Progress Report

Well, the good news is that I completed the first pass at reducing Book I's wordlength. That was back on Christmas Day, and I tooted my horn in celebration then. I dropped it by about the amount I originally estimated, which is both good band bad. (Good because my prognostication ability seems to be intact. Bad because, after getting into it, I began to believe I might actually accomplish the entire word reduction in a single pass. What a fool I am.)

The bad news is that I have not even begun the next pass. I've tried. I even have something started - kind of. That's one of the things which depresses me: starting over. Going back to the beginning seems to be a recurring theme with this book, and it's wearing on me. I read on someone else's blog how they spent a certain amount of time writing their book, then edited it in about a month, and now it's ready to be submitted. I spend about a month - or two - writing my books, then spend years editing them. No wonder I can't get published. I've got everything backwards.

The real problem is in the writing. Actually, I think it's less about writing and more about presentation. I think I tell a good story. Most of the people who have read it have actually been engaged by it. But it's kind of like making a spaghetti sauce. Nearly every cook has their own recipe, and nearly every recipe tastes well enough. But the truly successful cooks, The Chefs, really know how to make a spaghetti sauce. They are the ones who get the cooking shows where they use a skillet which costs more than all the cookware in my house put together. They use the fancy - and pure - ingredients which I couldn't afford on a bet, and often cannot even find. They talk about their sauces in terms I don't even understand. And they get paid!

Me? My spaghetti sauce is made from Hunts Tomato Sauce and Paste. I use powdered garlic and Kraft grated parmesian. I use onion flakes instead of fresh onions because I hate the taste and smell of onion (but recognize it has some value). None of my ingredients are nearly as fresh as those used on cooking shows. And yet even people who are not keen on spaghetti or lasagne have asked for seconds. But then, it's free, isn't it?

My writing is kind of like that, I suppose. Free, it suits well enough. But if people are going to spend their hard-earned coin, they want the good stuff. The trouble is, I've never much been good with fresh ingredients. I don't even know how to get the garlic out of the seed. Pity. I like garlic.