Of Beta Reading

Have you ever been asked to beta-read someone's work? It's not all fun and games. Yes, if the story is interesting, at least you enjoy having read it. But when you are tasked with finding errors or denoting plotholes of every size, the task becomes less enjoyable. You start second-guessing your edits. (Am I being too bitchy? Am I not being bitchy enough? Is that even a word? How can (s)he communicate this more clearly? How do I explain that you need to avoid starting sentences with 'He did this' or 'He did that'? Plus a million other thoughts.)

Well, I just finished beta-reading what was a great introductory piece by a friend of mine and an all-around great GM (that's Game Master for you non-geek types). It was a good little story. I enjoyed reading it. Had questions here and there... had issues here and there and there....

Sent it as a file to him along with an extremely friendly, warm and fuzzy e-mail reminding him that these were only my opinion and to disregard them if he so chose. I'm always awkward at this point. Will they be offended or grateful or a mixture of both? Or am I going to get asked to co-author something in the future? (It's happened.)

::sigh:: I guess that I'll have to wait. Did I mention that he's my GM? I did? Did I mention that I go to gaming this Sunday? Did I mention that my character is totally at his mercy? I did? Oh, good.

::faints::