Work Ahead

If you hear a loud gasp or if the air suddenly rushes over the ground in a frenzy tomorrow, don't be alarmed.  It's probably me.  I'll be taking my finished manuscript for book eight in the Taylor & Graham series and turning it into book 3 in the McLaren Case series.  It's a long story.  And I'm saving my strength for tomorrow's dive.  But suffice it to say that not only do I have to turn the plot from an active, present day police investigation into a cold case PI investigation, but I also have to take out all the wedding preparation scenes with Brenna, all the personal bits with her and her colleague, and turn those pages (and there are a lot of them) into something personal about McLaren.  Or another subplot with McLaren.  At least the locale is the same, so I don't have to write about Greenland instead of Derybshire, for instance.  And I have an idea as to what I can substitute.  That's one good thing about insomnia -- I thought it up in the wee small hours instead of sleeping.  Or maybe that should be 'due to not sleeping.'  Of course David, my English police pal who reads all the finished manuscripts, was already on page 181 when I emailed him to stop.  He will put the ms on a shelf in his closet and watch it collect dust, I guess.  Or use the pages as fire starters.  Or cut them up and make paper chains for his Christmas tree.  Place mats might be nice....  Anyway, the fun starts tomorrow for me, but at least I have a vague idea of what I can plop into all the holes.  Maybe this is how the idea for Swiss cheese developed....  Oh well, ignore the ranting for the next month or so.