The Progress Invisible...

To you, anyway.  To me it's marked in blood, coffee rings, and inky fingers.

Gin & Tonic #4 is a Draft, as of Tuesday. It's an ugly, messy draft, but it has a beginning, a middle, an ending, and a through-line, so there's that, and I still have a few weeks to polish it to something I'd be willing to let my editor see (and then she will tell me all the places it's still ugly and messy, and I'll fix THOSE. Because having a clean and clear eye at this point is really helpful.)

Meanwhile, I'm back to work on the draft of SILVER ON THE ROAD, first-pass reader notes at my elbow. Two chapters revised today. Thirty to go. Then a second-pass reader's notes, and I do it again. Six weeks and counting until deadline (and 1 week and counting for the route-checking research road trip).

I bought 3 2-liter bottles of diet coke, a bag of popping corn, and a box of chocolate-covered graham crackers. Yep, all set. At least for the next few days....

(revisions are serious business, kids. you gotta go in prepared.)