jb says: Yes, Maxine, I should have mentioned that myself. But something in there took me back to the time I was writing the novel and reminded me about the (at that time new to me) decisions one has to make about the development of character, plot, etc. about the false starts and the processes by which one comes to a final working-out of the shape of a novel and decides to push it out into the world to fight its own battles, to sink or swim.