61.67% of the front cover of STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS. Coming this summer.

Sunday morning:11:07. I hab a code. Ruddy doze. Sore trote. But I did go for a short run! Yah!

Getting ready to dive into the physical manuscript of the book to the right. Actually might do some good old fashioned cut and paste. Logging off of social media for the next few hours. As Marshall Ryan Maresca would say, “Going down into the word mines.” I’ll let you know how it goes…

Sunday afternoon: Checking in. 2:31. Struggling. Papers strewn all over the living room, trying to find order in the chaos of the first draft. Three hankies down. Okay. Back to work.G

Sunday evening: 7:25. Well. Yes. Well. After making lots of stacks of paper and lots of marks on them as well as some cutting and pasting, I have decided that I need to step back and think a bit more about what’s happening in the book. ALL IS SILENCE is essentially a quest book. We don’t see a lot of character growth. There is a goal of safety, of going from being alone to being surrounded by loved ones. STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS is about character growth, maturation, transformation. So I’m thinking and reading before diving in.

Next step will be pulling the parts that definitely don’t fit. I found several of them today. Then I should be ready to write in the missing parts. The first five chapters are off to the editor. I have the beginning, many rising actions, the climax and the falling action and resolution, but some are not as fleshed out as they need to be. And there is still the fate of the world and of Zach, Nev, Mannie and Saj…

So, more thinking is needed. And sleeping… Hopefully my throat will be up to teaching tomorrow. I’m going to give it a shot.