First, allow me to express my gratitude to the calendar for moving so speedily to the end of October. At first I found the rapid slide of days incredibly nerve-wracking, but now I see the wisdom: let's just get it the hell over with and call the damn thing done.

The same goes for election season.

Anyway, here we are in November, a brand-spankin' new month, and if it's November, I must be trying to write a whole novel in thirty days. And so I am. I hadn't planned on it, but back in September I had what seemed to me a nifty idea, and I figure it's best to use the liberating power of NaNoWriMo to knock out a draft while the drafting's good.

Of course, the difference between this year and 2002 & 2003 is that I won't be trying to pull off this crazy exercise while holding down a full-time cube job. Instead, when I'm not writing this year's effort, I'll be editing the previous years' work. Theoretically. I'm not sure that I'll be willing or able to change gears as necessary. We'll see.

So, on to the update:
As of 11:30 p.m. on 11/1 I have a mere 572 words.

Morale:
Excellent, because even though I'm only a hundredth of the way along, I spent the first eight hours of 11/1 researching and writing the last entry for 525 Reasons (credit to R for the Kerry section). So I only got three hours of sleep. But it means that my obligation to that site is done. Done done done. Done. R and I will certainly have a thing or two to say about the election results, but at last there's no meter on it. A seventeen-month commitment, done.

Words (this is cheating a bit, because I wrote most of this section back in September, but I did re-write it in the third person tonight, and it is the beginning of the novel):

Machines find her very persuasive. ATMs are particularly ready to believe anything she tells them.

This morning Maura's standing in front of one of those chirpy little ATMs, the kind that uses phrases like, "Hi there!" and "Hang on just a sec" and "Thanks for coming by!" She hates these kind, so she uses them most often.

"Hi there!" the screen says to her. "Please give me your card so we can get started." She pulls a stack of cards bound with a rubber band from her bag, and chooses one at random. Allen County Public Library. An old card, with a worn magnetic strip on the back and the name Diana Mooney on the front.

Maura slides it into the slot and thinks, That's a valid card from your bank.

"Great! Now I just need your Personal Identification Number."

You already have my PIN.

"Super! What would you like to do today? Withdrawal from savings? Withdrawal from checking? Transf-"

Withdrawal from checking.

"And how much can I get you?"

Sixty dollars.

"There you go! Can I get you anything else?"

No, just give me back the card.

The card slides out, and Maura slips it back into what she always thinks of as the deck.

"Would you like a receipt?"

There wasn't any transaction.

"Then we're all set. Have a nice day!"

Maura is having a nice day.

Give the next person an extra twenty.