It’s been a while since my last update on here, partly because I concentrate on posting updates to my website, but also because I've been in for minor knee surgery and have been in recovery. Yep, I finally got that lump on my knee that’s been bugging me for a decade removed. Day surgery, so I was back home before I knew it.
The procedure was smoother than I expected. It was under general anaesthetic, so one minute I’m talking about what I do for a living and the next, I’m waking up, groggy but able to tell that the annoying little lump was gone immediately. Years of pressure and pain, gone. Poof! Just like that! It was amazing. From leaving my room to go to theatre to getting back was about an hour and a half at most. I went into the hospital before breakfast and was back home for teatime.
Recovery? Mostly chill, with a side of ‘ow, my knee!’ You know the drill: slice it open, remove a vascular tumour, and suddenly, sitting still feels like torture, and moving feels like a marathon. It’s a delightful balancing act, let me tell you. My hips are staging a mini-rebellion because I’m walking like a wonky robot to avoid putting too much pressure on the operated knee.
But, as I must have repeated to a couple of dozen people when they’ve asked how I am, I’m doing okay. Got a follow-up this week to make sure everything’s healing up nicely.
I had this grand plan of using my downtime to crank out a ton of ‘A Healing Love’ chapters. Turns out, ‘not being able to sit still’ and ‘writing for hours’ don’t exactly mix. I managed to finish chapter 35, though, which is a win. That marks the end of a little ‘section’ of the story.
I’m am really pleased with Chapters 30 through 35 and think they may represent the best writing I’ve ever done, especially given the content, which has been a tricky tightrope to walk between drama and getting a bit ‘preachy.’ Two character’s give speeches in two separate chapters in this section of the story and it’s been hard work to find a balance between just parroting the speech and weaving in enough movement and introspection, but not too much introspection, if you know what I mean.
The manuscript is now over 160,000 words and I still think I’m no target for around 170K, maybe a bit more.
While I’m thrilled with my progress, I recognise that the book is far from complete. And Paul’s story is even further from a resolution—although I’m now very confident that the fifth book will indeed be the final one.
I’m starting to feel like the Douglas Adams of my own little world – this is turning into a “trilogy” in five parts.
Gemini continues to be a very useful writing partner and, at times, it really does feel like I have a human editor in an instant message chat as we go back and forth with revisions to a scene. Is it perfect? Not by a long way, but is any human editor perfect, either? Despite its flaws, Gemini is proving to be an invaluable tool in my writing process. Its ability to provide instant feedback and suggest improvements has, I think, significantly enhanced the quality of my work. With its help, I am confident that “A Healing Love” will be my best novel yet.
Of course, there’s not really any way for me to know that until the book is out in the wild, so to speak. Once readers get their hands on it and start offering feedback, then I’ll know if using AI in this way has been a help or a hindrance.