Now that I've finally finished all the proposals, outlines, research, etc., that I needed to do, I was finally able to get back to actually turning out some pages of fiction today. 22 of them, in fact. I was pleased.

Finished THE BLACK ECHO and enjoyed it a great deal despite the fact that I had the mystery figured out pretty much all along. Connelly writes well enough that the solution to the crime isn't the be-all and end-all of the book. Like most "bestseller" type mysteries these days, it also suffers a little from being too long. That's one reason I like Robert B. Parker's work despite his sometimes-annoying regular riffs. The books are *short*. If the typical Spenser novel is more than 60,000 words, I'd be surprised. Of course, I probably shouldn't be complaining about such things, having not long ago finished the first draft of a book that runs over 135,000 words.