High Tide Episode 3: Guess I’m Working, Then is now available at Kindle Vella. Go forth, read, and please leave a Thumbs Up because those are important for bonuses.

Recently I picked up a time travel murder mystery recommended by a colleague. It had a great cover, the concept sounded interesting, and I love good time travel stories anyway so this seemed like it would be right up my alley.

Until the first instance of head-hopping in a scene. That was followed by clunky, inauthentic dialogue between law enforcement professionals, motivation that had me side-eyeing the lead, and incorrect usage of British noble titles in direct address. At that point I quietly closed the book because life is too short to listen to my inner editor raging.

And this was a traditionally published novel by a major publishing house, the first in a series. That makes me feel a lot better about my own stuff. Yes, the occasional typo slips through despite my editing team’s best efforts, and sometimes I screw up a minor character’s name or plot details (and when these are pointed out to me I go back in and fix them). But at least my dialogue is on point, I keep the action moving, and if I use something specialized like noble titles I do the necessary research to make sure my usage is correct.

And I don’t head hop in a scene. Gah. Scene breaks exist for a reason.