I haven’t posted on this blog for a while. Some extra busyness with non-writing things was one cause. Then there was the four-day trip to Oklahoma City to help babysit our two grandsons. Now it’s a cold that is trying to decide if it’s going to be mild, and hence is about over, or if it’s going to deepen, in which case the worst is yet to come.

I’m at work, muddling through, but quite inefficient. Leaving at 1:30 p.m., and will chalk up a half day of sick time.

I’m make a brief report. Since my last post, on October 24, I have been working on China Tour. I’m into the third chapter, 5,100+ words completed. I had been thinking this book would be 75,000-90,000 words, but it seems to be running short to me. I’m in the middle of what I consider the first key scene, when the tourist couple are mistaken for the CIA agents “couple” and thus botch the information exchange critical to the CIA operation. The agents have figured it out, and are just beginning their conversation with Chinese intelligence supervisor to figure out what to do.

This also takes me close to the end of the planning I’ve done. I have the denouement fairly well in mind, and one or two key scenes near the end. But except for the scene where the tourist couple meet the agent couple, the vast middle part of the novel is a blank page to me. Something better come to me, or my writing of it will grind to a halt real quickly.