“Ah.” And you can quote me on that. Today, April 16, 2025, I finished the second draft of my next book. Let me scroll back to see what I called it last time. Muddling By, a working title. Also known as “From Middle Class to Millionaire to (mostly) Muddling By” or “A Rollercoaster Ride Through America’s Wealth Classes”. This is the second draft of the text. I’ve got time to play around and find a more concise title. But cheers! The second draft is done, and there’s much more to do.
Draft two. With my science fiction novels (Firewatcher, Fire Race) each draft was a refinement. Polish polish polish with ever finer efforts. This bit of non-fiction is different. Instead of a long narrative telling one story, this book about my personal finance history is about two dozen topics that should be understandable to almost everyone. That means two dozen chapters with an intro and outro that fit a logical progression, in a consistent style, and an understandable format.
The first draft was creating those chapters without knowing what I was going to say, how I was going to say it, and how I’d fit them together.
The second draft was content and format. Arrange the chapters into a logical flow. Edit each one to have the same internal structure: stereotype, realistic generalities, my experience in each as middle class, millionaire, and (mostly) muddling by. Bracket them with an introduction to me, the previous book (Dream. Invest. Live.), and the topic. Follow that with conclusions which are basically how I’ve seen people in each of the ‘classes’ as basically the same, but living different lives as much as from circumstance as anything grander than being human.
Done. That’s a book. I don’t think it is a bad book, but I know it is rough enough for the writing to be distracting. One of my favorite authors, John McPhee, writes so well that I find myself enjoying his stories even though they are documentaries intended to educate. Other writers produce work that stands out, the finery of their words is impressive. For me, McPhee’s work is free of distraction, yet deeply engaging. I like that.
Let’s see,… Nope. There’s not enough time in the universe, or at least my lifespan, to make it that good. One pressure I find myself under is finishing a roller coaster ride through any aspect of American culture while America still exists.
The next step is not more writing. Yes. There is more than enough work to do. But it is also possible to work too much. I’ll take a break from it, maybe even take a short road trip (on short roads?, nah) to get out of the house and change my routine for a few days.
After that, polish, polish, polish, with a goal of making each chapter flow, getting them to support each other, and to do it in a way that makes people want to read it. Isn’t that always the goal?
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