Advance introduction to a book not yet completed by a good friend ...

Advance introduction to a book not yet completed by a good friend ...

I have had the good fortune and priviledge to have been in the loop on the various incarnations and evolution of (insert title).

For a long time I joked with (insert name) that (insert title) would never be complete, that he would be running after delivery trucks with manual typewriter written revisions. Yet, here I am with an advance copy to review and the introduction to write. It would often feel like a large chunk of time had passed without having seen anything new of this book and then something would emerge. (insert name) would get several hundred pages into the manuscript and ruthlessly gut it down to a smaller work and start buidling again with a different approach. It was actually interesting to watch. I cannot fault him for desiring to make it exactly what he wanted it to be. I also have had the good fortune to have read the majority of the hundreds of alternative pages written over the years. "The Party Scene," he would tell me, "The Party Scene." Despite all the alternative approaches it remains true to its original purpose, evolving ever more into something worth finally relinquishing to publication.

Good for you (insert name); you did it, and it was worth it.