Hello my friends and the occasional relative!

Not the most inspiring title, eh? Fear not. While I freely admit to having failed to make the huge strides toward the completion of rewrites I would have wanted, there has been progress, and it is good. The problem is that there are some large scale projects left, which I can’t deny are intimidating, and the threading through of new sinew (see two weeks ago’s blog – ed) is tricky. I have in passing noted some points where it can be easily added, but you have to maintain balance, and not overload the text with the ‘new thing’ so it basically barks stridently at the reader like the annoying dog next door.

I just wanted to be done quickly, my friends, but I had to take a breath, be placid, and accept that the work remaining will take the time it requires to be completed correctly. So nibbling at the easier margins and prep work for the harder chunks has been done, enough to give me some forward momentum again, after a brief stall.

And on closer inspection of the 44 “problems” 9-12 of them will be fixed by rewriting the opening, which had to be done anyway to match the later developed tone. Another 12 are markers I’ve put in to rapidly find bits of the book rather than endlessly scrolling, so they don’t really count. Another 5 are marked sites for sinew insert consideration (which won’t be all the points at which they will be added, some will arrive in the rewritten start and end), leaving 18 current textual issues that I can identify and fix in a reasonably contained fashion, two of which involve altering locations and adding physical descriptions so scenes make sense, and I realized as I collated them that a couple of those are also really opening sequence issues too, which is why the count does not add up to 44, as some problems fall into multiple camps. How and ever, you can see I’m down to around thirty problems, almost half of which will probably be resolved by upgrading the start. Which I will do next week. Today I shall chop away at a few more of the lesser issues, thus clearing the forest so I can replant trees in better locations for sun reception and shade creation.

And my rewrites at the end? These haven’t been assigned problem numbers. Quiet at the back! Given the scale I’d say it probably matches the opening, so another 9-12, which handily cancels out the markers I’ve stuck in to help maneuver around. The new end sequence, which has been daydreamed out and noted down in passing, is a significant upgrade, IMO, and really helps to elevate the story and its place in the wider world. I’ve given myself the time to explore it subconsciously, and again separate the wood from the trees and see what I want to achieve more clearly. First time around I wanted to get to an end, now I’m finding the end, and that is exciting and satisfying—I look forward to writing that more than the start, so am saving it as a reward, hoho!

So there you have it, I almost got through a blog without starting a paragraph with so. But what I first meant to write following ‘so there you have it’ was this: the long road of book completion has a few more turns to it, as ever. It does go winding on, but eventually, by a cool stream or in a roadside diner, you find a place to stop and be content awhile.