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The Next Work: Part II
After I’ve finished a manuscript, I’ll usually reread it several times, fleshing it out while the story’s still fresh. When I no longer think I’m getting anything meaningful out of it, I print it out and give it to my alpha readers. I’ll then incorporate their feedback and go over and over it again until I’m back at the stage I think I can do no more. Then I’ll sit on it. I’ve sat on ‘Prudence’ for almost five years. That length of time is unusual. Other things have taken up my time. Pride, Just Another Week in Suburbia, and August Falling were all published in the interim, and each…
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The Next Work: Part I
Back in 2011, my sister in-law was battling cancer. I was in the Austin Hospital, awaiting surgery on a broken leg after being hit by a car. She was in another hospital, awaiting surgery on the removal of a tumour. She texted me and assured me that one day we’d take a walk in the park together. I marvelled – and have to this day marvelled – at her attitude: she was facing life-threatening surgery, while I had a broken leg. The following year as she continued her fight, I had other friends who had to face cancer in their lives. One friend had to deal with his partner developing…