I've decided, in the end, that "The Scorching" isn't a 'techno-thriller' as I originally intended.

It succeeds more as an adventure story.

Ironically, the more technical detail I learned, the less satisfied I was with it as a techno book. People reading it for that purpose were still going to find plenty wrong. Ironically, it will be a very well researched adventure story...

Meanwhile, the chapter headings with the "Incident Reports," which looked cool at first, just ended up being distracting. As did the tagged timeline, which I originally thought would add verisimilitude to the story. I've satisfied myself that the events all take place within a certain timeline, but I don't need to label it.

I also plan to take out any futuristic elements, which turned out to be so minor as to be--why are they there?

I'm going to take out a couple of mucky-muck meetings, and a chapter where one of the characters just sort of lectures the other character about facts and figures.

Streamline it into an adventure story, and I think it will read much better and--again, the irony--probably be more believable for not trying so hard to be believable. In a weird sort of way, I'm giving the subject matter proper respect by not pretending to be an authoritative expert.

In a nutshell, the book is starting to resemble my other books more than what I originally intended. I tried to reach high, but I just couldn't pull it off. By aiming lower, I'm actually writing a much better story, if that makes sense.

I'm at about 100K words now. I figure the changes will cut about 5K words or so, which is more than fine.

I really like this book, it just isn't what I thought it would be.

Crossed 100K words on "The Scorching." (et al, Fires of Allah, Fires of the Djinn, Lucifer's Forge, Not by Water but by Fire, Terror by Fire, etc. etc...)

I've now read four firefighting books since the research stage started. I've added about 15K words to the original manuscript. About 5K of are two new chapters. The other 10K words are fleshing out the story with telling details.

I had about 10 books lined up to read, but I'm only going to do one more. I don't want to overload the story. This last research book, I only added a page worth of notes. I figure too much detail is as bad as too little.

Surprisingly, the best firefighting book wasn't "Young Men and Fire, "by Norman Maclean, like I expected, but instead the one I grabbed last. On the surface is looks like one of those Time/Life books, with big glossy pictures, but the writing is very active and evocative. Very impressive.  It's called "Fire Line," by Michael Thoele.

I looked him up, and this appears to be the only book he wrote. How does that happen? A writer that good?

So I'm going to read this book, try to pick up some technique and some details, and call the research done.

Then to sit down and do the final rewrite.

I don't know if I'll ever do a book like this again--spending more time on the rewrite than on the original story. Not much fun, but I think...I think...I'm making it better, if only incrementally.

Spent a busy afternoon destroying Bend by fire. Strangely satisfying.

Didn't spare my own store.

"As he passed Minnesota Avenue, the canopy in front of the local comic bookstore burst into flames. Another ember dropped down into the middle of the street, sending sparks into the air. His instincts were to stop and put out the fire, but he heard sirens approaching and kept going."

Really... I like Bend and I like my store. I'm only nihilistic in my imagination.

This chapter was a result of my research, specifically, the book The Big Burn. For most of the story I've kept the fire somewhat at a distance. I mean, I bring it on home in the last five or six chapters, but I never managed to have a chapter where the people were surrounded by fire, with no way out, the way The Big Burn was. And through heroic efforts, most of the people are saved.

I decided I needed to mix some disaster amongst this.

Thus...I burn down Bend.

I've got a title which I like, but which I suspect no one else will. But so far, it's holding. Which is the test. Emotionally, it feels right. Some of the other titles had some intellectual heft, but didn't do it for me. In the end, I think I need to pick the title that "feels" right.

"The Scorching."

Never too much action. On the assumption that more action is better than less, I'm adding a couple chapters near the end of the book. One concerning individual homes burning, the other burning down Bend.

I tend to wrap up books perhaps a little faster than I should. It doesn't seem like it at the time, but there always seems to be more I can do. With "Snaked," the publisher pointed out that I needed more black sea snake action at the end, and he was right.

Meanwhile, the pace of rewriting seems extraordinarily languid to me. I gave myself the month of January for this purpose, which seems like a lot of time. But my deadlines have always been self-imposed. No one is clamoring for my books. I have books already written. There is no hurry.

But by thinking that way, I'm in danger of stalling. It's important that I keep up the pace, I think.

Nevertheless, I'm sticking to my plan and giving January over to this book. Trying to apply myself every day.


Meanwhile, I started to get my hopes up slightly on Amazon Singles for "Said the Joker, to the Thief." Then I looked up the site yesterday and had to laugh.

Here were the names on the first few pages: John Grisham, Dean Koontz, Lee Child, Diana Gabaldon, and so on and so forth.

Amazon Singles only publishes something every couple days, which is far less than most major publishers. (Just looked up Random House, and they publish 2500 books a year. In other words, the odds are about 90% less than Random House.)

I saw no fantasy. 

Forget about it. What a joke. This is like taking my local flag football team and taking the field against the Green Bay Packers. 

But I didn't need an agent...

Burning down my hometown. 'cause I can.

Originally, I figured I'd burn down Sonora, California. I had a couple of minor characters I thought I could spin off for a chapter.

I had to work a couple of days at the store, and today I suddenly realized I had a much better town to burn down: Bend, Oregon. I'd already pretty much set it up, both the good guys and the bad, and it comes at the right moment in the book. Besides, I know the terrain without having to research.

It seems so obvious...now.

This has been the one advantage to taking so much more time on a book. It gives me time for these things to really settle in, and for my subconscious to come up with an answer.

I'm going to spend the next 8 days researching and adding details, then I'm going to do a quick rewrite. I probably will go ahead and approach some agents, but it has to be on my terms...though I'm sure I have nowhere near the clout to ask for my terms.

The terms are; the representation if for this book, only. That is, I don't wish to be tied up while this book is being offered. Probably a moot point, since agents have shown zero interest in my ideas or my writing.

I'm going to put this out in late spring, in time for the fire season.

Still don't have a title I love. "Terror by Fire." I don't know why, but it still doesn't do it for me.

For some reason, I felt like tackling the timeline yesterday.

Went through and tagged the chapters of the last day by hours and minutes.

Then I moved all the chapters to meet the timeline.

I didn't like it. I like the order I have the chapters now, even if they don't follow the timeline exactly. Thing is, putting things in order like that made it possible to see if it all fit. There were a couple of places where I had night and it should have been day, but mostly I had it right.

So now I have three choices.

1.) Stick strictly to the timeline, rearranging the chapters to fit.

2.) Stick to my original order, but go ahead a tag them with the correct time, even though they jump around.

3.) Not have any timeline noted at all.

I'm inclined to do #2 and hope the reader goes along with a slight mental adjustment. These chapters were put where they were because I wanted a certain amount of action, a certain amount of character development, and so on. It's more by feel than anything.

I have to work the next two days, so I'm setting "Terror by Fire" aside to think about it. I think I'll have this research done by around the 10th or so, and then I'm going to do one last beginning to end rewrite.

Also undecided about adding another chapter with the destruction of a town. I've already got four semi-climaxes, so not sure I need a fifth one. Maybe I can figure out a short half-page addition to a couple of chapters, sort of mentioning it.

Meanwhile, I'm concentrating on making the first three chapters as tight as I can make them, then sending them off to agents. This is a doubtful activity, because I'm really only offering this one book. I don't want to get tied down.

In the last rewrite, I want to concentrate on the last 5 chapters, so I may start there and then go back to the beginning.

Proud of myself for making the extra effort.

"Terror by Fire"

Read "The Big Burn," by Timothy Egan and realized that I was missing something.

I don't show individual houses threatened, though in the size of the fires I'm describing, it must be happening all over. Nor do I have a town get destroyed. (I have a couple of towns escape, but I'm thinking I need one destroyed.)

There is a scale and size in the Big Burn that I'd like to try to get into my book.

Problem is, I've already got four or five separate plotlines, so trying to burn down a town would add yet another.

I slept on it and realized I have a couple of secondary characters that would work really well. Have one of them realize the old homestead is going to burn, barely escape, reach a town and have the town start to burn as well.

So I may just attempt to write a chapter, and see if it fits.

Also realized I'm not entirely happy with the last chapter. It has a couple of different tones. Half the chapter was originally the first chapter, as flashforward, and the other half was written as climax.

I'm thinking I can split it in two. Again, I can give this a try and if it doesn't work, then go back to the original setup. At the very least I need to concentrate on rewriting it.

I've also decided that I need to have the bulk of the action happening in one day: Once the action starts, it happens fast.

One book of research down and nine to go. "Fire on the Mountain," by John Maclean. I'd already read and underlined this book, so it was simply a matter of going through and plucking out things.

Added about 1000 words of telling detail. Tried to be careful, picking only the most revealing facts. The book is up to 94, 500 words. Wouldn't mind if it came in around 100K words.

This research is all about adding vivid detail and accuracy.

The last rewrite will be all about going as deep into the POV character's heads as I can.

That is at least two steps more than I've done with any other book.

I hope it shows.

Another interesting thing keeps happening. I get these random additions coming out of nowhere. Just little snippets of dialogue, usually.

For instance, one of my little research items was a firefighter saying, "Fire suppression doesn't require a penis."

Which I stole, of course, changing it up a little.

Right after that, I thought of having one of the non-firefighting characters say, "I admit. I've always been a firefighting groupie..."

For which she gets a little slapped down, but ....you know, I liked it.

Kinda cool. I suppose if I kept my head in a book even longer, I'd get even more of these. But it's a little bit like starting my car in order to drive to the mailbox. A lot of effort for a short trip.

LATER: Read "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, the father of the author of the above book, and author of "A River Runs Through It."

Didn't take me long to realize there wasn't much I could glean from the book, except to soak it up. Very poetic and philosophical. A beautiful book that I decided to finish even if it didn't have as much utility as I was hoping for.

Probably going to read "The Big Burn," Timothy Egan, next.

Thinking of a new title, by the way. "The Fire Came." Sounds vaguely poetic. I haven't been comfortable with most of the titles because they accent the terrorism angle, instead of the firefighting angle, the opposite of what my book does.

Or "Terror by Fire," which does play up the terrorism angle, but is more active.

I'm convinced the perfect title will come, but it's been over a year of searching. Very unusual.

Went through a year's worth of newspaper clippings on wildfires. Most of them had the same content--global warming is kicking our ass. But once I've said that, I'm not sure there is much more to say.

Most experts figure about half the increase in fires is due to climate change, and half to weather cycles.

Some interesting facts. 14% of homes in Oregon are in jeopardy from wildfires. There are 66 million dead trees in California. There are 70 million acres that are in danger. Every degree of temperature increase creates more lightning storms; rinse and repeat.

I inserted these facts and others throughout the manuscript.

Interestingly, there isn't a single policy where there aren't two sides fighting it out, which is part of the problem. Everyone sues everyone and nothing gets done.

But they can always do another study.

Today I'm thinking about writing a new scene, to include the Yarnell Fire. A movie is coming out next year called "Granite Mountain" which is about this disaster. It's the only new scene I'm contemplating writing in this draft, and it's to bring to life some of the dry facts of the chapter immediately proceeding and immediately after.

There is a great book here somewhere, and I'm clawing my way toward it. I challenged myself with this book and that's a good thing. But I may have overreached my skill level. I really wanted to get across the danger and size and the pathos of it all.

I'm not done yet. I'll just keep at it until I can't think of anything more to do.

Lost a week. To this thing called Christmas, and to a horrible flu. The workaholic in me says, "got both out of the way at the same time..."

As of today, I'm starting my research for "Fires of the Djinn." I skimmed "Young Men and Fire," now I'm going to read it from beginning to end. After that, I'm going to read "The Big Burn," by Timothy Egan. I have a dozen other firefighting books, so I'll decide after that which one to tackle. Giving over the whole month to this process, which seems like an incredible luxury.

I am going to go ahead and try some agents. I don't really have to wait to do that. I can send my first three chapters. I don't expect much, not because I don't think I'm good enough or the premise isn't good enough, but because of the way the process is currently overwhelmed. No one's fault.

I'll publish it myself on May 1st, if nothing else happens.  This book was a challenge--maybe a little beyond me, but I gave it my best shot.

My New Year's resolution is to get back to reading again. At least a little everyday. This year was probably the least number of books I've read in my adult life.

I'm trying to slow the process down, hopefully without losing momentum. Every time I think that might happen, up pops a little story out of the blue like "Said the Joker, to the Thief." So far, I've never had to worry about having ideas.

I woke up the other day having completely rewritten a movie I haven't actually seen based solely on a review. Made the movie better, too. Which is my subconscious saying, "Dude, let's get writing!"

Coywolves, hybrid surprise.

Been trying to think of another "creature" book. It can't be something hokey. It needs to have some merit.

I've been thinking Coywolves.

Hybrids of wolves and coyotes, most of them have been the eastern red wolf coming down from Canada and the coyote. They did the western grey wolf as an experiment.

So what would happen if the researcher realizes the the Coywolf she's been testing has been tricking her, smudging the results. She goes back over the research and realized, my god!, that the western coywolves are considerably smarter then they let on.

She hears a noise behind her.

The Coywolf enters the room.

I think it will need more than this. Some other element to make it work.


Oh...and Merry Christmas.

Got a cold.

Linda's had it for a week, so I thought I was going to escape it and then if fell down on me like a ton of bricks. I've barely left my office, which is the only room I can keep warm enough. Other than that, I've been laying on the couch and shivering.

I'm glad my work day was yesterday, not today, but I'm worried about the Toby and Todd, who are coming to visit tomorrow. I told Linda to warn them, but I'm not sure she has.

She wants those boys HOME!

Writing? YOu  should have seen how many tipos I made in this short note...

The "Fires of the Djinn" is probably over my head.

I'm trying hard to make it believable, but I'm not sure it's possible. I'm 30 pages from the end of the first rewrite, and I've made it better, but it is still a stretch.

I like writing in the "real" world, but I am always aware that it is only a facsimile of the real world. Maybe all writers feel that way. It is the facsimile that readers want; the real world is what they live.

Thing is, I still think Firefighters Versus Terrorists is a neat premise, and likely to be timely, so I had to try. It probably contains some of my best writing....but is still difficult to pull off.

After the holidays, I'm diving into research with the goal of adding enough verisimilitude to hopefully make the whole story plausible. Plausible is probably the best I can hope for.

The point of the second rewrite will be to make it as realistic as I can. But there are elements to the plot that probably make that impossible. I should have stuck to ground level POV, instead of making it "big." (Astronauts, big wigs, L.A. and San Francisco, Jihadists, etc.) The "big" part came from that agent telling me to do that and to write "100 kickass" pages. 

If nothing else, this has been a good learning experience. It still possible I can pull this off. I'm giving it time and doing my best.

I've decided to go with the plot as is, because the changes I was contemplating probably won't make the story any more plausible, which is the reason I was thinking about the changes. So no point.

Hopefully, readers will give me the benefit of the Suspension of Disbelief long enough to enjoy the story. What I can do is try to ramp up the tension, make the action scenes vivid. The overall plot arc is what it is.

Writing "Said the Joker, to the Thief" was a reminder that in fantasy, everything works, as long as it is internally consistent. Writing "I Live Among You" was a reminder that a straightforward first person narration eliminates a lot of the space and time problems.

It's probably time for me to figure out my strengths and weakness, and do the first and avoid the latter. 

"OA" review.

***SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS***

One of the great pleasures in viewing this 8 part series on Netflix was knowing absolutely nothing about it. I'd advise anyone reading this who hasn't seen it

To...Stop....Reading....Now!

Go watch it.

SPOILERS

The first episode started off intriguingly enough. At first I wasn't sure if it was going to be a police procedural, a mystery, a S.F./Fantasy, or a drama. (Kind of ended up being all those things...)

Each character is given time to be fully developed, which held true throughout the series. I'm not sure I can remember a series that so expertly and completely fleshed out characters in such a believable way. Which is especially impressive given the unlikely scenario.

The characters mostly live in a half empty subdivision, in big houses surrounded by large spaces. They are just as separated by emotional distance. The five people who the OA picks to help her also come from completely different circumstances.

There's a great scene in the high school cafeteria near the end of the series where you clearly see how these five people belong to completely different cliques. And yet, they develop a bond with each other that turns out to be deeper and more lasting than those with their friends and family.

The five and OA have something that the outside world simply can't comprehend. It just looks strange and inappropriate to others.

The middle aged high school teacher is a beautifully drawn character.

There is a wonderful scene in the first episode where the OA pretends to be a parent, and she tries to get one of her Five off the hook. She finds out that the boy had hurt another student, and the teacher--very appropriately, it seems--is calling for his suspension.

Going into this, you think there is no way the OA can convince the teacher otherwise, but the scene is written so beautifully that by the end, not only is the teacher convinced--which could have just been a plot point--but the watcher is equally convinced.

This scene is when I knew this show was something special.

If I wasn't already convinced, the last 15 minutes of the first episode was one of the best plot swerves I've ever seen. It goes from being tight and dark, to open and colorful and beautiful, all in the space of a few seconds. It's as startling as Dorothy's landing in Oz. Really great stuff.

The rest of the series is just as well-written and surprising. In the end, you're not sure what really happened, but the emotional catharsis among the characters is more than enough explanation.


This series is so deep and textured, that I find that just describing some of the first episode and intimations of the ending is more than enough. The last 7 episodes are equally rich and mysterious. We meet another Five, who we get to know just as well. The parents and the villains are fully formed and believable.

Linda and I have been trying to decipher the series for days.

Goes without saying, the writing, the acting, and the production is as good as I've ever seen. I'm hoping there'll be a second season.

23 pages again of editing on "Fires of the Djinn." Took all day.

No comment.

One thing I'm noticing. The more I rewrite, the less confident I am about my abilities. Makes a certain sense. After all, I'm seeing everything I did wrong. I try to fix it, but I don't quite get the "perfect" combination of words, mostly all I've done is improved them, sometimes only slightly. It's even possible that I'm taking two steps forward and three steps back. It's uncertain.

When I'm writing my first draft, I'm usually feeling pretty good. My imagination is taking concrete form. What I'm putting down on the page seems good.

But once I open up the process to criticism,  that good feeling starts to dissipate.

I'm being careful to try not to overdo it. I think a "light" touch is a good approach because I know from past experience that sometimes rewriting doesn't liberate the words but stifles them. I focus on being clearer, sharper, adding detail. I'm pretty sure overall that it's an improvement.

As I've mentioned before, this is for the reader not me. I'm trying to connect the story in my head to the reader in a form they'll understand better.

I'm probably just being too tough on myself. Linda says not to second-guess myself, but that's the thing about rewriting. By definition it's second-guessing.

I think there is also the fear of mucking it up.

I'm going to spend more time on the rewrite than I did on the original draft. It's a chore. Like vacuuming the house. It's not something I'm eager to do, but it cleans up the space, makes it more pleasant to live in.

Each little session, I have to resort to self-discipline, and I'm a lazy bastard.  Since I can only do about five pages per session, I have to screw up my self-discipline later in the day for the next five pages, and then do it again. I wear myself out on the self-discipline, therefore I'm giving myself time to fail. I procrastinate like crazy.

Time is the only thing I have to offer.

Today--"Hey, Linda! Let's go see Rogue One!"

But then,  I have four hours before I leave, room for a couple of 5 page sessions.  So I'm sitting here at the computer writing this rather than rewriting.



.

23 pages. That's all I managed in 7 hours of rewriting on "Fires of the Djinn."

Blows my mind how slow this is. But it is what it is.

I have about 5 days of this before I finish the first rewrite. Figure I'll probably take a break for a week for the holidays, then start the two weeks of research and the two weeks for the final rewrite around the 1st of the year.

I've added about 8K words so far in this rewrite, so I'm at 90K altogether. My guess, by the time I add the research and final rewrite, I'll be at 100K, which is a good size for a thriller. I know for one thing that I'm going to add at least one chapter to the next rewrite, and consolidate about 3 chapters.

I have to be careful about adding too many cool firefighting facts to the story just because I have them. Whatever details I add from research need to be completely pertinent. Mostly its about verisimilitude. I want to give the impression of plausibility, if not outright reality, which will be hard.

I have about 10 firefighting books and a couple of dozen newspaper clippings. I'm going to pick 5 books to read. (I've already read a couple.) I want to try to nail the firefighting "experience." I suppose if I could get a volunteer to read it who actually has experience, that would be cool.

I want it to be plausible, but remember that I'm writing fiction.

There is a possibility that I'll add a little section at the beginning of every chapter chock full of facts. Let the reader bypass them if they want. That will definitely push the book to 100K even with the consolidated chapters.

The story is hanging together much better than I thought it would. I have no trouble keeping track of the multiple storylines and VP characters. I will probably add an hour by hour timeline to the final draft.

It's going well, if slow. I just have to remember that I'm not in a hurry, at the same time I keep the motivation up.

For every minute I spend rewriting/editing, I have to take an equal amount of time off.

Roughly, I can edit about 5 pages in an hour.  But then my brain simply stops functioning. All I see are words.

So I have to go off and do something else for an hour, then come back. Sounds easy enough, right? Except every time I come back I have to remotivate myself. That's hard.

Editing uses a different part of the brain, somehow. Here's the thing--you might think I'm disciplined because I write so much.  When I'm writing the first draft, it's all fun. I'm not tired at the end of a session, I'm invigorated. I stop myself from writing more than about 2000 words because I know that I'm always fresher when I start so I save it up for the next day. But it's fun for me.

Rewriting? I just have to knuckle down. I'm intellectually lazy. So I need to impose the Five Minute Rule (do something for five minutes and usually I'll keep going.)  After about an hour I look up blurry eyed and have done some good work.

I can see the improvements. So much so that I probably shouldn't just settle for one rewrite, but do several. Arrrgghhh.

Given enough time, I can do that. Time is what I need, and time is what I have (knock wood.)

I gather from what I read that other writers have the opposite experience. The writing of the first draft is the hard part, and settling in on the rewrite is what they enjoy. If so, I'm awed by their dedication. Because there is no way I could tackle the hard part if I didn't already have a complete book in front of me.

I was going to read my new 1st chapter of Fires of the Djinn to writer's group last night. While I was waiting, I read the first page and decided it wasn't ready.

I've gotten into a habit of what I would call a "casual" style. I'm looking for smoothness, a fast pace, characters who are easy to get to know, maybe even a little humorous.

I decided that this chapter needed to be completely serious from the beginning. In fact, most of the character changes I'm making are more or less trying to make them more "adult," if you will.

This looks to be one of those "learning" books, where I'm trying to be different. Basically, ever since Freedy Filkins, I've been going with a light, fast style. I varied somewhat from that with the Virginia Reed novels, because of the content. But most of these later books are pretty light, on purpose.

So I'm going to attempt to make this book a little more serious, not because I don't want it to be fast, fun and entertaining, but because I think the change in style will make it all those things. Less adjectives and adverbs, more direct action, almost no modifiers. Few if any offhand comments. Straight ahead.

Obviously, there is another rewrite ahead of me, but first I'm going to finish this one. I'm about 60% of the way through.



Up to now, my way of trying to improve was by writing one book after another. Some rewriting, but mostly, either the book worked or it didn't and I went on with the next book.

I think this was the right thing to do, actually. I really did learn a lot this way, but I feel like I've plateaued in quality.

Personally, I think Snaked is a good book. It is kind of the result of all my writing. I can continue to write on that level...and maybe I should.

But because I'm ahead of the game, I figure I can give myself the Gift of Time. I'm not sure how much I can affect the other variables--I mean, I'll continue to learn by doing, but my talent level is what it is. the one variable I can change is time. How much time I give between drafts and how much time I spend actually rewriting. Obviously, how many times I rewrite. Those factors can all be affected by the time I spend.

Even if it doesn't work out--I fuck it up--I'm not too worried anymore about being blocked. I can write books, no worries. So I'll spend a little time in the trenches and see if it does me any good.

It if for you, dear reader, I put up with this torture.

Rewriting is a Pandora's box of choices. Every sentence, every word can be changed or moved.

I try to stick with what's natural, but...it sometimes seems impossible to find the right mix. Each word change affects the next sentence, which affects the next. Before I know it, I'm down some path where I don't want to be or completely lost or at the edge of a cliff.

I change a character's motivation, and that changes one scene, which affects another character, which changes another scene, and before I know it, I'm tangled up in knots.

Meanwhile, I start to lose the feeling I had when I first wrote the scene, so now it is the words that matter, words which are representative of those feelings but aren't the feelings.

But isn't that exactly what happens to the reader? They don't feel those feelings before the words exist, the words are there to create the feeling.

So I try to make sense, try to keep the words flowing, try for surprising but satisfying ways to say things, try to smooth out the inconsistencies and clarify the confusions and sharpen the action.

It is for the reader, because the I already know what the scene was supposed to do, I know the story in my head. But it came out on the page missing elements, or with too much emphasis on the wrong things, or out of order, or with awkward phrasing.

So it for you, dear reader, that I put up with this torture.

Because of my slow progress on the rewrite, I started working out a schedule yesterday. Five days for this, five days for that, five days for the next thing.

That helps get things done...but....

Random improvements on plots and characters keep coming to me. Just little wisps of thought, maybe only two or three per day, but all of them helpful.

Thing is, if I was doing my usual rigorously scheduled thing, these thoughts would have never come. I would have been past them already, onto the next thing.

So maybe this slowdown is a good thing. Maybe I should just try to stay in the fictional dream and see what comes.

 So once again, I'm backing away from an enforced schedule and letting myself drift a little. I have a general "do some editing today" goal, but nothing more. Let my subconscious keep filtering things to me.

The ideas on how to change the book keep coming to me, so that means my subconscious apparently wants it done. I was at my writer's group Christmas party yesterday (which unlike the actual group, always get a big turnout, heh) and I was talking this way, and someone said, "SO...there's another Duncan you're talking to?"

I joked it off by doing a nervous twitch, but...well...yeah. That's how it feels sometimes.

Yesterday, I added some character development to the second chapter. I like it, but now I'm worried there is too much in the chapter. I may have to cut something else.

This is what I'm talking about. I can never be sure that the changes aren't making things worse, instead of better.

I guess I feel that I've reached a place in my writing where it is basically competent and readable, everything is done right, but...it's just missing a little something extra.

Since I can't inject myself with something "extra" the only component in the writing where I have some leeway is in the time I take to do it. So I'm adding time, as much time in the rewrite as in the original draft, and seeing what comes of it.