My brother-in-law is reading my MS

Mr Flyby (Spanner's sister's husband) kindly offered to read my ms (manuscript).

This is not as strange as it seems.

In the past, Flyby has flirted with romance writing - his short story was published in one of the Romance Writers of Australia Little Gems anthologies and in 2004 we went to an RWA conference together.

Afterwards we both stopped writing, but Flyby turned his back on the genre.

Now, he reads widely, writes a fine blog on light planes and keeps bees (he has other hobbies too numerous to mention).

OK, maybe it is strange to have your brother-in-law reading your romance novel.

Or could it be that Flyby is strange?

I decided he was the best person for the job. And so far, I've not been disappointed. He's given me some excellent tips on dialogue, pov and showing not telling. I am a bit worried about him reading the more explicit chapters. Embarrassed.

However, I will have a better story because of his wise advice.

There's still got a long way to go before I can honestly type THE END.

PS: Photo borrowed from the blog edited by Flyby - it's taken by pilot Darryl and shows the mist over Warragamba dam. It illustrates where I'm at with my MS, lost in the mist.