Yeah, I thought they were pretty good too.

I read chapters 3-5 of Deep Sea Rising at writer's group last night.

Last session I read chapters 1 and 2. I thought they were pretty good. They had nice kickers at the end, and were intriguing. A good start, which is important. Pam seemed very impressed.

Susan was the only one who made it to group this week. Anyway, as I started reading chapter 3, she made some appreciative noises. I finished the chapter, she broke in (which isn't the usual thing) and said, "That's really, really good, Duncan!"

So, encouraged, I read chapters 4 and 5. She chuckled at every beat point, just the way I'd hope a reader would. When I finished, she just raved about the book and then went through and pointed out all the subtleties I'd been hoping a reader would get.

She was so effusive in her praise, I laid my head on the table and said, "Thank god, I needed that."

Gary wasn't there. Gary always brings me down to earth.

But I do believe this is my best book. I got 30K words into the book before I ran into any clunky writing. That's a really good stretch. Most books I feel lucky if I get 2 or 3 chapters in a book that come out in a pristine form. Most of the time, I have to go back and do a lot of rewriting to get it up to snuff.

I always have my favorite chapters, and it's nice when I get confirmation.

Deep Sea Rising came out so well, I decided to send it off to the publisher without paying for the usual editing.

It may still not meet their needs for some reason. But it's very encouraging when a reader (listener) seems to pick up on exactly what I was attempting to accomplish.

As I was reading the chapters, I just thought they were really professional, and showed a level of competence that has come from a lot of hard work and practice.

If I do say so myself.