New Zealand

This coming Monday, Sarah and I are heading to New Zealand to visit my folks. I plan to get a good bit of writing done for my next book on the 48 hours of plane/airport time, and a few sessions while we're in country. The spectacular landscapes should be a source of inspiration. I'm looking to incorporate a lot more study of the natural world into this next project, so the ecological diversity of NZ will be fun to explore.

The plane time is rough, no doubt about it. The last time I was on a plane for that long was my honeymoon... I sat next to a drunken Aussie-American loon who literally thrashed and bellowed through 7 of the 11 hours from LA to Fiji. On a red-eye. The last 4 hours were dedicated to my recovering from being sleepily groped between the legs by the same out-of-his-mind co-passenger. At any rate, I have that to reference whenever I take a trip anywhere, and thereby feel at ease with my slim chances of going through something worse.

No more down-notes though. Bring on the merino wool, colossal squids, and venison!