Still on Chapter 2

Well, the comments my wife had on Chapter 2 over the weekend convinced me that I need to do a little more work.

The obvious need, which I took care of this morning, was to straighten out the order of presentation. There was too much jumping back in forth in time so that it was was difficult at a basic level to understand what was happening in time.

I also trimmed out two scenes--deleting most of them and incorporating parts of them into other scences--which reduced it by about 2 pages. (1%! Big whoop.)

So now it is hopefully much more intelligible. I'm going to see if my wife can spare some time tonight to look at the first half of the chapter that was so confusing and confirm that.

What I fear, though, is that it is more obvious where it fails to be meaningful. I have a nagging sense that I'm evading spots where I know in my heart it is not really developed well. But I really want to keep moving forward, so I think that's what I'll probably do tomorrow.

I've been thinking more and more lately that it's time for another reader. I'm trying to postpone that as long as possible, but it's on my mind a lot.

Slogging through Chapter 2

I've had two good working days. About two hours each yesterday and today. I'm hoping that two more good hours tomorrow will get me through the rest of the Chapter 2, so I can give it to my wife over the weekend. That would be pushing it I think, just looking at the number of pages to go.

I actually have time today, since I got an early start, so I intended to make use of the whole morning, but at about the two hour mark I felt I couldn't get my mental energy focused on the next section that needed work. If I was ever so fortunate to be able to write full time--either through wealth or some kind of arts fellowship--I'm not sure I'd actually be able to make great use of it.

Honestly, my biggest problem is being so easily distracted by the internet. I really have to get more disciplined. It's only a mouse click away all the time that I'm working.