Slow day and it started so well. One of those mornings where everything just turns out fortuitously.  Like I couldn’t find my black sweatshirt with the hood so I took an extra three or four minutes looking for it. Once I found it, it started to rain. But I was still at the house so I could put on a rain coat before I went out. If I had found the sweatshirt right away I would been gone already before it started to rain. Hey, sometimes you have to embrace the simple things, like not getting drenched while walking the dog.

Anyway, none of my characters wanted to work today. They all insisted on going back to bed with a book, lazy bastards. I ground out my words in dribs and drabs at the coop and then once kiddo went to bed. It ain’t pretty but it’s written. Who was it who said you can edit bad words into good ones later but it’s hard to edit a blank page? Totally there today.

Words written today: 2386

Time spent: 2.5 hours at the coop and an hour tonight.

Total Words: 13601

Estimated Completion Date: Dec 4. – Getting better.

Excerpt:

Friday morning Spence managed to finish his WOD and take an entire shower, shave, and brush his teeth before heading into the office. Friday at nine the entire Dismember Killer task force, all three of them now that Tom was on leave, met to discuss where they were at, what likely options they could pursue next, and how to deal with the pressure from the media to make an arrest when they didn’t even have any possible suspects. He decided to pop by Krispy Kreme (can I use this?) on the way into the office. Yeah, the whole cops and donuts thing was way over blown and cliche but everyone made an exception for Krispy Kreme. He dropped the dozen box on the center of the table and went back out to get a cup of coffee from the machine in what constituted a break room. He had to wait while the pot finished brewing but that was preferably to coffee left over from the night shift. Detective Scott Barnes was at the table in the middle of selecting a donut when Spence returned.
“Morning.” Spence greeted him.
Barnes provided only a head nod in response. But since Barnes rarely said anything until after his third cup of coffee, Spence didn’t take it personally.
At twelve minutes after nine, Detective Melanie Witlow rush through the door. “Sorry, I’m sorry. Lars is out of town and I got stuck in traffic while dropping Junior off at my mothers.”
Spence nodded. Barnes took a second coffee cup out of a paper bag at his feet and set it in front of Witlow. She smiled her thanks before helping herself to a raspberry filled donut. She took a bite and groaning said, “Was this you Spence? You’re a god among men.”
Spence smiled and nodded a chuckled.
“He’s just trying to make up for the fact that his partner screwed us.” Barnes growled.
Ahhh, here it was. This was indeed the reason Spence picked up donuts. Not that he was trying to make up for anything but he hoped with their mouths full of the best donuts known to man, they might be a little sweeter in their words.
“Did Tom really blab all that information to Stephanie Lewis?” Witlow was direct.
Spence shrugged. “I don’t really know what’s going on. Tom isn’t allowed to talk about it during the investigation.”
“All these years, we’ve all debated what it might take to bring down T2, turns out it’s one bleach blond bitch with a big mouth.”
Barnes snorted. “Say that three times fast.”

Character Sketch:

Witlow and Barnes: Partners for three years, since Witlow became a detective, they rarely need to actually communicate. Witlow does most of the talking for the pair of them. She can interpret his grunts and facial expressions into real words. They’re good solid detectives who grind it out day after day because they believe in what they do. They believe in the positive effect they can have on the world. Barnes is ex-military with three ex-wives. Witlow is a small town local girl on her first husband and child.

Today was a good, good day. Finishing the research I needed to do gave me scads of new ideas. Not to mention I did find a couple of mistakes which I fixed and that led to new scenes. woohoo. And now I’m ready to take my novel in the right direction.

So I spent the morning with my boys. Got a mild guilt trip from the hubby about how nice it was to spend time with me considering it’s November. Snort. Yes, dear. Let’s just forget about that hour you spent gaming with the kiddo while I made banana bread French toast and green chile egg casserole for your breakfast. (I don’t eat breakfast.)

Then off to a noon write in. 1600 words easy peasy. If I wasn’t behind that would have been awesome. But I am behind, so I toiled on while watching Scooby Doo 2 with the kiddo and dinner bubbled away on the stove without me.

I managed to squeeze in a few more words during shower time and then a few more after getting the kiddo to bed. But now I have painted myself into a complication. Drat. And I need more brain power than I have left to paint my way out.

Words today: 2573

Writing time: 3 hours at the write in, another 45 minutes to an hour in dribs and drabs once I got home.

Total Words: 11215

Estimated Completion date: Dec 6. Ouch.

But really an extra 500 words a day each day this week and I am golden.

Excerpt:

I opened my mouth to greet everyone and only got as far as Good, when Quinn held up a hand while still typing with the other one and growled shhhhhh. Chastised I pulled out my laptop and doctored my coffee with cream. Via pantomime the waitress gestured if I wanted to order and I nodded and pointed to the omelet I ordered every time I came here. She nodded and took the menu away. I could only imagine what she thought of us. A quacking sound came from Quinn’s cell phone and she called, “Time.”
A few clicks later on her laptop and she announced, “Four ninety five. That’s a personal best this year.”
Greg said with a laugh, “It’s only day one. But I got five twenty two, also a personal best for the year.”
Laughter followed by numbers started to pop out of the other writers.
Janne had won the word war by several hundred words and the table groaned at her eight hundred and seventy nine words. She smiled as she dug through the prize bag and oohed over the choices. “I think I’ll take this pencil. I like the little saying. ‘There’s a novel inside this pencil.’”
Greg laughed again, “As if you need another novel.”
Janne laughed with him then turned her attention to me. “Good morning. We just finished a twelve minute word war.”
I couldn’t help but greet her with a smile, “So I gathered.”
I started typing everything that happened so far. Words flew from my finger tips. I suppose it helped when you had been there, done that. I won the second word war but only because Janne couldn’t win twice in one day. I took a little notebook I could carry about and note down my detections in.
By the time people were wrapping up and heading out, I had more than three thousand words. I was thrilled and ready to gather more first hand experience for my novel.
Quinn slipped her arm through mine as we walked out of the Tiger. “So what did you think about your first day of Nano?”
I smiled. “It’s been fun so far. A personal best you might say.” I couldn’t help teasing her a bit.
She gave me her patented frowney-smiley face. Who else could express amusement and displeasure within the same facial expression?
“You know we meet here year round on Friday mornings.”
“I do indeed.” I knew where she was going. But I wasn’t ready for that yet.
Quinn smiled, “Just checking.”

Character Sketch: Quinn

Quinn is determined to bring Tess back to writing. Does she have faith in Tess’s abilities or is she just passionate about Nanowrimo? I’ll have to keep writing so you can find out. Quinn is a character with an interesting past as well, which may or may not be revealed as the novel goes on, but I know how interesting she is behind the words. She currently owns the Beau Arts Cafe in Wilderness River which hosts many of the writing events Tess uses to get ideas for her investigation.

So I realized as I tried to write that I’m really up against it. I didn’t finish reading Police Procedures for Writers the last week of October because I got sick and now I need that information so I can move forward in my book. I have multiple not finished scenes because I need to know how it would be handled. And I’m really at that point in my novel where I could go completely in the wrong direction without some information.

So I set aside my laptop for the day and read, read, read. Lots of notes.  I will finish the book tonight and be ready to write like the wind tomorrow.

And no, we aren’t going to talk about how behind I am. I like a little pressure. Turns a lump of coal into a diamond right?

Most of you have never met me. I could stand to lose a few pounds. Or if someone is being really kind, they’ll say I’m pleasantly plump. But I used to be FAT, like 120 pounds fatter than I am now. The reason I explain all this is, when you weigh that much and you don’t let it stop you from hiking, ballroom dancing, yoga, triathlons, rock climbing, etc…it’s kind of hard on your joints. Which is why when I swung my legs over the side of the bed this morning and my knees staged a major coup, I knew it was going to be an interesting day.

Took me til nine to walk the dog.

Then I took the kiddo to the Pac Sci for Grossology. It was very cool and appropriately gross.

Then I got home just in time to host a sleep over with two of my son’s favorite play mates.

So all this is to say, I wrote today but….

Words Today: 162

Time: very little squeezed in between making three beds in the library and cooking dinner.

Total words: 8642

Estimated Completion Date: Dec 5. ah oh spaghetti O

No scenes today, I didn’t even write any. Which means no characters.

It’s always a good sign when the words you completed in a day are greater than the average words you need to complete each day to finish on time. So let’s call today a win.

Actually, it was pretty interesting. I was hosting a write in at the Writers Cottage and the staff showed up half an hour late. It’s always fun to stand about outside in sub 40 degree weather. Eventually however she opened the door and the kiddo and I went in. A short time later Nano people came, new Nano people. It was very exciting. I got to tell them all about the cool events on our calendar, give them copies, give them stickers, explain the whole Rhino thing. Definitely fun.

Then I took kiddo to parkour and got a few more words pounded out in between clapping for said kiddo as he did cool tricks.

Then play date. No words. Groceries, no words. And another play date, no words. But I got to come home to find a giant crane in my driveway. The construction kind before you ask.

All in all it was quite the day. I wanted more words but I got…

Words Today: 1612

Time Spent Writing: 90 minutes give or take plus 30 more chatting about Nano and novels, that counts right?

Total words: 8480

Estimated Completion Date: November 30

Excerpt:

“What are you writing about this year, Lindsey?” I wanted to move the discussion off to more interesting topics immediately.
“Oooh, well this year I am writing an alternate history sort of, on an alternate planet.” She laughed.
“Is that SciFi then?”
She shrugged, “Sure, why not. I don’t know how much science there will be though, I am more on the fiction side.”
“And you Stephen?” keep the attention circulating on other people.
“It’s mashup world where all of Steven King’s nastiest creations co-exist with some unsuspecting humans.”
“You can do that?” I was so confused. I had thrown out so many stories over the years because at second reading they reminded me of something someone else had written.
“Sure, I’ll call it fan fic and everyone will applaud my ingenuity.” Stephen sounded very sure of himself.
I nodded. Fan fic. That was an interesting turn of phrase, covered a myriad of sins apparently.
Greg chortled but turned it into a cough when Stephen turned a stink eye on him. “This year I am writing a sequel to my horror opus.”
“A sequel? Didn’t you kill the bad guy in the first one?” Janne queried.
“He’s come back from the grave like all the good ones do.”
I raised an eye brow but kept my mouth shut. All the good bad guys? Again, interesting turn of phrase.
After a brief chuckle, Janne chimed in, “Writing another romance.”
“Do you write a lot of romances then?” I asked.
“Every year.’ Janne smiled sweetly.
“What Janne isn’t saying is she’s published ninety two books already.” Greg added with just a touch of snarkiness.
“Not ninety two Greg, don’t exaggerate. Twelve.”
My mouth gaped open. I used one hand to physically close my jaw. Slowly everyone at the table turned to look at me. My startled look prompted Stephen to ask, “What are you writing this year?”
“Oh.” I hesitated.”Um.” Now I was stalling for time.
“If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to,” Janne said kindly placing one hand on my arm.
I met her eyes and smiled, still stalling. I didn’t want to admit I had no idea what to write. In fact, I had little intention of writing anything at all. I thought I could just show up, dicker around on my laptop at three write ins a week and then fail spectacularly. I couldn’t even invent something on the spur of the moment, my brain was so full of the mornings events. I finally blurted, “I’m writing a murder mystery.”
Lindsey leaned forward, “Do tell.”
I opened my mouth and found myself describing the events of the morning and the serial killer and the newspaper articles as though they were a story I was planning to write.
Greg frowned, “Are you paralleling this on the current Dismember Killer case?”
I nodded, “I am. I thought it would be fun to try to figure it out ahead of the cops.” Where had I had procured such excellent lying on the spot skills?
“Cool.” Stephen said.
Lindsey nodded, “Totally cool.”
Janne smiled, “It sounds like you have a good start imagined out in your mind.”
“I do but I’m not sure what I should have the main character do next.” As I dropped this phrase I had wild hopes that an onslaught would follow and they did not disappoint me.

Character Sketch:

Lindsey, Greg, Stephen, and Janne:

They will become Tess’s confidants. She will tell them everything she discovers as though it’s her novel and they will advise her how to write it next, which she will use to try to solve the murder. Go ahead and guess who is who….

It was a good day. Another morning where I didn’t want to get out of bed. Another day where elephants river danced on my roof.

But the writing did not want to flow today. I ground out every word. Bleh. I hate it when there it no flow. I feel like the words suck. And this novel is so choppy. Ugh. I just don’t know if this is going work out. This novel might be hitting the garbage can come December 1.

Words Today: 1397

Time Writing: 3 hours at write in but I was distracted and not writing a good portion of the time.

Total words: 6868

Estimated Completion Date: November 30

Excerpt:

Walking slowly and loudly so the deputy wouldn’t think I was sneaking up on him, I walked through to the kitchen and poured the second pot of coffee into a second carafe. I pulled out the blender pouring in 16 ounces of coffee and adding 3 tablespoons of butter. I squished the lid on and decided to warn the deputy before blending it all up. “Um, deputy? I’m going to run the blender now.”
He stepped quickly into the kitchen. “May I see the contents please?”
“Oh, um yes.” I gestured at the machine and stepped aside.
“Is that butter in there?” His toneless voice gave no trace of emotional context.
“Yes.”
“Good stuff. Blend me a cup if you would.”
Gob smacked, I could only nod faintly.
I had just delivered his cup when Magda breezed in. “Sheriff, I demand you let this young woman go. It is the height of absurdity that you would even consider holding her as a suspect.”
“And you are Ma’am?”
“I am Magda Dupree. I am the President of this Country Club. Tess is my personal chef.”
The deputy nodded. “I see. Well Ma’am, she’s not under arrest. But this is a crime scene and I am going to have to ask you to leave.”
“But I’m the President of this Country Club.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’m afraid even if you were the President of this Country, I would need to ask you leave an active crime scene.”
“It’s not active. No one is even doing anything. Is anyone even here but you and my poor abused chef?”
“Just you Ma’am and I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
I had never seen anyone shut Magda down like this. She seemed to actually not have anything to say. With a brief frown she turned on her heel and headed for her car. She stopped once she had opened the door and seemed poised to say something but closed her mouth and slid inside her Lexus instead.
I stepped back inside the building and took my coffee to a recliner. I needed a moment to collect myself. I needed more than a moment. Turned out I would have seventy two moments before the state crime scene team, medical examiner, and the detective arrived.

Character Profile: The Deputy

He’s practically a mute and totally unimportant but…he’s featured in this excerpt so here you go.

When the alarm went off this morning, I could not make myself get out of bed. See the roofing crew started work yesterday, yeah! But they mistakenly covered the exhaust vent for our heating system and during the night it stopped working. No! It was so cold. So Cold. So I went back to sleep for an hour and a half. Oops.

Anyway the roofers were at my house all day. I totally expected it to be noisy but what I didn’t expect was a heard of elephants performing river dance on my roof all day.

Thank god for write in. At the library tonight. Me and one ML all by our lonesome.

Words Written: 1828

Time: There three hours but…S and I have a tendency to TALK a lot when we write together and not always about our books. So I’m going to say 90 minutes of real writing.

Total Words: 5471

Projected Completion Date: November 28 🙂

Excerpt: Warning this is…well…bloody unpleasant.

With the bowl in one arm and a whisk in the other I began working the eggs. From the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something out the window. A dark shape in what should have been the solid blue of the pool cover. I stepped closer to the window. The pool cover was an odd shape. I set down the bowl of egg whites and left the kitchen heading for the doors at the back of the building. The pool cover was partly off the pool. That was odd. The pool had been closed for the season a month ago. I flipped the catch on the French doors and stepped through to the patio. The acrid scent of burning meat immediately hit my nose. My head turned to the bbq of it’s own accord. I could see heat rising off the cover. Did someone come out here to bbq and go for a swim, at the end of October? The pool would be substantially colder than it was in the summer months. I shook my head to dispel the thoughts. I was wool gathering. I simply needed to walk over to the BBQ and turn it off, maybe open the lid to vent the smoke? Then I could see what I needed to do to re-secure the pool cover. My feet didn’t want to move though. I swallowed hard peering at the pool. Then I realized there was something in the pool. My feet began running as my brain finally clicked over that I was seeing a person. At the edge of the pool I knelt down leaning forward to reach for the man. Then I saw the blood and scooted back just as quickly. Fumbling in my pocket I pulled my cell phone out and dialed 911.

“Emergency Services.”
“I need help at the Mountain Spring Country Club outside Braidmeyer just off the 12.”
“What problem are you experiencing?”
“There’s a man in the pool, I think he’s dead.” My voice cracked despite my effort to remain calm.
“I am dispatching help immediately. Can you pull him out of the water without endangering yourself?”
“I think so.” Looking around I caught sight of the pool hook and rushed to grab it from the wall. I stuck my cell phone in my pocket and grabbed the hook with both hands. At the edge of the pool I tentatively reached the hook end forward and tried to slide it around an arm. It took a few tries before I managed it and slowly pulled the man to the edge. I was going to have to touch him now. There was no other way to get him out of the pool. His arm was cold and a little slippery from the water. I put one hand in the crook of his elbow and wrapped the other around his wrist. Trying not to think about what I was touching, I pulled. His shoulder came up out of the water easily but his head hit the lip of the pool with a crack. If I wasn’t sure he was dead before, there was no doubt about it now. I had to stand up and adjust my angle to get his chest up and onto the deck. His belly got stuck as his legs continued to dangle in the pool. I let go and paused for a moment. Maybe if I could turn him over I could get the rest of him up and out. I took a deep breathe and almost choked. I needed to turn off the BBQ first. Bleh. I turned the dials and opened the lid. A stream of putrid smelling smoke escaped. As it cleared I caught sight of one small sausage on the grill. One sausage? Who would bother to to BBQ one sausage?

Character Profile: Tess

Our leading lady. Tess has an interesting past. She currently supports herself working as a personal chef in the community surrounding the Mountain Spring County Club. She also resides in said community. Finding a dead body in the pool, definitely tops her list of reasons to move.

I think I have a new favorite writing location. So it’s Monday which means my hubby leaves early for work so I have to get up extra early to walk the dog, ie I am sleep deprived. Then I take my kiddo and a friend to the co-op, 45 minutes to an hour in traffic. Then I sit in a crowded room with all the other moms and younger siblings and kids who don’t have class at that hour. Picture the average elementary school cafeteria.

Add on it was melt down day and every five minutes a kid started crying. And every mom who knows I write had to stop by my laptop to ask how the new book was going. LOL.

Despite all that, I wrote 2222 words in less than 3 hours. Which makes up for yesterday’s deficit and covers today’s needed words and a little for tomorrow. Damn. Coop is going to be good to be this year. I was never that productive there last year.

Words today: 2222

Total words: 3643

Estimated completion date: November 28th. 🙂

Scene from today:

Name Later leaned back against the counter and rubbed his right eye with the heel of his hand. “Let me see if I get what you are saying. It looks like a drowning but you don’t think it was?”

The medical examiner sighed. “I know it sounds ridiculous. I found water in the lungs. The lab tells me it’s a match to the chemical composition of the pool he was found floating in. But there was no froth in the esophagus or mouth.”
“And that precludes drowning?”
“No, no it doesn’t. But I also found something that makes me question a straight forward finding of drowning. And that’s why I called you down here. Take a look at the chest. I’ve used methylene blue on the skin to highlight the abnormalities.”
Name later crossed to the autopsy drawer the medical examiner had opened. He steeled himself for the moment when he would actually need to look at the body. He trailed his eyes down from the closed drawers to the stomach of the dead man, then up to his chest where the medical examiner was touching some oddly blue spots on the man’s chest with gloved fingers.
“Four narrow gauge injections were given to this man.”
“What are possible uses? Reasons?”
“Given the locations, I can’t think of anything medical.” The examiner looked down at the body. “I have this idea in my head and I can’t get rid of it.”
Name later nodded. “Give it to me.”
“I think someone, the killer maybe, injected pool water into this man’s lungs after death to make it look like he was drowned.”
“You can do that?” Name later was intrigued, on the verge of excitement.
“Sure. Once the body is dead it’s not going to expelled the fluid. It will just sit there and soak in.”
Name later slammed his hand into the wall of body drawers.
“Did I just derail your case?”
“Not at all doc, you just gave me a new rail to run down. I owe you a couple of beers.”
The medical examiner laughed. “I don’t actually drink, seen a few too many pickled livers, but thanks for the thought.”
Name later laughed. “Catch you later doc.”

Since this scene continues with Name Later, our detective, no new character sketch today. Batting around Matt Lamont as a possible name. Spencer Hughes? Scott Hughes? hrm….

whew and we are off. So last night I dragged my tired, medicated, sick butt down to North Bend for the first minute write in. Mainly because one of our MLs, Quinnleeeee really pulled a small miracle and talked a local business into opening just for the Nano First Minute Write In. After all her hard work, I could hardly stay in bed now could I?

Anyway, 20 minutes of set up, 90 minutes of gabbing, 20 minutes of writing and I was driving back home through a nasty storm. I have to say my first chapter is TERRIBLE. But this year I am letting it ride that way. Forward and on.

To the second Kick Off Write In, this morning at 11 in Fall City. 30 minutes of waiting for a table, an hour of writing, an hour of discussion about what we are all doing this year, our publication plans, and whether or not I should have a theme for my character photos for the blog this year. (I decided no. My brain hurts too much as it is right now)

It has not felt like a positive start. I am tired and still about 40% sick. I’m struggling to get my 1667 today. Struggling hard.

And it ain’t gonna happen.

Words today: 1421

Total Words: 1421

Time Spent: 2 hours.

Estimated Completion Date: December 6th ;(

Excerpt from today:

Detective Name Later was strongly tempted to slam the Liue’s door as he left her office but the smarter part of him knew the situation wasn’t really her fault. If only his partner hadn’t been thinking with his little head. Damn Stephanie Lewis. He knew she was trouble from the moment Tom introduced her. Flipping her blond hair. Batting those dark eyes. One of the two had to be fake right?
He stormed through the bullpen, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. He needed some fresh air. Some Space. Something before he lost his shit. In the parking lot, leaning against his car was his partner, Tom Southby.
“You just hear it from the Liue?”
Name Later nodded.
Tom inhaled slowly. Then broke eye contact to exhale towards the ground. “We had a good run. Sorry it’s going to end this way.” Tom stuck out his hand.
“Is this your way of telling me they are going to find against you?”
Tom nodded shortly.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
“It’s not like I planned it to go down this way.” Tom shook his head, without words to explain.
“I knew that bitch was trouble from the jump.”
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
“You can’t seriously tell me you still care about her.”
“We should probably not talk again until this whole mess gets cleared up. I don’t want any blow back ending up on you.”
Name Later shook his head. “No way. Seven years together counts in my book. We’re family.”
Tom leaned forward to give a brief back slap that came as close to a hug as the two men ever shared and loped off for his car.
Name Later unlocked the door and slid behind the wheel with the realization he had no idea where he was going.

Character Profile: Detective Name Later

You’ll notice I have no name for my leading man. He’s a detective, has been for some years, previously military, special teams, don’t ask. Currently working on a huge serial killer case. His partner just got suspended. He’s cranky, irritated, and not really happy about the current state of affairs.

So let’s hear some name suggestions for him.