The Carduan Chronicles have been a work in progress for years. The draft for Ship Eighteen was written and rewritten several times. But, no writer is perfect.
Plot Premise
As Ship Nineteen appeared and landed in an Ozark ravine in the midst of a February ice storm, Ship Eighteen appeared somewhere between Mars and Jupiter on the far side of the sun from Earth which they call Cardua. This ship must make the dangerous voyage from their landing spot over the sun and to Earth. Then they must land on Earth, if they make it that far.
Obviously the first step is to determine the time it will take for this ship to make the voyage. I decided on fifteen weeks. And I wrote the first draft.
No Writer Is Perfect
I had looked up the distances between the planets and the sun. Fine. However, I neglected to do the math to determine where the ship would be each of the weeks. Instead, I wrote a great draft with lots of action in it guessing my way along the voyage.
Then I did the math. Most of what was in the first draft was not possible as the timing was all wrong. So, I wrote another draft. And another draft. Finally, the voyage worked timewise and I fit in some of the action from the first draft, rewrote some new action.
The Draft Is Done?
A friend volunteered to read the draft. I read it over and sent it on.
When it came back, the things I thought my friend would notice were overshadowed by other errors. Spelling and grammar make or break a book. An occasional mistake is overlooked, but not a dozen.
Another edit was done on the draft. Maybe all the mistakes are corrected now. I can hope so. And I found a number of other things that needed changing. Perhaps the draft is done now. I need another reader to look it over as I am so familiar with it, I see what I expect, not what is.
Accepting Criticism
A book is a personal thing. It is something a writer has worked on, babied along, based hopes on. Then someone reads it and criticizes it.
The first reaction is resentment. But the criticism isn’t about you or your effort. It is a way for you to improve your work.
Even if you decide to ignore some of the things a reader points out, you should consider them first. The reader wants you to have a better book. Hopefully, you do too.
