The day has finally arrived, in which I invite my readers on Rebelling Muse, and my fellow writers from Goodreads, NaNoWriMo, and Wattpad to take part in the beta call for my novel The White Rose.


via GIPHY


via GIPHY

Admittedly, it's well over a year late, but in hindsight, I'm so glad I waited. This second draft has turned out much better than I had anticipated - I can actually show it to people without feeling totally embarrassed about the mess that it is.

Now, before I open up the form for you, here's some housekeeping stuff that you need to be aware of.....

Some Stats for the Book

Size: 249 pages
Word Count: 112,816 words (!)
Chapters: 48

Yeah, she's a big girl.....grew well over twice her size between the two drafts. Now you understand why it took over six months to actually get her to a finished state *cringes*.

Beta Privileges

- Like my alphas, you'll receive new drafts after every time that "major changes" happen. In other words, if 20k words are added or macro-editing is done. This way, I'm not hounding you guys with thirty million drafts.

- Betas will also get their own Hangouts Group in which we can discuss about the work, and any updates can be posted. Alphas will also be added to this group.

- Betas will have access a special "hint" board on Pinterest. The full Pinterest board is reserved for alphas because of privacy concerns (sorry guys).

- Betas will also have access to the Coggle timeline in which I used to plot the second draft, if they desire. Be aware that some changes have happened so it's not 100% accurate.



Disclaimers

- There are some small plot holes and 2 unfinished chapters - they will be highlighted so you can see them. I'm sowwy, but I'm super stuck. I needs plot help.

- There may be (who am I kidding, there are) a lot of things that I have thrown in there that will require explanation. Because my description of my own world-building is trash.

- I use a lot of adverbs. Like a lot. You think my blog posts are bad? Ohhh boy.....

- I do have an optional question regarding religion in the form because I will ask betas about the religious aspects of the novel. While this novel has a decidedly Catholic vibe, I would love for both Catholics and non-Catholics to review this.

- Speaking of optional questions, there are two regarding if people have read certain books that I took heavy inspiration from. If you've read neither, I won't count it against you. I just need to make sure that copyrights are secure and all *shifts eyes*

- I have a due date of May 30 on there so I can prep for Round 2 of editing, but if you need an extension, I'm more than flexible!


There, I think all the housekeeping stuff has been taken care of. So, I'll go ahead and leave this form here:





I look forward to sharing this story with y'all!

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

And here I am, stuck in my cave, recovering from a spring cold and hiding from it's mutated cousin, COVID-19.

But life is not all-together miserable, even if I can't get to church or work. Want to know why?





1. On March 22, TWR hit a huge milestone.....100,000 words!!!!! I'm still reeling in shock and disbelief that this story has reached such a high word count after all the struggles of before. The good news is that I am on track to finish the second draft this week, and so a beta announcement will be forthcoming beginning of April!

2. I've started to prep my Camp NaNo project in the midst of TWR's edits, ya know to keep me motivated. I've gotten some character sheets started and avatars will be coming soon!

3. I finally read my copies of the Emily of New Moon series. I had gone on vacation earlier in the month, which included two verrrry long car drives (12 hours, ugh!).

4. I've created my own tagline (Writer. Catholic. Maiden.) and two different banners - a professional one for my YouTube page and a very non-professional one for my Wattpad. Still thinking about a Pinterest re-set, LOL.

5. My family recently got Amazon Prime, so we're exploring all the stuff we can stream. Even though we don't have a TV that can stream it on....(I tell you, my family is just starting to catch up to the 2010s, we're getting there, LOL).

6. I joined two writing groups and created one on NaNoWriMo. So excited that multiple groups are allowed this time so I can interact with even more writers than before :)




For Working by Candlelight, I published 3 posts: 8 Things to Help Your Waitress Out, Saints I Have a Personal Connection To, and In the Kitchen: An Attempt at Unconventiality Takes a Bitter Turn. I'm really happy that I'm staying on track with this.

For The Rebelling Muse, I wrote 1 post: Announcing My April 2020 Camp NaNo Project!. I'm super excited to finally tackle this one, at long last!

For The Cat in the Barnyard, I wrote no posts, as I've made no progress on my Jefferson research (again...).

For Rebellious Writing, I contributed to 1 post: Springing Through Time in Leap Year: Thoughts on Time Travel from the RW staff

For Maidens for Mary, I wrote 1 post: Abstinence Doesn't Equal Boring Food.




Goal #1 (TWR): Continued editing, have reached 100,069 words!! Will be finishing this month and a beta announcement is coming soon!

Goal #2 (Platform): I've created a tagline, and I've created one professional banner for my YouTube channel. Wattpad has a banner too, but it is certainly unprofessional. A brand is starting to come together!!

Goal #3 (April NaNo): Announcement has been made, and the prep has begun. Writing will begin in earnest next month!

Goal #4 (NaNo): No progress. To be expected.

Goal #5 (Movies): No progress. Though with Prime, I may knock out a few?

Goal #6 (Library): No progress. Unfortunately, my state is on lockdown due to the you-know-what, so no trips for me......

Goal #7 (Vlogs): No progress. Definitely procrastinating again.

Hello all!

Today is a super exciting day because I get to reveal which one of the Sleeping Twins is going to get the chance to grow up!!

*crickets*

I should explain.

The nickname Sleeping Twins is a reference to a tag post I did several months ago. They refer to two "baby" WIPs that have been in existence since 2017; "Shattered Chandelier" and "Rose of Culmore". Both of these currently live on Wattpad, and only two chapters exist for both.

I mentioned that I had wanted to tackle one of these babies during Camp NaNo, and I'm glad that I decided to do that. TWR has been a huge headache this entire year, and I need something that will be less stressful.

Taking popular opinion into consideration, I weighed the two of them against each other.

And I have decided to work on.....

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It may not seem like it, but I promise I actually did do something this month.

Really.

Truly.

And I promise that it's not a shabby little contribution either.

Well, maybe there are a few loose threads....and come to think of it, there is that little hole there....but we'll just ignore those and move on to the more interesting stuff, shall we???



For Working by Candlelight, I published 3 posts: Workbasket Post: The Abandoned Flannel Jumper, The Gateway is Not the Entirety of the Castle, and In the Kitchen: A Traditional Lenten Meal.

For The Rebelling Muse, I wrote 2 posts: Shaxpir Collab with Sarah Rodecker, and 3 Year Blogoversary....Late Again. I'm actually surprised I wrote anything at all, considering how the rest of my life is going right about now....

For The Cat in the Barnyard, I wrote no posts, as I've made no progress on my Jefferson research.

For Rebellious Writing, I wrote 1 post: Book Review: Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin. Also contributed to an upcoming Round Table Discussion.

For Maidens for Mary, I wrote no posts, though I plan on publishing an old Lenten draft soon. 

Goal #1 (TWR): Continued editing, have reached 84k words!!! In the homestretch!!

Goal #2 (Platform): No progress, but I have a goal of re-branding some of the pages and am thinking of making a separate email account for the author platform in the near future.

Goal #3 (April NaNo): No progress. To be expected, but planning will definitely take place next month!

Goal #4 (NaNo): No progress. To be expected.

Goal #5 (Movies): No progress. To be expected, unfortunately.

Goal #6 (Library): No progress. Been procrastinating again.

Goal #7 (Vlogs): No progress. Definitely procrastinating again.
How about you, my dear friends? How has February treated you? 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine