Since getting an iPad, I've taken to reading while walking. Most of the time I read news while pacing in my apartment, but today I chose to read a novel while walking around Decker Lake. It was an experiment to see if I could manage it without walking off path. Into a gaggle of geese. Into the lake.
Any fears that I would look like Mr. Magoo have been laid to rest. Of course, if I had managed to walk up a moving girder, across a skyscraper, and through a Chinese restaurant while doing it, like Mr. Magoo I am oblivious.
While I gave my legs a workout, remembering to tighten my core and work the abs as well, I gave my mind a workout. I've been reading "My Gun Is Quick" and have been very entertained by Spillane's colorful use of metaphor. It's an exciting chapter. I'm sure tawdry scenes await me, but for now I am thrilling at his concise but clear action sequences and clever language.
It makes me excited to finish my first draft and get busy on the second. I am worrying only about plot at the moment. First, I need a clear narrative. Then, when the pieces all flow together, I'll go in and rewrite the prose. Maybe in the future I won't need this step, but for now I see that I do.
Time to go.
The sun has set behind a wall of gray, February-like clouds, and there is a spattering of rain on my head. I'm going to take this show inside. I still have an exciting chapter of my own to finish.
