“We will live on the leavings of the devil.”

I am headed to Fort Griffin and Abilene today for research purposes. I don’t have to do this. As far as that goes I don’t have to leave the house to write anything anymore. Not with resources like YouTube and Google Earth and Wikipedia and what not. But as I mentioned before the actual experience of being in a place brings something to the table when you sit down later to write about it.

I also want to get this little side trip out of the way because that will be one less place I have to visit on my big trip along the border next spring. Almost all of the book takes place along the Mexico-US border so I want to concentrate there. One thing bothers me, though. I am having trouble wrestling with whether I should go ahead and write these chapters and then go on the trips, or the other way around. But I don’t want to put this novel on hold. I think that’s a mistake. So I will go ahead and write it. Then after I take the trip I can go back and add any detail or fix anything that needs fixing.

I can do that.

Anyway, I’m leaving today and will be back tomorrow. You can follow me on Twitter and I’ll post when I can during the trip and about any impressions I have. Don’t really know what cell service is like at Fort Griffin but it has to be better than Caprock Canyon and Palo Duro. I won’t be taking my computer,  just a notebook.

I’ll take pictures and post them when I get back. There’s also a great Mexican food restaurant in Abilene I’ve eaten at before. I will have dinner there tonight.