of school boys in front of the old school house, 1930. There he is in a bobsled pulled by the family’s horses, 1931. He and his wife as a young couple, 1948. His mom holding their first-born in front of the chicken coop, 1950. The 300+ page book had one homey, sweet, candid photograph after another.