Ripping Out Stitches

I'm at the point in rewrites now where it's mostly come down to a bunch of "expand here" or "fix this".  And my absolute most major "fix this" got fixed today, which is really just brilliant.  It was a point in the novel where I literally had written a line of dialogue as, "[I don't] know- ask the Author!" because I did not know how I was going to resolve it, and yet I had to just hurry up and get past that part in order to move on with the story.  I guess it's sort of a more matter-of-fact version of me using ______ in place of names I've yet to make up.  As such, I've been going back through and "ripping out stitches" (ie passages) to work them back in in such a manner that will support the newly discovered solution.

The other point I've gotten to is the "doing actual research" point.  There is glassblowing in my story, and although I have a passing familiarity with the craft from my time working at The Museum of Glass (and International Art!), I don't really know enough to write a detailed scene that wouldn't get laughed out of a hot shop.  I'll actually probably send my second draft out without said researched details, because I don't think my betas want to wait that long (and really those details won't be necesarry to the story- just to the authenticity of it).  What's nice is that I don't have to rely solely on Senor Google, because I've managed to find a place around here where I can go and watch artisans work (and theoretically ask questions), and thereby build up enough lingo to make a respectable showing of myself.  Plus, you know, maybe finally scratch my own personal glass-blowing itch via lessons.

In other exciting news, we finally took the inherited bikes down to a local shop to get them up to speed (as it were).  We figured even if we don't end up using them for ourselves, we'll have an easier time selling them if they're in tip-top condition.  And from the research Nathan's been doing, it seems pretty likely that it actually would cost more to build "my bike" into what I want it to be than it would cost to just buy a new one (it's because I have internal-gear love). Ah well.