Plei, you are one majorly discerning woman, you know that?

And this, about the difference between the Chronicles and everything else I've written, is what I was hoping for. Because I did my damnedest to channel his voice, rather than imposing my own. That was the single most important thing I was aware of during that manic glorious 9-week explosion of two novels, 165,000 words, the books I wanted to write: keeping his voice clear, and there, and his.

You pulled it off for sure.

You pulled it off for sure.

Yes. This. And it had nothing to do with British idioms (though I suddenly realized that the brief natter before Nice Piano version of "Jingle Bells" includes the exclamation "Gordon Bennett!" and it made me laugh and laugh once I identified it).

JP could have been an American Southerner, with the attendant idioms, and he would still have had that same strong, clear voice. No question. He could have been a Punjabi immigrant, and again, same strong clear voice. His voice came from who he was, not where he was from.

(I know that no one suggested that his strong voice was a result of regional dialect/idiom -- I just wanted to point that out.)

Heh. Teppy, yep - he used it when he was very cross, not all that often, but enough. Very idiomatic, pure London and the south, but I'm with you; it's not a question of idiom.

Thing is, reading him, I can hear him. I can hear who he was, things he said, and the character of JP Kinkaid keeps him keepin' on.

The books are a kind of atonement. They're the best I can offer by way of trying to make up for what I didn't do then.

I'm proud they work.

Plei, let me know when you've read WMGGW, or if you need the current version.

One big difference I noticed is that JP's voice is far more focused on people and less on place--he notices place to an extent, but it's more an aside than anything else. With him, you don't get a sense of the hotels, but you do get a strong sense of their employees. Usual!Deb voice, place is far more of a player in things.

Plei, let me know when you've read WMGGW, or if you need the current version

I need the current version.

Again with incredibly discerning, and crikey, Plei, you just paid me a huge compliment.

Because we were very different that way. I've always been the complete sensualist and I notice touch, and taste, and absorb where I am; it's a meld.

He'd done so many tours, so many bands, so many sessions, so many cities and hotels and hospital rooms, he never gave much of a damn about the sensual world. That was all me.

So if that's all the way in the back in these, then that's another verification that I'm writing him, not me.

I need the current version.

Check your email in about two minutes.

Honestly, I have a soft spot for the British voice, but that is not the accomplishment.

Got my first rejection. The editor asked if I wouldn't be willing to write something different, made a suggestion, and said he'd love to see a proposal based on that suggestion. Another editor ran into my agent and said that he'd call her this week about that "book with the great title."

I'm encouraged, despite the rejection. It seems like even though he didn't want to buy this work, he likes my writing enough to want to see more of it. Like it was just the subject, not my style.