The new rewrite

I found a second wind last night and managed to do a complete rewrite of the big things to fix, with three vignettes still needing work. I reduced the 228 page book to 212 pages. I removed one secondary and two minor characters. I added two vignettes (2 of the 3 above needing work). I uploaded it to Kindle for a slow note-taking reading. I think the next time it comes out of Kindle, I'll be ready for the final draft. We'll see.

I'm focusing so much on the small things now, I will need a time to set it aside for a week and come back to it "as a book," just reading it for pleasure. The last reader's complete enthusiasm, however, really has me jacked because all the work yet to do was getting me down -- it's as if this reader were able to see the end product and react to it, rather than to the partial mess at hand. He really got it. And he particularly liked the ending, though I have rephrased it since his draft ... same action, but moving the language around so the last three words in the novel are different and hopefully powerful.

Two students seeing me at office hours after class. Good, makes the time go faster.

Then home with time in next few days to work on the novel.

I really like the cover of Eight Oregon Plays. This is a book for libraries more than anyone else, I suspect.