Went back through the entire book so far and updated for plot points, character dev, typos. At 48k words and I think it’s 3/4 of the way through.

The writing has become complicated, though, becuase I keep seeing other themes to explore. I’m fairly hard on any new ideas I get and want to add. They really have to add depth to the characters in order for me to allow them to be included. One theme that runs through the book is the sense of depression that comes from nostalgia for times that were better than the present. There is no going back. There is no way to recapture the greatness of the past. There is only the ability to live in the present and create new events that will themselves become objects for nostalgia.

The real rub is that as we age, it is more difficult to lose ourselves to the moment. We are constantly hoping to relive the past or we are dreading the impending future. So how many occurrences of this is sufficient to explore it in enough detail to provide the character with depth and not OD on the theme? How blatant do I have to be? I prefer to sneak things. But I think the likelihood of someone catching it on the first pass then becomes much less. They really have to be paying attention. As usual, I will probably satisfy myself first and the reader second. If it works for me, then the reader can deal. That’s artistic license, right? Pay attention!

The Last Days – May update