Wise Blood Resolutions

I haven't done very well with my reading list. Wise Blood is the only thing on it I've finished. The rest remain as they were, except Purity in Heart, I've got a bit more of that done. Wise Blood was not as impressive as I had thought it would be. It is her first novel and it lacks the power that The Violent Bear it Away takes for granted. The book did remind me of the uniqueness of Flannery's characters and the way that their originality moves the book along. Harriet has massive pacing problems and some of that could be mitigated by foreshortening my characters in the interests of time. I've been working on some solutions like that, but I'm finding myself liking the smooth as butterscotch characters because I think it is and will be surprising as they come unglued. Despite that I may be able to shrink the plot by pulling it tight around the middle section. All I know is that I have to keep writing. I may not get as much reading done as I'd like--I can live with that. I can't live without writing.