A million bad words.

Read an interesting quote, I'm sorry I can't tell you who said it: that a writer has a million bad words in him before he gets proficient.

If that's true, I must be almost there.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to read the Yiddish Policeman's Union.  I may have been a little unfair to it, saying it wasn't grabbing me.   The writing is amazing, the complexity and the heart.  A good book in almost every way except that it doesn't grab me.  I read a Lee Child book in about a day in a half in the middle of the month long reading of Y.P.U.

I'm vetting DEVILTREE, making sure the digital copy is correct, and while I'm at it, I'm reading it.

So I'm reading my best writing from 25 years ago.

It feels a little pedestrian, one step at a time.  A quarter of the way through and they are still at what I would consider the introductory parts -- they haven't even escaped the city yet.

On the other hand, I've done a pretty good job of building an "otherness" that draws you in.  Making it seem credible.

I'm a much looser writer now, and I'm not sure that's a complete improvement.

In the end, I could never write a book like Y.P.U.  I can only write as deeply and creatively as I am.  A little luck and hard work can improve that, but only by so much.

I think I can write a interesting book, possibly.  Entertaining, hopefully.

Just don't know if I've done that yet.

Back to writing that million words....