Rewriting The Rich Are Different

While in the post office the other day, a couple of postal workers who bought A Real Piece of Work complimented me on the writing.

“It reads so smoothly,” one of them said.

“It seems like it’s effortless for you,” said another.

Then they asked what I was up to now. I told them, “Reworking the second book in the series so it reads like the first.”

In fact, yesterday I finished a new revision of the novel—The Rich Are Different—and I was reminded of something Michael Crichton once said about his own struggles with revision. He said, “Books aren’t written—they’re rewritten….It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

I’ve lost count which rewrite of The Rich Are Different that I’m on, but I’m sure there will be 2–3 more before I’m through.

(Long sigh.)