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One thing I noticed while working on the first draft of ‘A Healing Love’ is how much my writing has evolved since 2011, when ‘A Good Man’ was completed. Fourteen years is a long time, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.
Of course, ‘better’ is subjective, but to me it means that my writing is more ‘mature’ and less naive. Additionally, having spent a considerable amount of time with these characters, I now understand them much better than I did previously.
So I decided to improve the quality of the writing in ‘A Good Man’ to match the standard of ‘A Healing Love.’ I can do this, of course, because I am not ‘traditionally’ published, so I am in complete creative control over my work and can do with it whatever I like.
It’s a challenging task. I don’t want to alter the narrative—the story’s plot. My aim is to enhance the ‘quality’ and ‘maturity’ of the prose and dialogue, while also adding some details that foreshadow future events in the series where possible.
As I write, I’ve reviewed and updated forty-one of the forty-seven chapters in the book (excluding the prologue and epilogue). I’m truly proud of some of the revisions I’ve made.
For example, the scene between Paul and Will in chapters nineteen and twenty is now much more emotionally impactful and portrays Will more convincingly as Paul’s “surrogate father.” The whiskey tasting, in particular, has been completely transformed into something truly profound.
Similarly, all the intimate scenes between Paul and Clarissa are now more rooted in the emotion of each encounter, rather than the mechanics of where body parts went, which, to me, makes them much more satisfying.
You can find the updated chapters on SOL. When I’ve finished updating the whole book, I’ll issue an updated copy to Amazon and the other e-book stores. I can’t wait for you to experience this enhanced version of the first steps on Paul’s epic coming-of-age journey.
Chapter 12 of "A Healing Love" was posted today and features the song "Not Invisible" by Kayla Valentine.
I wrote the lyrics to the song, but then used Suno to generate an AI version (using my lyrics). You can hear that version on my website now.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been doing a thorough edit and revision of A Good Man, the first book in the Paul Robertson Saga.
I've just completed the revision of chapter 20, which is almost halfway through the story. The edits and modifications do not alter the narrative or characterisation, but they modernise and generally improve the prose and dialogue. I'm a better writer now than I was 14 years ago, and I hope I'm bringing that experience to the story.
I'm particularly pleased with the revisions to chapters 19 & 20. I believe I've completely transformed these from something of a dry infodump into genuine and worthwhile character work, enhancing the mentor-mentee-surrogate father-son relationship between Will and Paul. The whiskey tasting scene in particular is something I'm really quite proud of now.
Of course, I'm only halfway through the book, and I'm posting revised chapters as they are posted. This means that right now, the story will feel a little disjointed as you read through it and encounter the original 2011 text. I know that many people are reading this story at the moment, with the release of A Healing Love, the fourth book in the series. So, whether you are reading it for the first time or reading it to remind yourself of the story before tackling A Healing Love, please be aware of the situation.
I really hope that the revisions are well received.
Chapter 3 of A Healing Love was posted today. It features a song by Kayla Valentine.
I wrote the lyrics to the song, and you can hear an AI-generated version of the song, using my lyrics, on my website right now.
I've begun posting the 4th Paul Robertson boo, A Healing Love, here on SOL. It, of course, remains available on ZBookStore.
My plan is to post chapters every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Chapter 1 is available today, with Chapters 2 & 3 already queued for tomorrow and Wednesday. I'll try and make sure I stay ahead of the queue so I don't miss a posting date, but life is hectic, I've got to strip the style classes from the HTML, and make sure I get the song lyrics, text messages and notes formatted properly for SOL, so it's quite a task.
Wait, did you say "Song Lyrics"?
Yes. I did. You'll see.
I really hope you enjoy this book. It's been a labour of love. Please don't forget to leave comments, I'll try to respond to them, and feel free to drop me a message to let me know what you think of my efforts.
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