The Harrisons in Perspective

The Harrisons is a pretty long book, much longer than I normally write. In fact, when I removed it years ago I talked about lots of additional material that I might put in a published version. But of course I never did. I worked with those extra bits for another couple of years, but something never felt right, and then I forgot about the story for a long time.

When I came back I realized those extras weren’t needed. In fact, some trimming was what was really required. What appeared on FB was a rough draft, and I can’t remember when I pieced together the document I have, but it’s even rougher than the one I presented. So tidying The Harrisons is a massive undertaking even if almost no new additions are needed.

The style was rough-draftish, drifting and just a lot of words. I’m giving it a good deep edit and the story is growing back into a nice shape. It’s about a homeschooling family of grownup daughters who live on a country estate in Texas. One is crippled in a wheelchair; the second is going to college; and the third is a teenager and a very quiet, sneaky girl. A secondary plot involves their cousin, a cynical woman who works in a restaurant and gets back together with her mother, a famous singer, and a tertiary plot concerns the congregation of the Harrisons’ church.

So it’s hard to say what the story is about, exactly, since it really does have a lot of arcs. And while I’m working on it, words after words, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. It poured out of me with amazing speed, like a river, and now I’m channeling it back into something publishable.
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And there will be more updates.