My writing pace has slowed considerably but I’ve allotted some time this weekend to catch up on my novel. I crossed the 14,000 word mark last night but should really be somewhere north of 20,000. A short work trip earlier this week really skunked it for me. That being said, the novel is progressing better than expected. The plot is coming together and feels neither formulaic nor trite, yet. I need to keep the momentum going though as Thanksgiving and its associated activities will surely lessen my production. 50,000 here I come.

While on my business trip earlier this week to our fair neighbor to the north, Chicago, I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I took a taxi from downtown to Midway airport when trying to get out of town and got every bit of the torture I deserved for not using public transit. To make sure you understand the stupidity of my decision I should also tell you I lived in the Chicago area for five years and know exactly how to use the City’s transit system. The trip took over 45 minutes as well, a good quarter-hour longer than the train would have taken.Traffic was unbelievably bad and I was made car sick by the constant stop and go. If you think I’m exaggerating about getting sick you would be wrong. I posted my mistake on Facebook and within hours was chided by friends and family for the dumbness of my decision but was also provided with stories of people actually having to pull over and vomit during the very same trip.

If anyone in the Chicago area is looking for business ideas I think selling saltine crackers (or something stronger) on the side of the Highway 55 South would net you at least $100,000 a year. If you’d rather not pace up and down a highway, perhaps you’d fancy opening a brake shop. One thing I know is that a tremendous amount of gasoline is burnt unnecessarily when traffic is jammed. This is the brilliance of eletric/gas hybrid technology. While it’s only a bridge to the future of individual transportation, which is pure electric automobiles, it helps reduce the massive waste of fuel and wear and tear on engines caused by idling.