I’d meant to get this post live well before I left for the World Fantasy Convention, but with preparation, and a ticket snafu, and getting ready for C4 the week earlier, it just didn’t happen. So a bit late, but here we are.

Last month, I only had one thing on my to do list.

• Finish current draft of Too Far Gone.

Well? How’d I do?

Not great. Too Far Gone isn’t done. I am closer to the end of this draft, and I made it through some chapters that were giving me a hard time, so it should be smoother sailing from here on out (at least until I start editing this draft). As it turns out, a month where I had two conventions and an out of province wedding to attend was not the best time to make this goal.

I still have a hard time with working on the road. I managed some, but obviously not enough. I’m just glad for the write-off I attended with some friends near the end of October. That weekend saw 7000 new words of connective tissue added, 2000 superfluous words cut, and three chapters completed or I’d be a lot further behind. There is still time, but my window is closing. Every day it feels like my time to write is getting shorter (because it is) and that I’m trapped in this draft the way Indiana Jones was trapped in the Temple of Doom.

No, not really.

(But maybe?)

Last week I made another play at working while traveling, while en route to the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, D.C. This time things went significantly better than they did on my previous two trips. I listened to some advice from Ottawa writer Derek Künsken: the only book I took with me on my flight was mine. I wrote 1000 new words, completing a new scene, and revised two chapters and reread two more making some notes on how to proceed. As Remembrance Day was looming, I also drafted a 1600 word Thunder Road vignette about Ted on Remembrance Day. My time might have been better spent elsewhere, but the scene showed up pretty much complete, so I decided to run with it. I even managed some work in the mornings before I headed out to the con. I was hoping to have the Remembrance Day story edited and posted yesterday, but it’s not ready. Con fatigue hit me hard on Monday, and con crud hit me yesterday so I spent the 11th under the weather. When the story is ready, I’ll probably post it here on the website if people are interested in reading it.

Okay, November Goals…second verse, same as the first.

• Finish current draft of Too Far Gone.

Now that I’m home, and there’s no more travel on the horizon predicted until April 2015, I should be able to concentrate a lot harder on this draft (and the next–and probably the one after that, too). Hope everyone else’s goals are being met! I’ll try to have a roundup of my time at WFC posted soon too.

Write on!