Diet battles with my book

It needs to lose weight.  The book knows it and I know it.  But every day we eye that seductive but calorie-laden little piece of description, that juicy little sub-plot, that inessential decorative quote.

'Yes,' I know it doesn't look like much, I tell my book, 'but it all mounts up, does it?  A few moments on the keyboard, another month before you lose it on the next edit.  Get a grip.'

In other news, I have just spied that my friend Debra Hamel's The Mutilation of the Herms book is free today on Kindle.  This is a fascinating little tale giving a great insight on life in ancient Greece,  I learnt a lot.  More details here.  The offer is to celebrate the publication of her new book:  Ancient Greeks in Drag.  I haven't read this yet, but shall do as soon as I've finished this diet.