I have to submit a creative writing packet of 20-30 pages each month for Bennington. I’ve been using the good ol’ 300 word a day minimum routine I set for myself in Haverford when I was working on my first novel (‘At the Slaughter’). The plan has been working well. I’m getting a lot of work done on the novel I’m writing now. I’m calling the thing ‘Fine Creature.’ (I can pick a good short story title by my novel titles are always lame.)

There’s a decent amount of dirty Jersey politics in this book. I needed some distance from the intense reporter days to really reflect on the politics so as not to let it subsume the other elements of the book or correlate too closely to actual events. I think I’ve acquired that distance. At least, I hope I have. I’ve got a little under 25k words to the book so far. I’m aiming for 60k though it looks like this will wind up being longer. I’m hoping to have a first draft done by the end of the year.