Training.

I've been hitting the weights kind of hard for the past few months.  It has served two purposes.  First, it is good for your health and even better if you don't forget the cardio. Second, one of the 3 people I work out with is the real life Mitch from my book.  So the hours a week I spend in the gym help inspire more ideas for future Cruel New World books. 

One thing I noticed in the desert recently was that you can have big arms and a massive chest and that's great.  What you really benefit from out there is legs are core strength.  Nobody worth going after hangs around the flat areas.  The hills (if they had trees on them and were located in NC, we'd call them mounains) are where the action is.  Your gear, what feels fine all day on level earth, gets really, really heavy up and down hills all day and night.  So I've started including a lot of leg excercises and core stuff into my routines. 

This is something I should have done a long time ago too.  Me and apparently most people I go to the field with can put in 15 mountain miles a day.  We prove that every year over and over again.  Now I feel like I could do 20 a day.  I noticed a big difference in performance on the past few outings.  In fact, having the extra power just makes life easier in general.