The Hidden Europe-Beta Readers

Discuss Francis Tapon's upcoming book, "The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us."
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DFR
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Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:05 am

The Hidden Europe-Beta Readers

Post by DFR » Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:27 am

Francis,
I am grateful that I can offer some help to you with your efforts. I am really bad at grammar!!!! But I'm trying to get better. I received most of my knowledge over 20 years ago so I am often using dated techniques (as you can certainly see from my emails). I am pretty quick though and I did, in my mind, figure that you were spelling numbers below 10. It was the "one to 10" that looked odd to me. I also agree that spelling "percent" is much better than the symbol in literature. Though I'm helping you with your efforts, I am also taking from your style of writing and learning new things in the process too. So thanks for allowing me to help.

I'm certainly not qualified to be a motivational speaker, but "You had better finish this book, I'm looking forward to reading about all these other countries that I may never get to visit". LOL ;)

I must say that you have written quite a lot in the first half. These last two chapters were very long but seemed important to the overall writing and continuity of the book. When I say that your stories makes me want to visit these places, that is very sincere. It must be very difficult to take all the time to write about such a subject. I mean there has never been such a book written in such a way and thus no template or example to follow or improve upon. I love large demanding projects myself too, but I often find my mind wondering in other directions if they persist for very long. (I am not the most disciplined person.) Sharing my ideas with others as they are developing is often detrimental to my goals. It seems that it is difficult to get others to truly appreciate my dreams or ideals when they are not their ideas. It shows good mental discipline on your part to be able to overcome this, however thick your skin is. :)

I have learned so much so far and I am looking forward to learning more. When you touch upon a subject, but the book does not allow you to spend much time on it, I always feel like I want more. I certainly appreciate that keeping the book moving forward is more important than too many long side stories. I just really like hearing about all the people you talk to and I wish that I could hear the entire conservation or even better; join in myself. Francis, I have always very much enjoyed reading your writing. You were never afraid to go completely against the grain of mainstream ideals and bring forth credible new ideals. I loved your conservation with T-Rex. I thought that it was a very creative way to communicate some realities to people. I just really wanted to say that I like your style and I like what you have to say. I look forward to reading more from you as you share them with the rest of us.

I know that your busy and I don't require a reply to this, I just wanted to say thanks and to say that I'll be wishing you all the best in the coming new year.

Happy New Year!
...David

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FrancisTapon
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Re: The Hidden Europe-Beta Readers

Post by FrancisTapon » Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:57 am

David: Thanks for your post! I am busy writing the second half of The Hidden Europe. I'm glad you liked the first half!

I really appreciate your feedback as Beta Reader.

OK, back to writing about Serbia!
- Francis Tapon
http://FrancisTapon.com

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