Details, details.

I had this sort of mini-revelation just a few days ago, regarding On the Way to Someplace Else. In fact, the revelation itself wasn't mini. It was totally maxi. But the detail around which it revolves is pretty small.

You see, there is this character in the book. He plays a minor role in the present-day progression of the story, but he is pivotal to the protagonist's state of mind. All these years (and it has been years, I assure you), I have thought he was a business man. I never gave him an actual profession. No, that's not true. In some incarnation he was a creative type and then I realized that made no sense at all.

So recently, he has been this generic business man. Whatever that is, right? Maybe he was a finance guy, or an accountant. Maybe he was in sales. I have no idea. And that's a problem, really.

I knew lots of things about him. For example, I knew he had been in the military and had even been to war. I knew that he came from an old, Southern family. I knew that he was a boater. I knew that he was good-looking and that his parents had big plans for him.

But the two things it took me forever to learn about him are just ridiculous. One was his name. I changed it so many times, I've lost track. The second was his profession.

It feels like I just picked a lock. No...cracked a safe. That's better. That last tumbler has engaged. (Yes, door locks have tumblers, too, but I like the safe analogy better.) I didn't know this was what had me so troubled about the book. I thought it was something much bigger.

Now that I have this worked out, I can make some final edits, send the PDF to my friendly, neighborhood FedEx print shop and route it to my "final eyes."

(Still looking for help with the thumbnail for Kindle, by the way. If you know anyone.)