A few big events happened with this alleged novel this week. First, on the 15th we reached the halfway point of this contest. Second, on the 17th I actually reached the halfway point to 50K words. This officially put me 2 days off pace, but since I usually aim to write as many as 60K words, I was about 4 or 5 days behind. Still, given the odd directions this month has been taking, I’d take 2 days off the official pace.

The two other big events were probably the biggest ones since I first sat down at the keyboard on November 1. I started writing on my iPhone during my commute, which saved me from slipping even further behind. And somewhere around Day 19, I finally figured out what this book is supposed to be about. You might think that 19 days of writing is a lot to do before figuring out what the hell it is you’re writing, but I might say in response that this time around, 19 days was a goddamn bargain.

You see, last year my NaNoWriMo novel was almost entirely plot-driven. I knew that early on and wrote accordingly. I didn’t know exactly where I was going or exactly how I was going to get there, but I had a plot and any time I had my doubts, I had that plot to cling to. This year, I had some situations and some characters, but no driving force behind them. Not that I knew of, anyway. My characters liked to talk, though. They talked and talked and I let them do it in hopes that they’d get somewhere. And on Day 19 they did. On Day 19, one character looked back at all that had come before and proposed a plan. And another character went along with that plan. And before I knew it, I had a plot.

Best of all, it wasn’t like I’d stumbled on something that would require massive changes to the previous 18 days’ worth of work. Nope, this plot grew more or less organically from what had come before. I’m still not sure how that happened.

There’s one last event from last week that counts toward the full NaNoWriMo experience. I spent a couple of minutes at the bus stop Thursday morning trying to figure out exactly what day it was. Last year that happened several times. This year so far, only once. Still plenty of time for a repeat, though.

With just 9 days to go to the end of the month, my current word count is just 1 day off the pace to 50K. I’d like to think I can make it, what with the days off for Thanksgiving coming up. And now that I know what the book’s about, the writing itself should come easier. There’s just one problem, one flaw in the plan. When I figured out where the book needed to go, I worked it over and over and came up with a roadmap to the end that I was happy with. This lasted half a day before I realized that if everything happened the way I thought it should happen, the climactic action would take place without my point of view character present. He actually couldn’t be present, and if he couldn’t be there, I had no way of letting the readers know what the hell was going on.

And so I find myself with 9 days to go, maybe 18,000 words to write, and a plot that, if the reader is going to be there to see it, now requires my main character to go against everything the plot’s supposed to be about. There are worse ways to stack the deck against yourself, but maybe someday I’ll figure out the easy way to do things. And now, a bad excerpt from approximately the point where the plot reveals itself:

“Okay, we need to set some ground rules,” Walt said.

“Seriously? What do you think you have here?”

“Ground rules. What we discuss today doesn’t leave this table unless we mutually agree otherwise,” Walt said.

“Come on, is this really necessary?”

Walt just stared across the table at him, saying nothing. Kyle believed he’d sit like that all day if that’s what it took to get an answer.

“Okay fine. I accept the ground rules,” Kyle said.

“I’ll warn you, this might piss you off,” Walt said. “The first part, I mean. Don’t let it. Keep your head clear and hear me out. This is not a day for rash decisions.”

Kyle nodded his understanding.

“The company, it appears, is throwing in the white towel,” Walt said. “After years of mismanagement and braindead errors, the management team is giving up.”

“You guys are folding?”

“In good time, I’m sure. But first, they’re hiring a consultant to tell them every stupid mistake they’ve made. Every error and miscue, laid out for all to see. You wonder why they’d do this when they have an office full of people who’d do the same thing for free, but there you have it. Management is basically admitting they don’t know how to manage.”

“I wonder if this is why they want my severance check back so badly,” Kyle said.

“Probably, but not for the reason you might think. I’m sure they can afford to pay for this whether they have your money or not. But if the check is still out there, it’s just one more black eye that they don’t need their new consultants to see. One more question they have to answer. One more buck someone has to pass. But get the check back and, at least in their minds, it’s one problem moved to the solved column. Or more likely, one problem that never happened at all.”

“And just when I thought there couldn’t be any more reasons for me to hold onto that money,” Kyle said.

“Attaboy. But if you want to screw them, would you be interested in maybe a more proactive way to do it?”

“Like what?”

“The way I see it is, if they can afford to blow money on this, they could afford to not fire people like you. Their priorities are screwed. But if they want to blow their money on this, I was thinking maybe we could find a way to get that money for ourselves.”

“Meaning what?”

“Well, Kyle, have you ever had a burning desire to be silent partner in a consulting firm?”

Oh yeah, first draft writing fresh from the morning express bus. How can you not love it?

Be back soon. Gotta write.

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