writing community – Textploits of the Writerly Persuasion

A beta reader can help you polish your manuscript and get you that much closer to seeing your brain child on a bookshelf. It’s great to have multiple beta readers because reading, as an art form, is subjective, and you’d want to cover all your bases to spot and correct every typo and wonky phrase.

It’s such a common occurrence to miss the teeniest details, such as a missing comma, writing to instead of too (or vice versa) when you’ve read and reread your work dozens of times. Beta readers can also help offer suggestions for all the times you repeated a word or phrase. They can also help you tighten up your sentences and clear up any concepts that get lost in translation.

Fresh eyes will allow others to let you know what you’ve missed and also provide insight on readability from their perspective. It’s essential to know if what you want to share with your audience effectively and accurately reaches them as intended.

This month I resumed my beta reader duties and I already have a few beta reading requests lined up for next month. Aside from building a powerful network of fellow writers, it’s also given me an opportunity to read with a writer’s mindset. Taking a break from my work to read someone else’s has allowed my brain to reset and to be more receptive to seeing where to improve aspects of their story that I might not notice right away in my manuscript.

With any skill, practice is important in order to improve and expand your knowledge base. While helping others with their writing, I’m also helping my own. You see the patterns that work and those to avoid. Reciprocity is wonderful. Everyone improves their skill set and is closer to their publication goals.

Do you like to beta read for others? What have you learned from your beta readers? I know they’re invaluable as they are essentially my focus group for a potential audience and it’s always a good thing to have your story double and triple checked so that you’re putting your best work forward and showcasing your talent in the best way possible.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

Social media has never been more impactful than it has in the past few years. The world has come together to discuss, debate, and challenge many social issues. It has given us a sense of community and inclusion in a time when a global pandemic is keeping us apart.

There are so many formats in social media that it’s easy to get lost, but, if you find methods that work for you as a writer, social media is a solid way to get your name out there. This website currently houses my blog, but I’ll be reworking the site to accommodate any of my published works and future related writing projects. I have an Author Page on Facebook, and I also created an Instagram account. On Facebook, I’ve joined groups that allow users to join as a Page versus personal account, and I also cross post whenever there’s something new on the blog here. I intend to use Instagram for book promotion and other writing-related posts that are more visual. For now, it’s on standby.

As mentioned previously, I’ve joined writing communities via Facebook where we share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback to fellow writers. Goodreads helps me track the books I’ve read, want to read, and what other people I follow recommend. The To Be Read Pile never dwindles. Other writing based websites offer events, webinars, courses and various opportunities to interact with like-minded individuals.

Recently, however, I’ve re-entered the wonderful world of Twitter. While Facebook requires a different type of involvement, for direct interaction with people in the industry, I’m most active on Twitter, at the moment. It’s more than just liking or retweeting a someone’s tweet. There are great opportunities to engage in some seriously infotaining dialogue with people from around the world. You can build connections, find beta readers or critique partners, and learn what it is literary agents are looking for, so you know whom to query when the time comes.

At present, I don’t have any intention of using a pseudonym or nom de plume for my books, regardless if they’re for kids or adults. My name is my brand. I mentioned in the last post how it’s important to think of my writing as a business. There needs to be consistency across all platforms. While there’s been a change in readership directly on the blog in the last month or so, I’ve seen an increase of people engaging with the blogs via other platform links found on Facebook and Twitter, for example.

I’m still uncertain if there’s a problem with WordPress or if people just shifted their interests and aren’t connecting with my posts of late. While that could be the case, I need to remind myself that my writing will not reach everyone or please everyone. That doesn’t mean that I should stop with the blog or completely change the type of content I’m writing about. I’ve maintained a solid blogging schedule since November of last year and given The Life and Times of Tonette dela Luna in, say, the last five years, at least, this is an amazing feat.

I’m gonna keep on keepin’ on and if you enjoy the content, I’m glad. And I thank you for reading along on the journey. If you’d like to connect with me on social media, I would love to know what compels you as a writer, reader, and/or lover of the arts. What are your favorite platforms? Are there others not mentioned that you’d recommend to a writer? There are a few others that I’m still trying to establish (and navigate), such as Discord, tumblr, and Reddit, but for now, you can find me at:

Facebook Author Page: Tonette dela Luna

Twitter: @tonettedelaluna

Goodreads: Tonette dela Luna

Instagram: @tonettedelaluna

… and of course, I’m here every week and will continue to share the ups, downs, lefts, and rights of my writing journey, putting it out into the ether and making my presence known.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.