Any beta readers in the house, with time to read a chapter and a half (32 double-spaced 12-point Courier pages) in the next day or so?

Susan, send, ma'am. Probably tomorrow night before I get to it, though; the week is mildly crunchy.

Insent, deb. I sent a separate second email with questions about what I see as the problem areas, but please don't read it till after you've read the piece--I want to see if the problems I see still show up for an unbiased reader who's not predisposed to look for them. For the rest, whatever strikes you as needing comment. I always appreciate help adding appropriate sensory detail, and the second chapter, which is new and therefore rough, especially needs it. Thanks!

Susan, got it, and will read later today. In the meanwhile? ANd on the subject of your books?

I'm betting these make you go 'ooooooooooooooh!'

Wow. Those are beautiful. I think Susan needs them for research purposes.

I can read a chapter today or tomorrow, Susan, if you still need beta-readers. Profile address is good.

Thanks, Dani! Insent.

Those are cool, deb. (And may I just say how cool it is to have someone who understands enough about the era I'm researching to send me appropriate links? I've got someone in my writers group who's trying to give me a catalog of high Victorian home furnishings and floor plans to help me with the visual details of my settings. Um...no. Makes about as much sense as using 1950's design for a book set aboard the Titanic.)

Susan, you need to read Roz's most recent livejournal entry; she's been reading Charles Greville and his take on Wellington. I've been having a ball, discussing the Gordons and Uxbridge at Waterloo. Go look.

Susan! While working at the yarn shop yesterday, I was browsing through a book on textile history, and there was a picture of a knitted purse (looks sort of like a tube sock) made of brown silk at a very fine gauge with white beads knitted in. The beads were placed to make a list of major engagements in the Peninsular Wars. The inscription was "9th Regt / Place name / place name / etc. / Edwin Morton" The letters were in a flouncy italic style, and the whole thing must have been a pain in the ass to make, since the letters would have been formed from the top down, in rows, much the way an old dot matrix printer would have formed lines of type. At the top and bottom of the purse, the beads were placed to make a toothed edging. The tooth shapes at the bottom ended up forming a sort of flower pattern because of the decreases used to close up the bottom of the bag.

I thought of you, and thought it might be a fun detail to throw in somewhere. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the book to tell me what collection the thing was from, so I couldn't find out anything more about the person who made it

This is a driveby, as I'm out the door soon, but I just wanted to announce that what was once my old column, "Writing for the Real World," has become "How to Suceed As a Failing Writer," and now lives at Gotpoetry.com.

We're kicking off with a re-run, to set the tone, but soon there will be more caustic, cyncial and hopefully entertaining and interesting musings on living a writer's life.