Share Your Work

No matter how creative you are, no matter how important the thing you are writing about, it’s lost if you cannot communicate with your reader. There’s nothing wrong with journaling for your own sake, but that’s different than wanting to tell a story to a willing audience. But how do we know our reader is happily following through to the end?

I want to encourage any aspiring authors out there to share your work and make sure you are communicating. Even if it’s “not ready yet” (hint: it’s never ready). You will find that the more sophisticated your reader is, the more humility you must don as you receive their feedback. Here’s how I have undertaken the process:

Share it first with people you trust—your cheerleaders. They’re going to let you know if there’s potential in your work, even while it’s rough. They want you to succeed. My mom was one of my most encouraging readers, and I really believed her excitement over my manuscript. She loved my raw story and while she was VERY biased, she wasn’t one to lie to spare my feelings or feed my delusions. 

Share it second with friends who won’t waste time reading something that bores them. Notice how each step gets a little harder on you? I had a few friends who… uh… never brought up my book again, once I zapped it over to them. That stung. But there were the handful of friends who did say once they started, they were hooked. That was both the encouragement I needed and the reality check that I should learn some new skills if I wanted to write this book in a way that kept people interested. 

After you feel pretty good about your story, share it with your target audience. One of my best readers so far has been one of my 8th grade students. She’s brilliant, and she gave some invaluable feedback on my novel. She is also my target audience, so to see my characters through her eyes encouraged me in what I was doing well. BUT, through her eyes I also saw the reasons why my novel would make a teenager turn their nose up. I quickly addressed those things and I believe my story is the better for it! 

Then, share it with other writers. These brilliant and amazing folks will read your manuscript from another writer’s perspective. They are used to getting to the nitty-gritty and fixing their own stuff. That’s why your point of view slips and lack of description is going to stand out to them. Your competent writer friend knows what it takes to polish the written word. Their feedback is gold. If you’re having trouble finding willing authors to read your work, check out ACFW.com. 

Finally, if you are thinking about publishing this baby, you’ve got a whole new ballgame. You can send packets to agents and publishers. If you have the cash, hire a professional reader, editor, or coach. Go to writer’s conferences and network with those in the ‘biz. To be honest, the details at this point are overwhelming. Just stay positive and remember that you didn’t send your work out in a deluded cloud of optimism. You went through all those other stages first so you could hold your head up high under the scrutiny of the professionals who are going to review your work from a marketplace standpoint.

Good luck!