Going Rogue, going gone.

Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is on one of the book liquidation sites for .50 each, if you buy 10.

Goodbye, Sarah, don't let the ink smudge you on the way out...

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There's a kinda funny video of Chris Mathews and Bill O'Reilly debating each other on helium.

It would have been much funnier if they hadn't dragged their feet so much -- it was clear they were uncomfortable.

One of them missed a bet -- should have just talked into all the silences and won that debate!

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I got a series of cheap children's books: I Love Trucks, I Love Dinosaurs, etc. and they sell consistently.

Finally figured out that parents will splurge for a 3.99 book to keep their kids happy.  With the bonus that they're 'educational.'

There is a whole industry of these little factoid books, and I'm going to try some more variations.

It's great -- whatever gets kids to read.

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Went to writer's group.  Read my new fourth chapter --which they hated.  Sarah thought I was giving too much away, and sleeping on it, she's probably right.

They liked the first chapter, but weren't sure it worked as a first chapter....they caught a glaring error that wasn't a problem when it appeared later in the book, but needs to be addressed if it is the first chapter.

Linda wrote me a little note on here copy of the chapter as I was being eviscerated.

("I think this is really good!")

I love being married to a writer.

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For you non-writers, you can skip the rest.

This is turning into a real rewrite.  Changing the nature and focus of every scene.

I'd forgotten this is how it goes.

At the same time, it feels to me like it's turning into a real book.  Like, I can just feel it donning its cloak.  It is kind of a cool feeling; like what I remember.  I don't know if it will ever get good enough, but it's getting closer.

My books always start out sketchy.  I mean, I don't think they are at the time I'm writing them.  Complications in the process start to creep in, and in dealing with the complications, the book starts to take on another layer; and another...

This is turning into a new rough first draft in some ways.  The transitions and bits of business don't quite work anymore.  I'll either have to change them, or cut and replace them.  I'm thinking of just asking myself: What is the purpose of this scene(?), paraphrase that, and stick it in.  Nothing fancy.

I'm trying to eliminate as many flashbacks as possible, except the 'famous writer' ones.  I hoping those chapters have enough interest to add to the overall atmosphere, even if they don't necessarily advance the plot.

I changed one characters flashback story to real time, now that I'm allowing 3rd person chapters.  I blended another flashback scene into another contemporary scene.  And so on.

I think overall, it will read faster.  I cut 3000 words, so I'm back to the same number of words as when I started.  As long as I stay over 80,000 words.  I dropped most of the humorous bits, keeping just a little of the character banter -- and making much of it more serious.  Certainly, the new early glimpse of Hell chapter is way more serious -- I'm playing a little game with the character's viewpoint, in that I think I'm letting the reader believe he is the one person when he is actually another.

I have one whole side story, about a character who is the love interest of the protagonist, that is still a problem.  I need something to more directly tie her into the story -- more of a reason for protagonist to NEED to go visit her.

It's early, I'm sure I'll think of something.  I'm amazed I've accomplished so much in just a few days.

This is going to work, I think, if I can keep making this kind of progress.

The real test of it's worthiness, I think, is my willingness to work on it.  If I think there is something there.  As well as my willingness to cut deeply.  That really shows that I'm trying to make it work.

I've cleared the deck for the next seven days -- after writer's group tonight and after I make my monthly orders.  We'll see what the book looks like at the end of a full week. 

It's funny, I've finally adjusted to this idea of doing a rewrite.  The trick seems to be -- open the book, get sufficiently into the idea of the book, and then just let the mind wander.  Ideas come in snippets sometimes in whole swaths.

When I have a story problem, I just let my mind work on it and there is almost always a solution.

Speaking of which -- I was trying to tie in Lillian, and I thought of the answer.  The Book, that Simmons talks about in the fourth chapter, and which I now include in the Cthulhu Parsons scene and which Cobb asks about later.  That's the connection.

Yep, that works.

I think though, it makes much of the rest of the scene not work.  So I'll need to cut much of it -- maybe I can have the love flashback.

Damn this is complicated.