update

Drafting is going well.  i'm able to pick up and go, and the previous post's recipe for the Horned Devil special has contributed to some very productive butt in chair fingers at keyboard.  i've tweaked and edited the opening chapter, and i'm almost through the 2nd.  If i keep at the current pace, the draft could come in way larger than my expected 90k words.  maybe over a third more.

what i'm most pleased with is that this time my narrator is coming off much more like i envision.  Time will tell, as well as revisions, but i'm fairly pleased with the dialog that has come up during the second chapter.  i'm hoping that i've crested a hill in the writing learning curve, but i'm sure another hill comes over the horizon eventually.

(On a personal note, for the first time in the ten years i've worked on this project, my wife liked my draft...  progress, as she is a voracious reader.  My youngest son takes after her, and he liked it too)