Edward Gorey, “The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel” (1953)

Not “weeks”, but “one day” later (and minus the sherry), I’ve begun the revision which, truth be told, is every bit as “loathsome” as described in TUH. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be crankier than usual as I try to excavate a plot and some interesting characters from my 180-page MS.

Started today: a re-read, with notes of who’s who. Prognosis: there just might be something there.

For those who wish to know, my WIP’s title is Split Ballot, and it’s a dystopian sci-fi thriller (too many genres? you think?), set in 2024. I’ll reveal no more for now. But I will say that a friend who writes thrillers has offered her 15-year-old daughter as a beta reader (I politely ignore the implications of her proposal), which makes me want to get on with the revision in order to send the daughter something by March or April.

It’s going to be a busy winter.

PS: What I’ve been reading lately — Jonathan Auxier’s Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes and Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster, along with the next books in Eric Kraft’s Peter Leroy saga. Pratchett’s and Gaiman’s Good Omens is working its way up my TBR stack.