My upper YA Sci-Fi novel, Senex Born, has been with beta readers since the middle of December 2025. As of this week, I’ve received all of their feedback and I am immensely grateful to have these wonderful ladies in my corner. I’ve read through their notes and am amazed about the detail and depth of their insights. I am confident that this will help me shape Senex Born into a better story.

On the one hand, I’m eager to dive into the next (potentially last) revision before querying agents. On the other hand, I’m determined to sit with the feedback a bit, examine where it tracks with my vision for the book, and – most importantly – formulate a strategy that’ll allow for a straightforward, coherent, and timely revision process.

While Senex Born was with the beta readers, I took the time to polish my query package (the usual query letter + 1-page synopsis + first 5k words) and test it with a few selected agents who offered consultations and feedback. Many thanks go out to Sarah and Elaine over at I am in Print and their Agent121 initiative. I’ve already got a full MS request via these consultations (tho we agreed that I’ll do the beta-reader revision first). I can’t recommend those consultations highly enough.

I will let the feedback percolate a bit longer and spend the rest of February 2026 with my new project. Hopefully, that will allow me to come back to Senex Born with the distance needed to make the necessary revisions in March.