Word count. That’s what my task is, where my mind should be, tonight. We’re back from China and I’m working on the last few chapters of the first draft of the sequel to my novel Murder For Me.

I’m twenty chapters into my manuscript, and time has been scarce since we returned. We have a hundred matters to attend to, and I’m set for trial in a couple of cases over the next few months.

We also came home congested from the pollution in China and the travel through several environments. It’s taken us some time to recover.

We had blue sky days in Shanghai, Beijing, and at the Great Wall, but other times dark clouds loomed above us. On the Yangtze River, the clouds covered the cliffs on shore in the afternoons. At the Forbidden City we watched the dark pollution roll back in. We could taste the acid on our tongues.

But we loved China, and we’re going back. In the mean time, I’ve got to stay on task: it’s back to the manuscript for me.