Bloomed Up

This is why it pays off to set a novel aside for a while and then come back to it.

Lately we've been real nitpicky, a consequence of The Austrian Painter, we think. That novel just made us a better, more detailed and descriptive writer.

Anyway, with The Polish Storm and now Blooms, we've spent a lot of time thinking, 'Ok, it's good. But is it as good as it could be?'

Reading Blooms we see cracks opening up, places in which we can put subtle improvements to the novel, better details and such. For example, Chris doesn't own a Starbucks, she owns an indy coffee shop called The Florida Grinder, whose logo is a gator eating a big sandwich. The nurse at Camp Gray Wolf's infirmary isn't just a nurse, he's a middle aged reservist in Desert Storm camo.