Moving forward

Still moving through the 200-odd draft pages I have of the short novel, touching things up, eliminating a few vignettes, adding a few ... I want to finish the draft in its present rough form before I face the more important issues of pacing, tone, the things that will make or break reader interest ... reader defined as someone who reads like me ha ha ... and I think the book is still too quiet, too textured, so getting the strategy for a driving narrative, however subtle, will be the challenge. Already I recognize the two influences here, Connell for his vignette strategy in Mrs. Bridge and Dos Passos for his layered history in the U.S.A. trilogy. But the vision, of course, is my own.

But so far, so good. I'm not in a rush here -- and that in itself is something new, another consequence of old age.

So ... onward!