Beta Time!

As of yesterday, the full manuscript is out with beta readers. These include my husband, who is a full-time copyeditor (like myself), and some friends who have all breastfed their children and/or have editing and writing experience. I am hoping they will be able to give it a critical eye and give me important feedback to make the book as good as it can be.

It's a weird feeling to have this project out of my hands, if only for a little while. I've been working on it in most of my spare time for months now and more intensely since the stories were due in October, so I automatically seem to have that "twiddling my thumbs" feeling. It's good that my kids and my normal work-at-home job keeps that feeling from lasting long.

I expect the beta readers to be done within a week or two, and then I will be able to incorporate any changes that I need to. After that, it will be time to get all of the necessary files together and send it to the publisher.

I will write another update when that happens.

Thanks for sticking with me through this! I can't wait to see this thing in print (and in an e-book!).

Janell

Progress!

I just wanted to write an update for all of you that are following the progress of this book to let you know that the book is moving forward.

The publisher extended my deadline just a little, to March 1, but said, at this point, we should still have the book ready around summertime.

Tonight, I sent out the last edited story to its author. While I wait for all of the story authors to return their changes and copyright forms to me, I will be working on my own story, the introduction, and the back matter for the book (including the list of "milky names" and a resource list).

One thing I can still use help on is compiling a list of resources for not just breastfeeding mothers but for long-/full-term breastfeeding mothers and their families. If you have found such a friendly place, please email me or use the contact form on this page to let me know, so I can point my readers in the right direction.

Thanks!