Damn, this was a rough one. Lots of continuity problems that come from having done this as three distinctly different book concepts over a period of about nine or ten years, and working on it this version alone for several years. A couple of really weak spots that are going to require all-new material on the type-in. Some nightmarish structural/conceptual problems that come from working with a villain who is unlike anyone I’ve written before, and who is going to require massive rewriting of each of his scenes. The manuscript already looks like Frankenstein’s monster — pre-op — and my problem isn’t that I have to make it look like Frankenstein’s monster post-op when I finish this. I have to make it look like Marilyn Monroe, age 23.
Guesstimate on how long it’s going to take me to accomplish this? I estimate the actual words to be changed or added at around 30,000, so on simple wordcount, I should be able to have it done by the end of March. But do I think I will? Damned if I know. What I know right now is that I have a hell of a lot of work staring me in the face, and some of it is technically beyond anything I’ve attempted before. And I don’t know how long that’s going to take.
I have come to one conclusion, and I won’t make it a promise to myself, but I will state that I never want to take this long writing a book again. The problems compound when extended time is an added factor, and not to the betterment of the book … just to the worserment of the writer.
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