BEAT BOOMER MEETS DON BROWN IN INFERNAL COMPETITION

Brown's book jacket photo

My wife has read the first 100 pages of the Manning novel and finds it  sufficiently mysterious to intrigue her. Since she reads mysteries by the cartload, I feel her judgment comes from competent and well grooved synaptic responses. Speaking of mysteries, I tried to read Dan Brown's Inferno and bogged down before I got through the first page. Far be it from me to cast aspersions on a writer of such popularity, but I thought Brown's writing was extremely purple. My wife, however, liked Brown's recent book too so I best be cautious what I say about Dan Brown's writing style. 

My wouldbe jacket photo

As for the style of Manning, I find I'm learning to reign in my style in order to get to the point. Sometimes, the more words I use the less clear my meaning. Often, when I look at a purple passage of my own, I see that I haven't focused enough to understand what it is I want to say.

I have to be careful of jealousy at another writer's success as that has not proven to be of much help to my own efforts toward success, and, if you will recall, the whole point of my last years as a writer is to "get someone other than myself to publish a novel of mine". I believe I'm writing such a novel now. Only time will tell.