A sort intro of 800 or so, then a Chapter One that goes for 3,500. It's a litany of sorts. Chapter 2, the primer, comes in at 8k, and Chapter 3's first rough draft, the catechism, weighs in at just over 9000.
Part One is very pedagogical, walking the reader through all these learning techniques. By the time they're done, readers feel completely empowered to understand the process and purpose that is grand strategy, plus they're read into my vision, so now they should be ready to attack part two.
Part One is now in the Black Box, or leather-bound manuscript container that my colleagues at the Naval War College bought me upon my departure. It is good to be using it again!
Part one was planned at 15k but came in at 22k-plus. Typical for me. But I am very pleased with it.
A column and an article for some non-Esquire mag come next. I start Part Two on Wednesday: the looks back at Bush and American history and a preliminary, process exploration of the realignments to come.
BTW, some of last week's diddling, besides my constant rewrites of Chapter 1 and some rewriting of 2, was caused by much last minute fussing over a major piece I've got coming out in the April Esquire. I feel very positive about that one too. It was originally slated for Feb issue, but I got started writing too late. Then it was going in March, but it slipped again over photos (I got one of mine in!), so now it's set, laid out in Finals, for the April issue out in about three and a half weeks.
I deserve a quick vacation.
Maybe a dip somewhere ...
| Permalink |
