This Writer’s Life

Every time I complete a manuscript, I need beta readers—and people often ask me, “What is a beta reader?”

In the general sense, a beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased book. They provide feedback to the author from the perspective of an average reader. A good beta reader offers an unbiased opinion on plot, pacing, consistency, and character development. This helps the author identify and fix issues before the work is published. Unlike an editor, who focuses on sentence-level corrections, a beta reader gives feedback on the overall story and its emotional impact.

What would happen if, in an instant, the lights went out—not just in your town, but across the entire world? No phones. No internet. No electricity. That chilling possibility lies at the heart of my Solar Storms Saga books, and it isn’t just fiction. It’s a very real threat. You may have heard such solar events referred to as an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. Such bursts of energy can disable electronics world-wide and they come in two forms. 

The older I get, the more I marvel at technological advances. I wasn’t even two years old when, in October of 1957, the Soviets launched a small satellite and started the race to space. Now we’ve landed astronauts on the moon, and about 10,000 satellites orbit above us. However, for me, the greatest leap forward in technology is the Internet. Without it, I wouldn’t be an author or business owner, and my latest project would be impossible.