A lot has happened over the last few months. First, by the 24th June, my fragile first draft of The Approach had faced the firing squad of my alpha readers, and I had their feedback in hand. That makes them sound mean – they weren't, but they were honest, and it seemed like the book needed a fair bit of work, particularly in acts two and three.
Between the four alpha readers, I had around 400 in-line comments to sort through, and pages of summary comments. I guess, in context, it isn't a surprise I felt a bit overwhelmed. I also started a new day job from the 10th July, with lots of new procedures to learn and weird shift patterns to get used to. This sounds like a list of excuses, and... well, it is! Sorry.
The good news is I'm back on the editing train and working through the comments my alpha readers left. I'm currently on chapter four out of seventeen which means there's a fair way to go yet, but I think time away in July gave me the perspective I needed to better know what to change and what to keep. As the picture would indicate, I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Still, ask me about that light after the beta read feedback comes in, and I might not feel the same way!
All the best until my next update!