I've finished the third draft of MINDKILLER, which means it's in good enough shape to give to Trusted Reader for a critique. This makes me nervous, and I have to restrain myself from hovering over him and repeatedly asking: What's going on in the book now? How do you like it? Are you buying it?
The good news: He claims to be so caught up in the story at times that he forgets to critique.
The bad news: He has some solid suggestions. But that isn't bad news. Not really. It's what I want to make it better.
While he works on that, I've begun reading for my next book, a take on the exorcist/demon possession narrative. I can't say any more than that without jinxing it, but I have a confession to make: I'm afraid of the devil.
The first book I (re)read was The Exorcist. It wasn't nearly as scary as it was when I was a teenager what with all the adverbs Blatty overuses. What's freaking me out is the non-fiction.
Even though I don't believe in the supernatural, I can't help worrying that the more I find out about demons, the more demons will vex me! So far, though, I seem to be un-afflicted. No moving furniture, no vomiting, no writhing. Everything carries on as usual. But man, if you believe some of those books, America is crawling with demons! We're all at risk.
In other completely unrelated news, I've started a fish blog over at tumblr. If you love fish and fishing, come visit. And if you have any fish stories or photos, please submit to me. NOW! (Sorry, that's the devil talking.)
