Doing research last.

Took two chapters of The Dead Spend No Gold: Bigfoot and the California Gold Rush to writer's group, and they seemed to like it.

It's amazing that a book that has been vetted twice already can still have typo's in it.  Mostly, probably, because I've been trying to meld the two versions.  Thankfully, Lara gives it a last going over as part of her service.

I can feel this book getting better.

Does that mean the book wasn't good before?

No, and I think that's what is so satisfying about it.  When you're rewritng just to make a book 'good enough', that's one thing.  But when you're making an already good book better, that's something else.

I'd much rather be spending time making a good book better, than trying to make an OK book good.

The silly thing is -- I do research last. Mostly just to give the book some reality, some verisimilitude, some grounding.  I wait last, because by then I know the book so well that I can simply take interesting nuggets of info and plug them into the appropriate places.

I think I'll get the 50 pages of collating done today, despite writer's group.  Then the last 50 pages tomorrow.

The book still needs some rewriting.  But that I'll have a couple of weeks to do that.  Just work on the flow...make sure the new elements fit in smoothly.

Very close to being finished.