Chapter 1 (Version 17)
To you, dear reader, I’d like to wish a happy read. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a happy read, anyway. Of all the chapters I’ve thrown together this year, I’m least confident in Chapter 1. My biggest fear right now is that I’ve spent too many months picking at it, and now it’s this jumbled mass of clunky words. I’ve been told by any number of writers and aspiring writers that the first chapter is always the most difficult. Some choose to not even write it until the rest of the project is complete. But that’s not me, man. I like to set the stage in my mind and on the paper as early as possible. Shit, though, reader. I had no idea it was going to be this difficult to find satisfaction with what I’ve done.
So yeah, I’m calling this “Version 17″ of Chapter 1, but the truth is, there’ve probably been more versions than that. Problem has been that every time I return to this chapter to reference whether I have or haven’t said something about a character or situation, I wind up spending three hours revising it. In the end, it’s been one hell of a tremendous time-suck. In a way, I’m excited to post it today because I feel like maybe posting it for all to read will provide some small measure of closure on the matter. But then, in another way, I’m terrified to post it because (as I said) I’m not nearly as confident in its quality as I am with the rest of my chapters.
But I leave final judgment to you. Here it is then, reader, in all its heavily revised glory:
