March 20, 2008

Happy Spring! I returned from Mexico with a solid second draft of my new book, Lake on the Mountain. Since then, I've completed a third draft, adding a few finishing touches before sending it off to Marc Cote at Cormorant Books for his input before I go any further with it.

One of those finishing touches was the (highly unexpected) addition of chapter titles to all 27 chapters, adding an ironic counterpoint to the content, but not in any sense of dissecting the content. So, for instance, the third chapter is called 'Coffee and Donuts' because of a manic meeting at 4 AM between the protagonist, Daniel Sharp, and his depressed former-neighbour at a local donut shop. My favourite title, 'My iPod, Your iPod', is given to a chapter in which Dan's 15-year-old son, Ked, is accused of handling stolen goods.

All good fun, and in keeping with the book, though I don't mean to imply that the theme isn't serious. Now that's it's mostly done, I think I can say what it's about: the solving of a 20-year-old cold case in which a man left his family and disappeared, the only clue being a bicycle that went missing at the same time.

Next up: song composition!