So, I thought I’d mucked the ending of my new book up, because of the three people I asked to read it for me, two of them didn’t seem to understand what I tried to communicate in the story.

I had a brief Facebook chat-message-conversation thing with one of them on Monday, and that’s when I understood her to tell me she’d not understood what I intended. And I want to be clear here: I knew the fault for the failure was mine, not the reader’s. I’m the writer. It’s my job to make sure the ending, or any other part of the story, conveys my intended message, theme, purpose, or vision. And if the reader doesn’t get it, that’s on me, not the reader.

But yesterday I signed back on and had a bit more conversation with that same reader. She said something (unprompted, thankfully), and let me know she did understand the ending, just as I’d intended it to be understood. So did my wonderful First Reader. That’s two of the three readers I asked for input, and that’s not bad. (Just ask Meat Loaf!)

So what I thought was bad news is actually better news. There is still a question as to whether further exposition is needed, but I think for that, I’ll have to tag a new set of readers. And I don’t know when I’ll do that, specifically, but it will be after I hammer out the kinks in the timeline.

So, that’s it, just wanted to share. I can’t believe how amazing all three of my readers were, how gracious and kind with their remarks, and how thorough with their proofing (though I shouldn’t have made them proof, dagnabit!).

So a special thanks to them all again, and I’ll be working on something else here shortly. Announcements to follow when I have anything worth sharing.

-JDT-