Exhilaration + more slow writing

It's going.... it is much more difficult in some ways - and frustrating.  I wrote from 1.00pm to 6.30ish today and only covered 22 pages - i.e. re-writing, thinking, consulting notes, trying to see what needed to change further down, checking whether I'd already said stuff - I am attempting to eliminate a bit of the repetition...  But it is also exhilarating, because I know it's clicking into place (Oh, how I despise books that click into place!)  When I finished today I calculated that I'd done about 40% of the book.  I think the rest should be a bit quicker, because I have already re-written quite a lot of it... then again, I want to avoid certain slips, so everything needs to be carefully read.   I am planning a good stint over the weekend - to avoid another "neurotic weekend".

I took a break to go out and get some visual art today - a fantastic Howard Hodgkin exhibition, and I got filmed answering questions about what I thought of his art.  Also a good talk to Steve Mellon - the sculptor... he does great work in bronze - a set of fish all caught locally.  Wonderful,  Shelly Goldsmith was showing a couple of pieces too - and there was barely a thing in the gallery that I wouldn't have liked to buy... sometimes I find the visual arts scene here a bit annoying - but thanks to Updown there's always something great at the end of the street...and it is a great antidote to writing too much.