I've been plugging away at all the things and recently picked up the camera to try a little behind-the-scenes history, something I've been pretty inconsistent with of late. I do need to keep with it though, because each time both the filming and the editing get just a bit easier. This gives me hope for improving both the sound and video quality going forward.
In book news, I'm on track to wrap up the initial draft of the first half of the novel. At that point, I'm going to take a break from straight writing and start cleaning up the messes that I've left along the way in the first draft. I have some story lines that have evolved as I've been writing and I need to go back and make adjustments to earlier parts of the narrative.
I've included a new literary element that I need to weave through and I have some details to research and flesh out. I also have to refine some of the characteristics of key players in the story (and some new folks I've added in) to make sure there's consistency throughout. Once I take care of that, I think I'll have a strong foundation for heading into the second half of the book.
This whole process is definitely taking way more time than I anticipated in the beginning, but I still find that mostly I'm enjoying it and I feel sufficiently motivated (disciplined) to keep going.
In history travel news, I was able to hit up a local house museum for its annual Herbs, Teas, and Arts Festival. I'm working on a video and article now about the festival and the moving poetry readings at Montpelier (Maryland not Virginia.)
Sadly, my plans to hit up the Gaithersburg Book Festival were foiled by excruciatingly hot weather. (I'm a big baby about hot weather.)
The video is here, if you want to check it out.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me and I'll see ya next time.
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