Across Time by Rayne Forrest for the Midweek Tease

Welcome to the Midweek Tease blog hop! This is the first time I've joined in as Rayne, and it's long overdue.

The Midweek Tease blog hop is hosted by Angelica Dawson. Be sure to check out the other participating blogs by using the linky list at the end of this post. This blog hop is open to authors, so if you are one, be sure to check it out at midweektease.blogspot.com. The info is there.

Here's a tease from Across Time. Enjoy!

_*_*_*_

Devin quickly gathered his gear and headed for their best shuttle. The Moira was powering up as he tossed his pack behind the pilot’s seat and strapped in. Greg Roland didn’t bother to acknowledge him, just flipped a few switches to bring the pilot’s boards active. Devin ran the sequence checks, then ordered the bay depressurized and the huge doors opened. Lack of gravity took over. The Moira rose a scant six inches from the deck and the Stargazer slid out from under her.

It didn’t take long for the call from the Avery McKenna to come. Rose had followed protocol to notify other orbiting ships of a shuttle launch and that a ship’s captain was onboard. Devin grinned wolfishly as Corri’s voice filled the shuttle.

“What do you think you’re doing, Tremaine?”

“Well, hello, Corrine. Fancy meeting you way out here.”

“Listen, you son of a bitch. You land that shuttle on Adhara VII and I will personally take you into custody.”

He didn’t think he’d mind that too very much, especially if she used handcuffs.

“Your momma needs to go get her money back from that fancy finishing school she sent you to. Tsk, tsk. Such language.”

“You are not funny. Park that shuttle anywhere but back on that piece of garbage you fly and I’ll have to arrest you.”

He could challenge her on that because there was no way she had a warrant. Carlton would have covered such a contingency. “Show me your open authorization to arrest anyone on Adhara VII and show me your open warrant on me, in particular.” The silence on the other end of the transmission was evidence her bluff had been called.

“You keep away from Dr. Winston and his team. You stay away from my personnel. And you stay away from me, Tremaine.”

“I’d love to stay away from you. I have every intention of staying away from you. As for the rest of it, you’d better tell Winston to steer clear of my people. Cooperation is a two-way street, and if your people don’t respect mine, I’ll personally order them to stand up for themselves.” Let her stew about that, he thought smugly.

“You idiot! You can’t give them permission to start brawls!”

“Sure I can. My people have brains, Dunn. The military hasn’t sucked the gray matter out of their skulls and replaced it with rhetoric. They can actually think for themselves. And they’ll know if they’ve been insulted.”

“This is serious, Devin. You stay away from Winston or I’ll have to take appropriate action.”

“Your actions are always appropriate, aren’t they?”

“You bastard.”

“I do lack parental units, that’s true.”

Devin grinned as the com link went dead. “That went well, didn’t it?” he said to Greg. Behind him, Meredith snorted.

“I don’t know, Devin,” Greg replied. “Did it?”

Devin ignored them and rose to check on the crew riding down to the surface in the cargo bay.

“What did I just hear?” Greg asked Meredith innocently, as soon as Devin disappeared.

Meredith grinned at him. “Foreplay.”

ACROSS TIME

Sci-fi romance

Corri Dunn has the posting of a lifetime as captain of the Avery McKenna, but she had to give up the man she loves to have it. When she’s ordered to transport an archaeological team to Adhara VII, she finds he’s arrived ahead of her. 

Devin Tremaine lost the love of his life five years ago when a younger Corri chose her career over his love. As captain of the Stargazer, he’s ordered to secretly transport a mercenary to Adhara VII - knowing Corri will soon be there.

Passion burns brightly between the reunited lovers, but trust returns more slowly. Years of longing for each other, and second-guessing their abandonment of each other has left them treading on shaky ground.

When the mysterious Ori-Arkee visits Corri, she must turn to Devin for help. Together, they embark on a quest to discover the secrets of Adhara VII and discover they’ve found more than the way back to each other and a completely vanished civilization. They’ve stumbled on the way across time…

ACROSS TIME

 Available at:

 Amazon: www.amazon.com/Across-Time-Rayne-Forrest-ebook/dp/B01FR14LQU

iTunes/Apple: itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1114396792

Barnes and Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/across-time-rayne-forrest/1006854086

Kobo: www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/across-time-7

Rayne Forrest
kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_AcrossTime.html

Prophecy

It's become more difficult to be an indie author. On the afternoon of December 28, 2016, Lori James, owner of All Romance eBooks, sent out emails that she is closing her storefront. She cited the reason as being the company would post its first financial loss for 2016. 

I have questions. Many, many questions. I'll let that go for now.

As always, it's the authors who end up with the real loss. We've lost a valued (and we thought trustworthy) source to market our books. We are now pushed even farther into Amazon's loving embrace. 

Amazon is not the author's friend no matter how benign it appears on the surface. 

There's been discussion for many years that sooner or later Amazon will be the only game in town. With the closing of ARE, it's one step closer to being a reality. 

Be careful what you give away for free. Free is not without cost, and that cost is the authors themselves. I know a handful who are dropping out, too exhausted to continue. Those voices have been silenced, and that's too high a cost to bear.  

Rayne

Thanksgiving in new ways

The "holidays" bring a set of expectations to the door. We all get the yearly visit. While the particulars vary, the overall similarities are part of the American culture. We celebrate and give thanks with family, friends, and food.

The gatherings of my youth are but fond memories. The older generations, those people who passed the family name down, are gone. What remains of my parent's generation is fractured by death and ill health. My generation is equally scattered on holidays, busy with the younger generations of children and grandchildren. I have no biological children. My father has been gone for many years. My mother has Alzheimer's. The sister of my heart moved away. I am, for all intents and purposes, alone on this day, without blood relatives who share my memories. 

That's not to say I don't have people around me. My online posse is far-flung but wishes for a happy day arrived. My partner is the oldest of his siblings and we have an unconditional welcome at his youngest sister's house all days. 

Life goes on in different directions. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal at the care facility with my mother. Afterward, we had traditional Thanksgiving dessert at his sister's house. 

So while the day didn't unfold as in year's past, it was nonetheless a good day. I could be morose that the beautiful memories of yesteryear will not be re-lived, but I'm not. This is what I have now, today, and I count my many blessings. 

Now that my partner and I are finally home again and into our comfortable old clothes, it's time to call a few of my cousins. It's time to embrace a new normal and make it my own as I go forward in life. I'm sure it will provide a new set of Thanksgiving memories, and Thanksgiving opportunities to enjoy and to be thankful for. 

Rayne
rayneforrest.blogspot.com

They stole my story!!!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

There you are. It’s a rainy evening and you’ve written over one thousand words in the current work-in-progress. You’re winding it down for the day. A little surfing at your favorite online bookseller is in order. You can download a new book and tottle off to bed to do a little reading.

Not so fast. There is YOUR cover on someone else’s book! 

Okay, okay. You know everyone and their sister is buying cover stock from a very limited available pool of quality stock. You just have to grin and bear it and remember you bought that cover stock because the guy is pretty sexy. 

So you scroll a few more pages and then it happens. Holy crap! SOMEONE STOLE YOUR TITLE!!!  

Well, it’s not exactly your title. Your title’s The Alpha’s Broken Finger and this - this - this THIEF used The Alpha’s Broken Toe. And you can't copyright titles and names. But dammit! That’s awfully close. And both stories are about how his mate, be that mate male or female, saves him.  

What the heck is going on?? Is this something serious or did we simply inspire another writer? Haven't we all gotten inspiration from someone else somewhere along the line? Who hasn't read a story and been blown away by a particular turn of a phrase and then had it creep into our usage? 

Plagiarism is a risk we all take when we publish a book. While I wrote the above tongue-in-cheek, the theft of intellectual property is no laughing matter. The honest among us have all seen covers and stories so similar to our own that the hair on our arms raises in alarm, disgust and anger. It’s not a good feeling. So what do we do about it?

The serious among us view our work as both creation and business. There are steps we can take if we’ve been pirated (DMCA letters) or suspect plagiarism (an attorney versed in the applicable laws).  One of the sad truths about this business is it’s stacked against the author. We do the work of creation and everyone makes a profit on our backs.

I could let the ugliness of theft stop me from writing, but I won’t. I could put my money into lawyer fees (and if seriously pissed off I will). I submit DMCA letters albeit in a lazy fashion. For better or for worse I’ve accepted the risk because I believe Karma exists.

If we accuse another writer of plagiarism and it turns out to be a weird coincidence, we’ve gained an enemy, one unlikely to ever forget. And do we want to apply the stigma of plagiarism to someone else who may have simply had a similar idea? How would we feel if we were unjustly accused of such a thing?

I know that sooner or later savvy readers will catch on and avoid suspect “authors.” The problem of deliberate, premeditated theft is so pervasive that even with a hundred thousand keyboards raised against it, it’s not going to go away. And that’s not right and that’s not fair.

The best thing I can do is put my energy into writing the next story and not dwell on the inequities of this business. I could allow it to discourage me, but I won’t. I do what I do for the honest readers and there are enough of them left to keep me going. And that will just have to be good enough until karma kicks butt.

Rayne
rayneforrest.blogspot.com

(This is a modified version of a post that was written for another venue in 2015.)

Science fiction romance
Time travel romance

Drop back and punt

Being a list maker, I had a plan for today. But life is hectic. On top of the day job and my partner's health, my mother is now in a care facility. 

Sooooo....... I'm going to refer you to the Between the Keys blog today. 

Stop by and see KC Kendricks for this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group. The topic is email etiquette. 

Maybe not standard operating procedure, but some days you just do the best you can and move on.

Rayne

Sustainability (IWSG)

Sustainability is something authors must strive for if they want to achieve the creation of a body of work. It's something I struggle with as Rayne Forrest. When I began, it was easy. Now it's not. 

I still have the desire to write, but I'm no longer willing to spend hours sequestered with the computer as my only company. There are simply too many other things that require my presence. 

At this writing, I have seven books that need to be published as second editions. I didn't set out to be an indie author, but there's really very little choice these days as I no longer trust publishers. Based on sales numbers, I even wonder about the last one I was with. That's number of units sold, not dollar amounts, by the way. 

In less than five years I plan to "retire" from the workforce. That doesn't mean I'll sit on my ass all day. I'm looking forward to some traveling, expanding the work on my genealogy, and applying for DAR membership. And yes, being able to write. Until then, I fear I will continue to grapple with sustainability. 

I can't change much of what is happening in my life. I can only ride it out and make time when I can. But what I can do, and will do, is not whip myself over those things I can't control. 

Perhaps that's the real key to sustainability. Accepting the ebb and flow of life and time, and making the best of every opportunity. 

Rayne
Rayne's bookshelf

Across Time - sci fi romance available at Amazon

IWSG: Voice

Insecure Writer's Support Group

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

The writer’s voice. We read about it, talk about it, angst over it, and yet we struggle to define exactly what it is. I once read where voice is a literary term that describes a writer’s style (style being defined by the use of character development, dialogue, syntax and diction).

I’m a simple girl. For me, voice is where the ‘telling’ of the story and the ‘showing’ of the action blend. The more seamless the blend, the better the finished story. Voice is each author’s unique and individual style of bringing the reader inside the story to the same place as the author.

A writer’s voice will show some of their inner character and personality. The characters created often reflect some of the writer’s attitudes. How can they not? Laying yourself bare for the reader isn’t easy. It’s a gradual process, one you can move through at your own pace.

When a writer is just starting out, everyone encourages her/him to develop their voice. The only way to do that is to write so the voice can emerge and develop. The time it takes to do that is another reason aspiring writers get so frustrated with the industry. It takes as long as it takes, so be patient. Remember - there are no worthwhile shortcuts to success.

Over the years, my voice has matured. I see it as a matter of gaining confidence - I’m no longer afraid to sound like myself. Having the reader come and sit in the same spot from where I wrote the story is no longer scary.

Whether it’s conscious or not, everything we do as authors strengthens our voice. Making each story better than the last is ingrained in our psyche. We constantly strive toward that goal, collectively and individually. We nurture our voice, and our ultimate reward has nothing to do with money.

It’s reading a book and, at the end, saying, “Wow. I wrote that.” 

Rayne

rayneforrest.blogspot.com

IWSG: We Must Respect Our Own Worth

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

When I first got into this crazy business of publishing, as opposed to writing, I was stunned by some of the ideas put forth as “truths.” But being a newbie, I ducked my head and kept writing. It didn’t change the real truth, one that too many writers either forget or never figured out. One very serious problem I’ve witnessed over and over throughout my years of being a published author is that too few of us realize our own value. This must change - and it is changing.

There is no one more important to the publishing world than the author.

The entire publishing industry rises and falls with those authors willing to publish their intellectual property. 

Without the author, there are no stories.

Without the author, there are no books.

Without the author, there are no readers.

Without the author, there is no publishing.

Each and every one of us is absolutely vital to our industry. There are no exceptions.

Each and every one of us has something so unique to offer that only the individual can provide it.

Each and every one of us is deserving of the respect of our peers and our publishers. We are created equal and that equality has nothing to do with sales numbers.  

Each and every one of us is entitled to the protection of copyright.

It’s 2016. Publishers need authors far more than authors need publishers.

Let us always remember: Authors are the publishing industry.

We must respect our own worth. 

Rayne
Website

Across Time

Across Time is a great story, if I do say so myself. Actually, good reviews and a Recommended Read say it, so maybe I'm just seconding the motion. 

It's taken me going indie to finally get it the cover it deserves. How'd I manage that? 

The old adage applied. If you want something done, do it yourself. So I did. 

Across Time will be available again soon with a cover that finally speaks to the story.  

Rayne

Z is for Zest

It’s the last day of 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge! It’s been great fun to bring Rayne Forrest to the challenge, and I come to this last day quite pleased I’ve completed it as both Rayne and KC, every day on time. But I will admit I'm also looking forward to a bit of a blogging break. 

While I had this entry up at a different blog a few years ago, it's still appropriate for today and for a new audience. 

I appreciate meeting so many new people through both blogs. Each person brings something to my life even if it’s just a fleeting comment on the blog. It’s still a connection to someone else’s world and that’s the point of all. 

Now on to ZEST.

Zest: a noun

1. lively excitement : a feeling of enjoyment and enthusiasm

2. a lively quality that increases enjoyment, excitement, or energy

3. small pieces of the skin of a lemon, orange, or lime that are used to flavor food

A new acquaintance once asked me if my apparent zest for life was for real. A deeper friendship with this person never developed, which is a shame. When we encounter each other we always speak, but her world has too many gray corners for us to be bosom buddies. I fear she’d suck the zest out of me if I let her in too far.

I do have a certain amount of zest for life. The small things around me are a source of enjoyment, and often wonder. Every year I eagerly await the first green tips of the bulbs breaking ground. It’s a ‘wow’ moment when I realize the mountain has taken on a reddish blush as the maples prepare to bring forth their leaves. I feel the energy of the changing seasons on a molecular level. It’s who I am.

My late grandfather lived every day until a month prior to his death with a zest for life. He was born on the cusp of WWI and lived through WWII and the Great Depression. He buried his wife, his parents and all his younger siblings. And yet, until his eyesight failed, this man lived every day and looked forward to tomorrow. This was my shining example of having a zest for life. I hope I learned well the lessons he so lovingly taught. 

I wish for all of you reading this that you also may have a zest for life. I wish that you experience joy, no matter how small, no matter from what source, in every day of your life.

Thanks for being a part of my world in the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge.

Rayne
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

Y is for You, the Critical Ingredient

I have a very brief post for this next to the last day of the 2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge.  It’s for every writer out there, published or not. 

YOU are the critical ingredient.

Without you, the writer, there is no publishing industry. There are no books, be they print or digital. Without the writer we begin to lose knowledge. If we lose knowledge, the whole human experiment begins to unravel. 

Never forget that you, the writer, has the power to change the world.

 

Rayne

http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

X is for X Marks the Spot

What do you want to accomplish as a writer? What mark, if any, do you want to leave on the publishing world? There are as many responses to the questions as writers. It doesn’t matter if no one else is privy to your reply. This question is just for you. For a lot of people, myself included, one easy answer won’t suffice, and I can only speak for me.

I think it’s important for people to understand what motivates them to do something. I constantly examine the ‘whys’ of my actions but I rarely share them. I don’t have to. My reasons are specific to my own path.

The first novel I wrote has never been published. No, it’s not that bad. I wanted to prove to myself I could write a story and so I wrote it just for me. But that experience led to questions, namely could I do it again? So I wrote a second novel, just for me, which lead to another question - is there a possibility I could get published?

I’ve passed the half-century mark and I know that writing fame isn’t what I want. I had the good fortune to have a world famous author move to my little hometown back in the early 1970s. The poor woman can’t make a move without someone spotting her. I really don’t want to live like that.

“Journey” is an overused buzzword. So is “path.” I get tired of hearing them - and using them. Ditto for “life experience.” The problem is I can’t come up with anything better.

All that happened a lot of years ago and it’s been a fun ride to get to today. But somewhere along the line I realized that whatever mark I make on the publishing world (or not) isn’t anywhere near as important as the mark I make on myself.

That’s the one that counts. 

Rayne

http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

W is for Work

 Work is a four-letter word. I’ve been working for someone else since I was sixteen. It’s not always fun, but I’ve decided it’s not all that difficult to get out of bed and go to work when I get paid to show up. 

My idea of fun is writing full time. That day is coming but, until then, I work. According to my retirement countdown counter, I still have one thousand days to go until I can tap my heels together and proclaim, "there's no place like home!"

Working outside the home is a good thing on many levels. It gets me out of the house. Time out in the world is something I’ll have to plan for once I become a full time writer. Working in general keeps the mind engaged and sharp whereas as being idle allows everything to atrophy.

I’m enjoying the idea of working for myself. Whether or not it will actually be as sweet as I imagine is yet to be proven. But for now I can envision myself working in the garden in the morning when it’s cooler and working on a story inside on hot afternoon.

What I can’t imagine is not working at all.

Strange, isn’t it?

Rayne

http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

V is for Variety

 Someone once said, and has now been quoted endlessly, that “variety is the spice of life.” That may be true, but sometimes one can have a bit too much spice in the dish and muddle the flavors. Variety, to the writer, can be a double-edged sword.

Most writers excel at a particular type of story but that doesn’t mean they don’t yearn to expand into other genres. As Rayne Forrest, I write contemporary romance, romance set in the near future, and sci-fi romance. Yes, I touched the fringes of the paranormal with A Hidden Heaven, but I don’t go there often. At least not yet. I think I’d like to visit the genre. My alter ego did quite well with the Sundown saga.

So here’s a question I ponder. How much variety is just enough? How much variety is too much? One of the accepted rules of writing is if you want to write in a variety of genres, you need more than one pen name.

I certainly agree with this IF you want to write traditional heterosexual romance AND gay romance AND something like inspirational stories. Some things don’t mix well. That could be just a wee bit too much variety. And since I write both het and m/m, it's under different names using something we writers call "branding." 

It's enough variety to keep the creative needs of this writer happy.

Rayne
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

U is for Unique

 When I first started to write, newbies were told to celebrate their unique voice. I wasn’t sure what that meant. After being in the publishing industry for thirteen years, I still don’t know what it means.

Back in the day, and it's still heard today, that publisher want “unique new voices.” Only thing is, no, they don't. They want what and who will sell and sell BIG.

If the rise in indie publishing proves one thing, it’s that the unique voice is determined to survive. I remember in 2005 pitching an idea for a sci-fi story where on some distant planet the males had multiple wives. That got an immediate NO from a publisher.

Enter the era of the ménage in 2006. (I called that one right and I should have persisted.)

Don’t be afraid to be a unique voice. Write your story. I wrote mine and the time is upon me to tighten it up. I can apply all my years of experience to the story and set it free to be as unique as it wants to be.

It’s a wonderful time to be a [unique] writer.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com
http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

T is for To Bed A Spy

2016 A to Z Blogging Challenge

T is for To Bed a Spy

Writing Rules

April 23

Today is a Saturday, so it’s time to do some double duty here at Twenty-six Keys. Being Saturday, it’s time for the My Sexy Saturday blog hop as well as “T” in the A to Z Challenge. Luckily, I have a “T” book - To Bed a Spy. So today you get pure book promo. Enjoy!

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

S is for Sticking With It

Nothing I have ever done in my entire life has called for more determination and dedication than writing.

I have never worked so hard and put in so many hours for a purely personal satisfaction.

Every day I wonder why I’m doing this to myself because writing romance can make the soul bleed.

Each new release opens the author up to unimaginable levels of criticism from jealous friends all the way to jealous reviewers.

And yet I keep writing, and I’ll keep on writing, under one name or another, until I can no longer sit at a keyboard or speak into a headset.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

http://kckendricks.com/RayneForrest_bookshelf.html

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

R is for Renewal

 When my alter ego shanghaied me into the A-Z Blogging Challenge this year, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Then again, I’ve been busy getting some of my stories back out into the world so this is a good way to get the Rayne Forrest brand more visible. So here I am, and it’s turning out to be a very good thing. 

Writing under two names means, unfortunately, that one brand gets shortchanged. That’s generally the Rayne Forrest brand. I confess I wish I’d not used one of the family names. It has lead to “discussions” over the years. The last time I was involved in one of those “discussions” I told no one in my family and disappeared into the alter ego. I tend to remove myself from situations and people rather than argue.

I’ve been thinking, and wishing, I could find the right time to be Rayne again. Like love, the moment I stopped looking for it, it found me.

Getting my completed title out is the beginning of a renewal. Finishing a few projects for release is the next step. I have no set timeframe for this renewal. My sense of it is this renewal is something that cannot be forced, or rush. For it to happen, I must be content and let it proceed knowing it will come to fruition in its own time.

I’m good with that. 

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

Q is for Question

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Most days I have more questions than answers. It used to bug the heck out of me that I didn’t have all the answers. As I’ve gotten, ehem, more mature, I find I don’t like the answers so I’ve stopped asking some of the questions.

Some, but not all.

I believe it’s my constitutional duty to question those in authority over me. I believe I should question what doctors tell me. I believe I have the right to question any and all companies that manufacture food, drugs, drinks, and anything that touches my person and the world I live in if its products are safe.

That doesn’t mean the questions should be asked with disrespect. Questions are how we learn. They help us assimilate information. Questions tend to keep people from thinking they can harm us, or use us.

Don’t be afraid to ask a legitimate question. The answer might be just what you need to know.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

P is for Pride - have some

This past autumn, there was an article in the Romance Writer’s Digest about “taking back our writing.” I’m not going to lie and say I read the RWR from cover to cover, because I don’t, but I did pause to read this article.

In this article, the author admits to being caught in the vicious cycle of meeting deadlines. Publishing is a dog-eat-dog world and a lot of small press pubs rely on volume. Too many live and die by the short story. The art of writing a full-length novel is dying, choked out by the need to produce, produce, produce. The writer of the article acknowledged this. And then she impressed me. She said it’s time to step off the treadmill.

I agree with her. I want to write a story I’m proud of. I decided quite a while back I could no longer churn out story after story to meet the needs of a publisher. My alter ego did that for a bit and it’s too exhausting to sustain. My library has a few books that suffered because I met the deadline. Those stories got short-changed, both by the writer and more so the editor. I think there are more writers besides myself putting out indie-published books for that very reason. If an editor doesn't have time to do justice to your book, you need to take another path. 

Take the time to write a story you can be proud of. Check for typos, passive voice, missed words and continuity errors. Will you find all of them? Probably not. And trust me - neither does an editor. You may be a novice but your work doesn’t have to look like a newbie wrote it. When it comes to finishing your story, speed is not your friend.

It’s YOUR name on the cover of your book. This is one instance where being prideful is a good thing.

Rayne

http://rayneforrest.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/rayneforrest