Category Archives: Time management and goals

October 30, 2026 · 4:48 pm

“Hi, I’m Plague of the Four Horsemen, can we hang out?”

As y’all already know, last Thursday I flew into Fort Walton Beach for Choctawhatchee High School’s Class of ’76 reunion. As I often do I dithered about when to fly and was I picking the best flight and so I wound up paying more and traveling at less convenient times. I left from Raleigh-Durham Airport at 6:30, got there well ahead of time (as the airlines always recommended) and it was indeed surprisingly busy.

One of my must-have requirements is a big enough time when I change flights (I always have to) that I can make it. I had an hour in Nashville and fortunately the flight was on time as the arrival and departure were gates were literally at the very end of two different terminals. Made it, then to Fort Walton Beach.

As usual I stayed with my best friend Cindy, her sister Debbie and my sister Tracy (they’re housemates). And Cindy’s dog Raven, a very friendly, licky black lab. Here Raven checks me out on the airbed.

My brother Craig showed up too, as it was his 45th reunion. No photos of him though.

The events included a school tour, a round of Goofy Golf, dinner at the Yacht Club, an afternoon on the Okaloosa Island Boardwalk and Sunday brunch at a local restaurant. In between I hung out with Cindy and my siblings and occasionally stared out at the back yard.

It’s even better seen with the naked eye.

Sunday, after all was wrapped up, I got the bad news that my flight out had been delayed … and eventually delayed so much it would land in Charlotte after my flight to Raleigh left. Siiiigh. Tracy and Craig went with me to the airport. The American Airlines desk booked me into a hotel for the night with a $12 food credit. It turned out to be a “minitel” as you can see from this shot of the room.

It was a good enough room under the circumstances, even if the desk clerk’s reference to a “bug problem” elsewhere had me expecting the worst (apparently no bedbugs in my room at least). Unfortunately by the time I got in I had very little time to sleep before I had to get up and get back to the Charlotte Airport (CLT — some people read a lot into that particular airport code). And the timing of the minitel’s shuttle meant I had to spend money on a Lyft.

Once I got to the airport everything was smooth and I finally got home. Unfortunately I had the reunion equivalent of “con crud” — reunion rot, I’m calling it. Much like past viral incidents, it starts in my throat which is vulnerable because of asthma, and because my breath control when I speak is terrible and puts a strain on my voice. And I spoke a lot last weekend. It’s been so long since I had an incident, I’ve gotten slack about improving that; that’s going to have to change. Fortunately as it’s not my first rodeo I drove to the Urgent Care (a five minute walk, not that I wanted to walk) and got meds. I’m on the mend but still keeping largely silent; talking because I’m all better is how I undercut being all better. Oh, and the hacking has largely robbed me of sleep.

So my plans to bounce back with four days of work became a cropper. I did somehow get two stories in for The Local Reporter (not up online yet) and two Atomic Junk Shop posts: a look at the advertising for Jonah Hex’s debut and Gary Friedrich’s gratuitously sexist run writing Captain America.

His black power scenes aren’t too hot either (art by John Romita).

But now all that’s done, I can focus almost entirely on proofing and indexing Watching Jekyll and Hyde! At last!

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October 16, 2026 · 4:12 pm

My chakras aligned! The power flows to my hand! We have achieved liftoff!

The work week did not start out well.

Sunday, we went out for a relatively late dinner. It’s been forever since my acid reflux was a problem but eating a large meal late, plus a chocolate dessert, plus a glass of wine made it kick in. It was still kicking in as I went to bed so zero sleep. Monday night was almost as bad — I fell into the “I have to sleep, I have to sleep!” state of mind and as y’all may know, that guarantees someone won’t sleep well.

(From a trip to our auto dealer for an oil change recently. I’ve no idea why geese consider the parking lot such a happening place).

Tuesday night I expected more of the same, particularly given I’d be getting to bed late due to a writer’s group meeting. But nope — it wasn’t quite enough but it was a normal, solid night of sleep. Waking up in the morning felt so good, hence the title of this post. It helped that for the first time in a while, I drew up a tighter schedule for my day’s activities. With the dogs and their increasing health needs, staying on schedule has become increasingly difficult so I started writing down tasks for the day and not worrying about the hour by hour structure. It turns out even if I don’t follow it exactly, hour by hour works better for me. Lesson learned!

That kept me going the rest of the week but my insomnia Monday and Tuesday meant the productive days were undercut by the dazed ones. And it’s not like I caught up on sleep the rest of the week. And the acid reflux lingered, which is unpleasant, plus I had a sore shoulder. Happily, they’ve cleared up — at my age I always worry they’re the first sign of permanent loss of function.

All that said, here’s my week in writing:

I sold four ebook copies of Southern Discomfort on Amazon. I know, it puts money in Bezos’ pocket, but next to hand-selling at cons, it’s still my largest sales channel. Also one copy of Questionable Minds. Thanks, whoever you are who bought them!

I got the PDF of Watching Jekyll and Hyde for me to proof and index. The schedule’s tight but doable.

So is the schedule for using my Draft2Digital and Amazon accounts to get Become the Sky ready for release mid-November. Both together, though? It will be tough. I’m currently making a last pass over the manuscript to spot any last typos and yes, I found some. Once that’s done, hopefully it will be smooth sailing, though I’ve often had to adjust the formatting to make it come out right on D2D. Fingers crossed, not too much difficulty.

Oh, and I still have Local Reporter articles to do for November. Plus I need to take a couple of days off soon for personal stuff. Overall, accomplishing the Big Three is doable, but not easily doable. But hey, if the job was gonna be easy, they wouldn’t have sent me to do it!

The dogs have demanded some attention too. Trixie used to just gulp her pills down in a little ball of soft food; now she needs them ground up, spread on a plate of soft food, with enough stuff added (chicken, pumpkin, treats or similar enhancers) that she’ll eat it … slowly. This expands the morning and evening dosing time. Plus she’s still having to go out more frequently because of her incontinence issues. It’s distracting but she’s my little girl, and I will adjust. It did get a lot easier after my mid-week reboot. Perhaps that will keep up.

To compensate for the stress of the added demands, I made a chocolate cake.

It helped a lot. Though it’s not so good for the reflux.

Over at Atomic Junk Shop I got in posts about the unsuccessful TV series Time Express and the way the Bronze Age revived unsuccessful superheroes along with supervillains.

Wish me luck. If I can get everything done by deadline next month, I am so going to celebrate, though I’m not yet sure how.

Southern Discomfort cover by Sam Collins, Become the Sky by Sonya Lano. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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October 9, 2026 · 4:30 pm

Like the past couple of weeks, this one was good and bad at once

The good stuff was, I “completed” the outline for draft three of Let No Man Put Asunder. The air quotes are because I’ll definitely want to reread it and revise it before I start writing the next draft — do my initial decisions about what should happen where still feel right? Are there stretches where I’ve skipped over details or it sounds like the plot logic will fall apart? I’ve never had much success outlining but this one does feel like I can build a draft on it, and faster than usual. That would be nice.

(This medieval church arch was something I forgot to include in Tuesday’s Nasher Museum photos).

I may also want to go into more detail in some of my scenes or … well, we’ll see when I get to writing it. You’ll get some detailed discussion of the outline in one of next week’s posts. But regardless, getting a reasonably workable outline is a big step towards draft3 and I’m pleased to have it done, and only in a couple of days too. Though I’ve seen my outlines fall apart often enough that I’m not as enthused about D3 as I want to be. I’m confident that will change.

The bad? Once again, I got nibbled to death by ducks, so that was the week’s only writing accomplishment.

Monday was particularly duck-infested. Our neighbor was traveling until this evening, and discovered at the last minute her house/dog sitter would have to be out much of the day. I agreed to walk Kaya, her terrier/chihuahua mix. She’s a sweet girl and a walk 3:30 every day wasn’t too much trouble. Monday, though, the housesitter got delayed so I took out Kaya for morning walk. Then a couple of hours later I took Plush Dog in to the vet as he’s limping on his back left leg a little. The verdict: nothing serious, up his pain meds so he’s both comfortable and rests more this week.

Then home and about 45 minutes dealing with some IRS paperwork. Nothing catastrophic or urgent but I couldn’t get the answers off the website and due to those staff cuts under the Toddler couldn’t get answers on the phone. Frustrating, and another distraction from doing my own work (I did get through the following morning and I think we worked everything out). Then a distraction of my own making, cooking a curry for lunch. Then Kaya’s regular walk which proved longer than anticipated. All of that added up.

Plus the Discord for Become the Sky blew up with a shit-ton of messages as we move closer to finishing the manuscript. For me, wading through a lot of messages on Discord is like sensory overload. Trying to figure out what we were discussing and how much of it was new was distracting.

The rest of the week wasn’t as bad. However we do have to take Trixie out extra times to deal with her ongoing incontinence issues. Plus she’s getting up so early in the morning, I don’t have the 90 minutes or so I used to when it was just me and the cats. That was a restful way to start the morning; having Trixie with me as well makes it harder to get my head in the game.

Oh, well. Like they say, adapt or die, there is no other way. Wish me luck adapting.

For a final visual detail, here’s another exhibit from the Nasher. Not subtle, but I’m okay with that.

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October 2, 2026 · 4:30 pm

A bumpy flight but it feels like I landed the plane

The end of September was not as productive as I’d hoped.

Monday through Wednesday I was busy working on my two Local Reporter articles, one on September’s big town council meeting, one a listicle of Carrboro nonprofits. It shouldn’t have taken three days but I was still tired from last week. Plus Trixie’s incontinence continued into this week, off and on. Plus I took her to a vet appointment Tuesday, then my flu and covid shots Wednesday became the excuse for a larger series of errands: library, cat food, dog drugs. Plus some paperwork that needed doing only the relevant website refused to cooperate. I have no idea if it’s malfunctioning or badly designed.

It doesn’t help that Trixie’s decided she wants to get up earlier. If she gets up just as I’m starting my day, it throws me way off. I lose the one to two dog-free hours I normally enjoy in the morning and coping with her as well as the cats makes it surprisingly hard to focus. But I’ll never say no to her.

Could you? And it’s not like it’s her fault or anything, even when snuggled next to me, she peed on my pants in her sleep.

Thursday, though, I got back in the swing of things. A lot of little tasks related to Become the Sky. Some groundwork for my next Local Reporter articles. And I began replotting Let No Man Put Asunder by thinking about the character arcs. While there’s a lot I like about the second draft, Paul and Mandy need much more emotional stress. And the whole novel needs a stronger arc: the threat level really doesn’t grow enough. It’s run-from-the-bad-guys, find temporary safety, run some more … it doesn’t ratchet up until maybe the last fifth of the book. But that’s fixable.

That’s not a lot to get done but just the fact I was really focused felt good. Especially with Trixie’s problems distracting me.

Oh, my friend and fellow Durham Writers Group member Lucy Adams has a chestnut tree and it recently shed a bunch of nuts. She gave me some and I tried roasting a few; when that proved successful I roasted more of them.

If I put a small X in the shell, the steam from roasting open up the shell, making it easy to peel. I made them into mushrooom-chestnut soup last weekend, and very tasty it was.

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September 25, 2026 · 4:30 pm

This time I didn’t duck the axe-man

If you imagine distracting events as the axe-men Luke Cage is busting on this cover —

— then unlike last week, the third axe-man did me in. Almost nothing got done this week.

I knew it wouldn’t be a stellar week because TYG had an out-of-town trip which left me with all the dog care (not a criticism of her — she does the same when I go out of town). Still it wouldn’t have been too bad, except early Sunday morning Trixie’s UTI returned. Peeing on the bed does tend to rob one of sleep. Monday I had to take her in; the vet confirmed it’s a different bacterial soup inside her from last time. This could mean some bacteria got antibiotic resistance or that her equipment is looser and weaker., leading to incontinence. Either way it’s treatable.

Happily the UTI doesn’t seem to affect anything else. She’s lively, up for walks, eats, snuggles. No small thing.

In the short term, however, I got minimal sleep Saturday and Sunday night (she got up early Monday morning too). Then Monday night I was too stressed with worry to sleep well and felt half-dead Tuesday. Need I say I didn’t get much done? Wednesday was better but not much better. TYG returned and I got more sleep Wednesday night. However Thursday I was still tired and we had a recheck for Trixie to go to.

Result? Almost nothing done. Some work on Savage Adventures and a final review of my two stories for Become the Sky. We’re shooting to get it done next month so that has to be a priority.

However, as I’ve blogged about several times over the years, some bad weeks are inevitable. Sooner or later you hit a week where everything goes wrong. This ain’t the first. Won’t be the last. The solution is to do better next week. This will be a little challenging — three different medical appointments for various things — but I shall do my best to rise to the challenge.

To end on a plus note, I sold several copies of various books so as always, thank you buyers! Hope you enjoyed them.

Cover by Billy Graham. All rights to image remain with current holders.

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September 18, 2026 · 4:39 pm

So far I’m one step ahead of the axe-men

You know, these axemen. I’ve posted this Billy Graham cover before because it sums up the way life keeps bushwhacking us just when we think we’re out from under. There were more axemen this week than expected but like the first week of September, the work got done.

A lot of the distractions were paperwork, like submitting for our dogs various recent vet visits, ordering fresh dog drugs, etc. There was also tiredness due to Trixie’s drug regimen keeping up up late to get the last ones in. Her UTI and her GI issues have resolved themselves, though, and the drugs are done. However she developed a slightly shaky left rear leg so we have an appointment this Saturday. It’s nothing serious but it’s definitely not normal — I don’t want to wait for serious discomfort like we did with the GI bleed.

Despite the leg, she’s 100 percent better from last weekend. Hungry, bouncy, eager to play, willing to walk and just more her usual self. Dudley too is in good shape. We had his rehab recheck Monday and the vet gushed over the great shape he’s in for nearly 16. Yay Dudders, yay vet, yay us for taking good care.

Overall life was nowhere near as intense as last week. However it was intense enough I didn’t really get to draw breath, either.

So, walk. As one of my October articles for The Local Reporter is a listicle of Carrboro nonprofits I spent Monday researching them. There’s quite a lot for a small town so it’s a good thing I started. I imagine I’ll break them down into different groupings (kid-related, sports, arts, charity, etc.) when I write it next week.

I’ve proofed The Savage Adventures through 1937 which is about 45 percent of the book done. Having reread the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder last week, I began planning Draft Three. That meant reading a lot of articles about rewriting, developing character arcs, etc., then starting work on Paul and Mandy’s character arcs (details next week). That was very productive; hopefully the work will translate into a smooth, faster-than-usual draft.

My two stories for the Become the Sky anthology have gotten two rounds of editing so I made changes Thursday. This took longer than expected so I didn’t write anything further. However the critiques were really good and the stories are stronger for it. So yay. If all goes well we’ll have this out before year’s end so you can decide for yourself.

Oh, and my sensitive teeth appear to be getting back to normal so maybe a crown won’t be necessary. Hurray! Second hurray, I sold another copy of Southern Discomfort. Whoever you were, thank you — I hope you enjoy it.

After I wrote the first draft of this post, I realized something else about this week: I’m waaaaay more focused than I have been in a while. I’m having no trouble concentrating on my work and only wandering off to check BlueSky (or whatever) occasionally. That hasn’t been the case in … a while? I’m not sure what changed but hopefully I can keep it up next week (much chaotic stuff to deal with, details next Friday). Because it feels good.

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September 11, 2026 · 4:16 pm

Second September verse, more or less same as the first

Which is to say that much like last week there were constant calls on my time but I still got good work done. Not as much as last week —Thursday there was too much stuff going on, including the housecleaners coming in (having to watch over four pets in a small room to keep them out of the way does not lead to productive results). Even so.

First, the medical stuff. Plushie’s eye ulcer is gone; once again his robustness shines through and his problems cleared up. Trixie, by contrast, followed up last week’s gastro-intestinal bleed with a UTI. Fortunately the vet has handled both and she’s on the road to recovery. In hindsight I was right a couple of weeks back to think something was wrong — her body language and behavior were “off” — but it was such a vibes-based thing I wasn’t sure it was quantifiable enough for the vet. Looking at her now, when she’s back to her usual cheery self, I can see I should have acted sooner.

Oh, and I had my own medical issue. A couple of weeks back I made a Scandinavian flatbrod, which the book described as a cracker-like flatbread. Turns out while it’s hard like a cracker it isn’t brittle; I hurt my gums biting hard on it (this may have been my baking rather than something innate in the recipe). Got an appointment with the dentist this week; she recommended waiting three weeks to see if the pain subsides. If not, I need a crown. Fingers crossed the pain goes away.

Like I said, work got done despite that. More work on my Doc Savage history, Savage Adventures. Two days going over the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. It helped clarify some of what I vaguely sensed wasn’t working with this last draft; now I’ll try to override my pantsing instincts and plot the next draft out thoroughly. I’ll discuss what lies ahead in one of next week’s posts.

At The Local Reporter I wrote about problems with school bus service in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and how the Republican-dominated legislature is restricting local development rules. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about Steve Ditko’s Objectivism —

— and Bronze Age writers’ enthusiasm for bringing back C-list Silver Age villains.

I’m tired, sure. The timing of Trixie’s drug regimen means we usually wind up going to sleep later than usual and it’s taking its toll. But the work got done. I’m pleased.

Panels from Blue Beetle #5 drawn and written by Steve Ditko. All rights to image remain with current holders.

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September 4, 2026 · 4:14 pm

God said ha. I said “ha!” back

The old saying is that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I planned to get a lot done this week; God said “ha!” meaning there were a ton of obstacles. Despite which, to my pleasant surprise, I did get a lot done.

First the obstacles. We were still dealing with Plushie’s ulcer (diagnosed last week) but as of his Thursday appointment, it’s cured. Once again our dog has beaten a health problem despite his nearly 16 years of age! That’s always nice. He’s still on an antibiotic for the ulcer but that’s more a precaution than a necessity. We’re taking it though.

Trixie didn’t do so well. Last week she was becoming weirdly picky about food and reluctant to eat her meds. She also felt … off, in a way I can sense but couldn’t define. Sunday she began not eating at all so we took her into the vet Monday, followed by the emergency vet (they could do a couple of tests Park Vet couldn’t). At first the news was horrifying: anemic, blood count up, white blood cells up, which could indicate an infection, or possibly internal bleeding. At the end of the day, by virtue of eliminating the alternatives, they settled on probably some bleeding in the GI tract (I will skip the technical details).

We came home with directions to switch some of her meds and to have her drink a protective slurry an hour before her meals. It’s working: we took her in for a recheck Wednesday and all her signs have improved, though not by a lot (but the vet said that’s expected). She’s livelier, though also sleepier — she’s on Gabapentin now and it knocks her out. But she’s clearly happier and more interested in eating so this is a definite win. A demanding one — the need to time the slurry and her food and some of her meds makes our schedules that much more complicated.

Oh, and I also had to take our car in for an oil change and checkup. That took up a couple of hours too.

Despite which, work went well. I got two articles in for The Local Reporter, both out next week. Might get a third one done but I think that’s where the dog drama will leave me too wiped. I also got three posts up at Atomic Junk Shop, one about iron-on shirt decals in the 1970s, one on a really weird 1971 cover (above, by Murphy Anderson) and one about the path to (IMHO) the definitive Phantom Stranger run by Jim Aparo and Len Wein which kicked off with the cover at left by Aparo.

I also got a nice review of Southern Discomfort from one of my fellow bloggers. Thanks, Greg!

I worked through another year of Doc Savage’s history for Savage Adventures, and polished the bibliography. And then, on Let No Man Put Asunder, I really got some good stuff done. First I went through the writing guide Writing the Breakout Novel, taking notes on stuff that might be useful to think about (give your villains goals. Your supporting characters too). Maybe not — while I’ve read the book a lot, I’m not sure I use it’s techniques not. But I think I’m using it early enough in the rewrite process that might be different.

Then I started rereading, taking notes along the way. Insights or phrases someone offers more than once (“making the beast with two backs” is not going to appear more than once). Thin characterization or motivation. Implausible plotting. Places where it needs more tension. I got a third of the way through the book; that’s pretty good.

I also received by McFarland second-half-of-the-year royalty check. Small, but my books are still selling, which is cool; if you bought one of them, thanks!

And I now have three stories in the “made the first cut” category. No guarantee any of them will sell — I’m quite used to “This was a really tough decision, but …” emails — but they’re all possibilities. More disappointingly, I won’t get an author table to sell my books at Retcon next year. It was quite lucrative this year because it’s set up so all the con-goers go past the sale area frequently, probably why table requests have quadrupled. I’m on the waiting list so fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed too for more weeks like this.

Below, a typical Len Wein opening to a Phantom Stranger story. Aparo art.

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August 28, 2026 · 4:40 pm

Do I wither with time, or is this just a fluke?

Which is to say, this was another frustrating week. Looking at how often I type that, I wonder if I’m losing my ability to concentrate as I age? Or is it just that sometimes, shit happens.

This week was definitely partly “shit happens.” First off, Monday evening Plushie’s good eye had something wrong with it, making him squint so much it was barely open. TYG rushed him down to the nearby emergency vet who did not perform well. We may not go back which is a crying shame (it’s a lot further to the next closest E/R). However we were able to get a Tuesday morning appointment with his eye doctor (they’re also close): it’s an ulcer, which is manageable and it was back to normal by Thursday (though we’ll be doing added eyedrops for a week or so). Still that meant we got to bed sometime around midnight, which ain’t good.

Yesterday I went in to my own doctor, who confirmed I have sleep apnea. The most likely outcome is that I’ll end up wearing one of those freaky masks hooked up to a small air pump. I’ll be talking to a specialist about that. The other alternatives are a smaller mouthpiece that would widen my air intake or to take the GLP and see if my weight comes down. My doctor favors the CPAC pump and I’m inclined to agree. While I’m obese by BMI standards I’d need to lose 30 pounds to be non-obese; while I’m nobody’s idea of six-pack abs I do not believe I have 30 excess pounds to lose. In any case, that took a chunk out of my day.

Oh, and Trixie came down with a tummy this weekend and refused to eat. Since then she’s eating but she’s ultra-picky. Won’t take her meds on anything but the same canned chicken we give Plushie. Won’t eat kibble, only soft food. Refuses most hard treats — I’d think she had a tooth issue but there are some treats she does eat so … well, you’ve got me. If it keeps going I may ask the vet for insight.

All that said, part of the problem this week was me not being organized. I had three stories to work on for The Local Reporter and in-between sending out emails and waiting for replies my mind kind of wandered (the lack of sleep didn’t help). Plus I had some personal plane travel I might take before the end of the year and that always messes up my mind: do I want to spend the money? Do I want to get to the airport at 5 in the morning if it saves $100? I’ve spent much of my life living on a struggling writer salary so it’s impossible for me to be just “yeah, that’ll do for anything over a couple of hundred bucks. And if I plonk down the money now, who knows what’ll happen between now and then?However I did get most of the work done on the stories. Plus I got more work done on Savage Adventures, including adding footnotes. I’d been mostly attributing stuff in the text when appropriate but it’ll flow much smoother with footnotes.

And that was about it. Part of the problem is that I kept trying to do more than one project in a day and that’s usually a mess unless I plan it very carefully. I’m going to try to avoid that in September.

Oh, here are two pieces over at Atomic Junkshop: one about realizing what certain songs really mean, one on DC’s Homo magi and my head-canon version of their history.

Doc Savage cover by James Bama, comic book panel by Jack Sparling. All rights to images remain with current holder.

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August 25, 2026 · 5:02 am

The ending of the book (and what came before)

As I mentioned last Friday, the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder is now done. Though technically I suppose it’s more like the eighth draft: this is a rewrite of a novel I finished in the 1990s, which was a rewrite of my second novel from back in the 1980s. The title has remained, nothing else is the same.

(As I don’t have any book-relevant illustrations, the photos will be random)

Okay, one thing remained the same, the core concept of two people, an older woman and a younger man, meeting and forming a telepathic link, one that downloaded all their memories into each other. The original 1980s version had them pretty happy before things began to happen; I went with “ordinary person caught up in a deadly dangerous game” rather than “protagonist with a personal problem resolves it by getting caught up in a deadly dangerous game.”

The 1990s rewrite made everything considerably weirder and more imaginative as they wandered through various nightmare worlds running from the mercenaries hired by their mysterious, unknown enemy. In the 1980s version, their enemy saw them as a threat and wanted them dead; at the climax he turns out to have a weakness that isn’t set up in advance. The 1990s take established he’s a psionic who kills anyone he sees as a threat to his power — and that’s pretty much anyone with similar abilities. His weakness is that he’s always struck and killed swiftly and never learned to fight a protracted battle; when my protagonists, Adrienne and Neil, confront him at the climax, they survive long enough that his confidence cracks. For someone whose powers stem from his force of will, that proved a fatal weakness.

The reason Adrienne and Paul were a threat remained the same in both versions. It doesn’t work for Paul and Mandy in the current version. The Community of All is simply too big and too powerful a foe, with different motivations … so why were they a threat to it? And how could they beat it?

Suffice to say, I figured it out. There is a reason the Community is hunting them down. And I think it works. Having found an ending to the plot, however, I still need one more draft. I need to sharpen the character arcs — both Paul and Mandy are in worse places at the start than Adrienne and Neil were. And I’m not sure those character arcs end satisfactorily. The 1990s version was Part One of a duology; this ending makes the book a standalone. The adventure is over, their immediate problems have been resolved, but I still want to show where they’re heading next. Paul, for example, was supposed to end up in a relationship with one of the supporting characters: this draft that didn’t happen, though I may change that back.

In September I’ll read over the story and take notes, then start mapping out what needs to happen — beats in the character arc, and the like. I’m tentatively optimistic I can finish by the end of the year and then send it out for beta reading, alongside getting the final proofing done on Watching Jekyll and Hyde.

Wish me luck.

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