We may never fully know the reason behind all the writer's little choices -- why was the curtain blue??

idk, they imagined it blue? It doesn't always matter. (SOMETIMES it does) but how did that make you feel? If you were writing and wanted a reader to feel something, would you do this? Then what?

Key "Rigging" hmm... I see what u did there 👌

When your sibling is bored they will stand in your doorway and do this

Maybe that's one of the reasons we love making each other laugh -- to see that immortality, that life, come back into people we care for. idk, I suppose that much might be obvious, I'm just yapping to myself and musing on hope and humanity

That is to say... to me, when people are happy, they're so ageless...

I hope we can reignite the vivid color, imagination, indiscriminate love, and light in ourselves in spite of the crazy times we've lived through. I hope we find our fire and use it to light a bright future.

Finally had another Beta-Reader finish the story and very satisfied with their reactions so far. They liked slightly different moments and characters from others, as you'd expect, but I'm always glad when my writing can make people feel something. It's a good sign, I think

Not sure if it's a waste to continue querying agents at 135k if some will not give it a second glance until the length is fixed... likely best to remove all possible red flags, but I'm new to this.