So sorry to leave you without new content! Hope those photos of bulging man-bits didn’t bore you too much.

The election ate my life for a few days. We worked late Tuesday night, laughing at all the stupid things TV journalists were saying. And we got a little punchy ourselves late that night.

One guy from Channel 9 said: “Sometimes people say they think they can win this thing because they feel like they have to say they think they can win it, and then sometimes you know people are saying they think they can win because they think they can win.”

Uh, wow. Put that online as your quote of the week.

I feel sorry for broadcast journalists in the sense that they have to fill time and they can’t edit things once they’ve said them during a live broadcast. I’ve done lots of live radio and live radio call-in shows, so I understand that. But sheesh! I don’t think I’ve ever been that inarticulate. Some of the blather was highly entertaining.

But the election is over. Thank God!

I’ve shifted straight into working on Breaking Point. My goal is to finish Chapter 28 and then get at least halfway through Chapter 29 before the end of the weekend, because next weekend I’m taking for myself.

It’s going to be a BFF gangsta weekend, with SueZ flying in from Ohio to hang with Libby and me. There will be good food and drink. There will be laughter. And time will go by much too swiftly. That’s all I know for certain. We don’t have anything specific planned beyond spending time together, something we rarely get to do.

One member of our gangsta foursome can’t make it — Kristi! — so we’ll be missing her. But we hope to do a video chat of some kind so that she can share in the fun.

Last time I saw Sue and Kristi in person was in August 2008 when I was driving home from dropping my son off at college in NY. They supplied the alcohol. I cried, my heart completely broken at having to leave my boy behind and return to my empty nest for the very first time. They were my salvation on that trip.

Libby and I manage to see each other a bit more often — which is good because she only lives 20 minutes away.

But back to Breaking Point... Some of you have been pleading for an excerpt. If I can find one that doesn’t give something key away, I’ll post it. But this is my most action-packed I-Team novel, and future scenes give past events away. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so I am being cautious with excerpts.

I’m reaching the emotional and action climaxes of the story in the next couple of chapters, so it’s some pretty intense writing. I deliberately manipulate my own emotions for these scenes, playing music that puts me in the right frame of mind, whether it’s fear or grief or despair or whatever the emotion is. Then I end up going through a box of tissues and feeling as wrung-out as the characters.

My new deadline is Nov. 29. If I don’t meet it, the publication day moves further away. So I must meet it! I won’t be around as much between now and the end of the month as I finish weaving words together for this story.

Have a great weekend, everyone!