Much better...

The "repairs" to The Cup of My Blood that I undertook a week ago or so have been successful, and were accomplished with fewer than 1,000 well-placed words. The repercussions on the story were immediate: now that I didn't have to look over my shoulder wondering why people were doing what they were doing, I was able to surge ahead, pushing the manuscript to 72,000 words. Should be smooth sailing ahead...