Image: "Dos Cabezas Thistle, Arizona" (c) 2014 Stu Jenks.
The first draft of the Step Zero Christmas book went to three readers. One liked it, except for the overly-long ending, but the two other readers said the exact same thing.
"It's OK," they said, with slight disappointment in their voices.
"Ah, shit," I said and chuckled.
I've now risen to a level of mediocrity.
So I felt sorry for myself for three days and then began a complete restructure and rewrite of the Step Zero Christmas book. A dramatic shift in focus, characters and plot. That's all I'll say. Don't want to spoil anything.
But I can't help but laugh.
Fifteen years ago, I would have argued my case when I hear, "It's OK," badgering my two readers with reasons that the novel was so much more then just OK. But I'm a bit humbly of an artist these days. I'm not particularly talented, don't you know, but I try to make up for that with hard work and an active imagination. I'm not God's gift to anything, but I do have a couple of skills, and I strive to make the best of what I have.
And I can do better than "It's OK."
Wish me luck in the rewrite. I don't know if I'll get this book out to you all by Christmas but I'll do my level best. It's all any of us can do, when you get right down to it, to do our level best.
P.S. The first sentence in the new second chapter is this:
"I’ve only been an angel ghost for 10 years, but it still makes me uneasy when a family member dies and we are all over here, waiting to catch them, as they pass over to our side of things."
Addemdum from May 23rd: Some confusion from my blog readers. I'm talking about the Step-Zero-Christmas-Book-In-Which-I'm-Saying-The-Title-Since-The-Title-Gives-Something-Away. I'm not speaking about Air & Gravity book. That's on track for its July 7th release.
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