I’m excited to report that I’m making good progress on my current book, The Barbarian Queen of the North. However, I have one major concern as I develop one of the two major characters in the book, Princess Alauna of the Votadini. I have written
female characters before but she is different. She is a fictionalized historical figure who is young, not quite out of her teens, coming of age as a warrior woman, who finds herself immersed in political intrigue while falling in love and having difficulty controlling and fully understanding her emotions. She’s complex and I’m trying to get the character right.
And it is proving a challenge.

This is a long way of saying—Help. I’m expanding my current Beta group to include additional women. For the unanointed, a Beta group is a group of friends and acquaintances who serve as a sounding board for an author. They give a first read of the
initial draft and critically comment on the unpublished work. The Beta group’s input has been very helpful to me in the past and I know it will be helpful in developing the character of Alauna. I’m especially interested in how women view this character and if
she rings true for them. So if you’re a woman, and you have the courage to face the challenge, and would like to serve on the Beta group for this book, please respond to me via this web site. Thanks much!