A few days ago I wrote about how my book was done….
It’s not. Not all the way. I’m at that point where I have taken it to where I could. That point where I have read and re-read and wrote and re-wrote so many times that I can no longer see the issues I know are there.
Right now I’m working on book 2 while wonderful friends are reading book 1 for me, to help me find the issues, so I can fix them. It’s not that I think it’s perfect, I know it’s not. It’s just I need a little help.
So perhaps a few words about constructive criticism.
Is there anything more useful? I don’t think so.
Tonight I was speaking to the first to finish my book in this read through, the first to share her thoughts, and I was grateful. For here was someone who took time to read and think over my book. Is, therefore, the response that this part felt long and I wasn’t sure why this part was there, and I was pissed at the end mean?
Or was it incredibly helpful?
Helpful! Of course it was helpful.
Because I need to know. I need to know I took too long; I need to know that the end is infuriating. Knowing those things lets me focus my rewrite. Knowing those things gives me the chance to make my book what it is in my head; it gives me the chance to make it better; which increases my chance that my dreams will come true.
Someone being brave enough to tell me those things is the kindest thing they could do.
I write not so much for me, but for the fourteen year old me. The one for whom fiction helped her get through hard days, so friends help me write for her. And any other kid out there who needs fiction as much as I did.
Ok, do.
~Amanda
Amanda A. Allen 
Dear Amanda,
if your book is written half as good as your posts, if it’s only half as honest, and lets us into the inner thoughts and dialogues of its character half as successfully as these are, then it’s going to be a masterpiece! I can’t wait to read it.
Well I hope that it is all those things, though, I may need to re-write it a bit more to bring it on. 🙂