Of all the tasks involved with writing a book, I believe that one of my favorite tasks is doing a read-through. Usually I do this at a point in the story where there might be a handful of scenes missing, just before I hand the manuscript over to my editor and cover designer.
Sadly, this time around, a Bad Cold held me up, but I did a read-through of On The Isle Of Dogs anyway, because I wanted to know what the hell was going on in my story. For, you see, a nice chunk of those scenes had been written while Under the Influence of cold medicine. And this, my friends, will open the avenues of your mind in unexpected ways, but sadly, does not add to the pleasure of writing. Thus, I needed to find out what Oliver and Jack had been up to.
Turns out, they both were off on their own doing foolish things, getting into fights (Oliver and Noah), getting lost in London (Oliver), getting into more fights (Oliver), and dosing oneself with laudanum and brandy (Jack). As for myself, I enjoyed a fine summer day (the first, really, that we’ve had this year), and, as well, a white mocha freeze, whole milk, no whip, and, oh, yes, two shots. You can see by the image below that had the pleasure of sitting outside with my white mocha freeze, my good Tul pen, my Pile o’ Notes, and my dear, much loved, Best Loved Bag.
Afterwards, after I’d arrived home with groceries, taken out the trash, etc., etc., I was able to sit at my computer and write up some notes before settling in to read at my computer.
This was my view:
P. S. I also discovered during my read-through that I’d lost track of days, in that in one scene it’s both Saturday and Sunday, and in another, that went on for ages, was nothing but Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday. (To be fair, Jack was high on laudanum.)