What? Me work?

For the first time in a couple of months, I've returned to the manuscript of my next book, "Keg!". It was supposed to be a quick book, finished in the spring.

That didn't work out. I kept finding more and mmore dead interestinag stuff about the 1970s. Enough to totally deflect me from the idea of a quick book. I think broadening my research will be worth it in the end. If only for me. (A phrase I have used revealingly often.)

What I'm working on - a combination of existing tables and some new research - might well be a complete waste of time, in terms of reader interest. All the breweries in the UK, circa 1974. Along with the beers they brewed, thanks to Frank Bailie's "Beer Dinker's Companion from 1974 and the "1978 Good Beer Guide". The latter providing most of the gravities. A beer guide to the past.

With "Keg!" am I subconsciously trying to recreate my youth? No. It's totally consciously. Isn't that what most writing is? Grasping at an idealised past that's slipping through your fingers. Either that, or to create an idealised world, where you're the hero. I boarded the nostalgia train. And just got carried away. Again.

I find it hard to know when to stop. "Blitzkrieg!" is a good example. I could have published it a year before I did. Except I kept adding stuff.

Things are under control with "Keg!". It's only 370 pages. At the moment. Adding the brewery/beer entries will only be around another 90 pages. 460 is still way short of the Lulu maximum of 740 pages.