People without whom I'd be artistically kaput
Happy Beta Appreciation Day! I do appreciate my betas. Madly.
eal: Marcie's the most honest editor I've ever had. She holds my hand when I'm down on myself; she praises when praise is called for. But she holds me to high standards & is the first to call me on my shit when I get sloppy. If you think anything of mine has promise, it's because Marcie was willing to wade through the first draft (& sometimes the 2nd, & 3rd, & 4th). She has the other half of my brain & doesn't seem to mind. What a brighter, happier, better-scripted place my life is for having her in it.
perpet: Having Perpet as a beta is like having all of the Satellite of Love guys editing my work. Her sense of humor makes even the most critical editing comments a joy to read. Her sense of the flow of my writing & the places where that flow is disastrously off-course is amazing; & she always find exactly the place where I've retreated too far into my own head for the piece to make sense to anyone but me. She's also sharing my brain, which makes me wonder exactly what part of my brain I have, but that's a matter for another time.
gnomi: The beta who goes above & beyond. Most every piece I've given her to edit ends up requiring some kind of weird researchy kind of thing, which she tracks down with zeal. She doesn't let me get away with just making shit up, even when it creates more work for her. All of this is in addition to her spot-on editing of the pieces. I can always depend on her grasp of continuity within the piece, & she always those bizarre out-of-character moments. She is also a walking, talking, singing, dancing compendium of grammar & punctuation.
Anne: Anne reads drafts. I ask her countless bizarre questions about them. She gives extremely thoughtful, insightful answers that help move the editing process along in leaps & bounds. And if it make her think I'm crazy, she doesn't say anything. Anne will read anything I ask for help with, even if it's totally Not Her Genre. And by the gods, she knows what makes Saja jal Sai & Maia del Sant tick better than anybody - even me.
canth & Marjorie: Not betas in the traditional sense, but I can honestly say that half of the things I write would never make it to the page without these 2. By this point, I've bounced so many ideas off of them they're probably feeling about me like floor mats feel about Mary Lou Retton. They know exactly what questions to ask, what issues to raise, & what tangents to follow - & when to do it - to turn the crazy ideas I have at 3 in the morning into viable works.
And of course, Katharine, Seth, River, & Laurie were pivotal in bringing "When Bookworms Attack!" up to snuff.
Thanks, everybody, for making the machine of my insanity run a little more smoothly.