I'm listening to the audio of "Eden's Return."

It's very professional sounding. I've been lucky in my audio books. I experimented with my own version for a short time and realized I had no idea what I was doing. I catch the narrators stumbling a little about once a chapter, but I couldn't make it through half a page. (Not that most people would notice the stumbling...)

Anyway, the story sound pretty good. It's a different kind of book. I think that up to now I've been very focused on action packed storylines. This book has a bit of contemplation as well. I think the contrast between the contemplation and the action is very effective. I don't know. I was feeling my way to a new way of writing, and it works surprisingly well.

Of course, as always, I tend to see how I could have phrased things differently, how I could have expanded some elements, shrunk others. I see all the faults, but mostly it flows really well. Compared to my first two books from 40 years ago (FORTY YEARS?!) which was full of what I considered awkward phrasing and story problems. (Not that most readers seem to notice.)

I guess I'm in the experimental phase of my writing. I'm trying to broaden my approach. It doesn't always work, but it's the only way to get better at this. With 30 books under my belt, I still feel like a beginner.

On the other hand, I can definitely see the maturity that has developed in the 40 years between Star Axe and Eden's Return. (Though, ironically, in hindsight, I still consider "Led to the Slaughter" as probably my most accomplished book, maybe because it was the first book to really come together and I put a great deal of time and effort into it.)