Quote Originally Posted by Moose.H View Post
I have my work checked and edited well before a Beta. Having submitted something inadequate I felt humiliated and that has had an immense positive effect on my writing. Writing is a skill that requires practice and criticism as the author often gets too close to their content and leaves issues inadequately covered or gets to verbal. I listen to criticism and use it.
Heck maybe because I know I am ADHD and dyslexic...

Yesss! This is a biggie for me: Having my work fully proofed and edited before sending it to betas.
See, when someone reads your manuscript, errors will bias them against your work.
Psychologically they go from seeing you as one of those thinkers who has written a book...to an ordinary person who makes errors that they were able to see.
Once the reader starts to think they are smarter than the writer, they will treat your work differently (and I don;t mean that in a positive way.)

So I always try to give betas as clean a manuscript as possible so they are not at all distracted by errors & typos.
I'm not looking for proofreading...I am looking for feedback on the big-picture of my story.