Of Ink and Quille

Fellow author Jax Cassidy has a new release and she's promoting it! Drop her a line and enter to win a chance at a delightful prize. Details below! My book The Lotus Blossom Chronicles was released Monday, March 17th...St. Patty's Day... Win Sensual Escape gift box and an autographed book by emailing jaxcassidy@gmail.com and I will put you in my drawing.Winners will be announced April 1st!

Reproduced from Coffee Time Romance with Amy's Permission. A "beta reader" is someone who reads your book cover-to-cover the way a normal reader would, and gives you feedback from the perspective of the reader's experience. The difference between a beta reader and a critique partner is basically:A beta reader reads your ENTIRE manuscript--and usually only reads it once. Your goal is to have fresh eyes that have never read any parts of it before. You're looking for how the story hangs together and works for a real reader. A critique partner usually only reads a few chapters at a time and is usually (but not always) another writer. So they are more inclined to give you more indepth, writer advice versus "this just didn't work for me and I don't know why" which is what you would get from a beta reader. A critique partner may also read the same chapters several times.Most critique partners will not read the entire manuscript end-to-end, so they may n...

I’ve used various critique partners over the years. When I first started writing seriously, I joined a critique group—a rather large one. We’d each submit a chapter and critique each other. It worked, for awhile, but then some people did more than others. I ended up dropping out, but met a lifelong friend there. After that I picked up critique partners here and there, invariably realizing that it was going to take awhile to find people that you click with. Lifestyles, work schedules, writing styles—all of that has to be taken into consideration when hooking up with a critique partner. I tend to write very steamy love scenes. Critiquing with an inspirational author wouldn’t work for me. I also write very very fast, churning out several chapters a week. Someone who takes a year to write a book wouldn’t mesh with my writing style. I did find a critique partner eventually whose style matched mine very well. She and I worked together for a couple years. Though we don’t critique together any...

She believed the man didn't matter as long as he said yes - until the wrong man vowed to love her beneath.... All the Trees in Pearl by Emily Ryan-Davis Available March 21 at Ellora's Cave Signed and paid for by one brother. Ethan Carver didn’t order a wife, but he couldn’t turn away from Margaret Redde’s lush mouth and proper manners. Could he keep up his brother’s deception and make her stay? Set on fire by the other. She wanted security and didn’t care where it came from - one brother was as good as the other - until Ethan touched her. One night in his arms changed everything. His hot kisses sent her up in flames and taught her desires she didn’t know she possessed. Read an excerpt today!

I've written fan fiction for years and in that genre we've used beta readers. Wonderful, skilled people who like me write short stories, poems, novella's, novels, but their purpose is to help us build our story without editing it for us. You're probably thinking, I know this already. I have a beta reader that works with me or for me as the case may be. I thought I knew it to. Until I got a real eye-opening heads up. I have an awesome beta reader, she's thorough, she's tough, and she's honest - perhaps a bit too honest at times- but that's another story. We've worked together before on projects and I wouldn't trade her help for the world. But, I've come to learn that any good writer must have a critque partner. Ha, you say, it's the same thing. Nope, it is not. A critique partner is very much like an editor. They catch the errors that you the author have missed before you send it to a beta reader. There are several very well thought out, l...

What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do when it comes to your writing? You ask any author who has submitted their work and you'll get a variety of answers. For me letting go of it was the hardest thing. I've invested countless hours, days, weeks, months into the manuscript. So much so that it feels very much like apart of me. I've been tempted to go back and make revisions to it, beyond the edits that have been suggested by my proofreaders. I've lost chapters, I've stressed to the point of tears. And at the end of the day all I can do is wait. Wait for a response, wait to hear yes or no. Wait to find out if others will love my characters, my plot as much as I do. Its hard to do that. I think in all honesty that regardless of how many books you've got published or how many reviews you have, you never get used to that waiting game. Its like sending you baby school for the first time. You smile, you look forward to it until the moment arrives then yo...

Jax Cassidy has a new book coming out on March 17th which should be an exciting and thrilling read. The information to purchase this book is as follows: THE LOTUS BLOSSOM CHRONICLESan anthology with Simone HarlowPaperback: 250 pages Publisher: Parker Publishing, LLC; First edition (March 17, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 1600430341 ISBN-13: 978-1600430343 In Jax Cassidy's SIREN’S SEDUCTION ...Niko Chow craves solitude. Only fate won't leave him in peace. After losing his wife and unborn child in a car crash, he slips into the dark world of alcoholism. His desire to overcome his addiction leads him to a promise made to a dying friend and into the arms of a seductive chanteuse. Donovan Matthews ignites a passion within him he has long denied. The more time he spends with her, the more Niko finds her spitfire determination and generous heart as sensuous and exotic as the Lotus Blossoms that bloom in his garden. Can she end his internal war and help heal his aching soul? In Simo...