And now, the end is near

So I’m off to Nashville this weekend for my final jaunt, and then begins the long trek home.
Having finished the book last Friday, I’ve put my feet up and done nothing since - NOT!

I’ve hardly left the book alone. I’ve read and re-read it, fiddling with thoughts and ideas, with grammar and sentence structure, making sure all the continuity details work, and I’ve totally removed the short epilogue I’d tagged on the end. It needs something there - as it stands, at just over 124,000 words and 500 pages it ends far too abruptly. But what I had written won’t do, and for now I am not ready to try again. There will be plenty of time to find what should fill that slot.

There are passages that do not work. That’s OK: this is a first draft, and as I continue to hone it over the months and probably years ahead those passages will get sorted. There are times when the overall pace of the book is not what it should be. Again, if I’d got that right everywhere at the first attempt, I’d have been frankly shocked.

But there are places where it does just what it should. Times when I say what I want to exactly how I want to. And on the whole, given that I have attempted something here that is way beyond anything I have tried before, I am pleased.

I just know that there is a lot more work to be done! In bits and pieces, quietly, silently, turning what is now something with promise into what I hope one day will deliver that promise and reward any readers in the process.

Which isn’t to say this week hasn’t been restful: more sleep and less work and lots of sitting by the pool and enjoying the sunshine. Hope you like the photo of Ben trying to play his keyboard whilst Sammy the cat has other ideas!

So - Nashville. Jared Ribble, drummer with Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, and Kenn Hughes, MD of the band will be my hosts for the weekend. DMHO is a great band, styling itself either as a Christian big band or as a horn led pop band depending on whether it’s their MySpace or their website you look at. I’ve had the pleasure of singing a couple of their charts with the National Big Band of Wales, and of chatting with Kenn via email for a while - he was really encouraging when I was doing the Every Breath CD. Now I get to meet these guys, and it is going to be a huge privilege for me, and a lot of fun. My last weekend here in the States for this trip, and time to enjoy!