We begin tonight.

I’m so excited. You could say this is my favorite time of the year.

It’s a new beginning at the end of the year. Very poetic.

What are your final NANO prep steps? 

I made a list of the last 5 things I need to do before NANO starts, and I should have them all accomplished by midnight so I can open a new document and begin again…

1. Grocery List

I made a grocery list early in the month that I need to transfer to my phone

 (pro tip: always keep your grocery list on your phone)

It’s full of nutritious and delicious snacks and meal ingredients for November. What are your NaNoWriMo essentials?

2. Research

This is it. the last little bit of looking stuff up or making notes on characters, settings, plot, and world. From here on out there will be nothing but writing forward, heedless of typos and technical difficulties. We will get the words. 

3. Character Questionnaires 

I need to go over these one more time. Last chance to fill in the blanks. It’s the part of prepping I hate most, so I tend to put it off, but they can be invaluable when I get stuck. If you want a copy, CONTACT ME.

4. Outline

Outline is another fill-in-the-blanks game, and I should have all the plot gaps sewn up before midnight tonight. Of course, they might not do any good…

It will be interesting to see how this month’s outline stacks up to the November 1st deluge. I can never predict what will happen when I start writing, but I will have all the plot points in place just in case.

Last chance to do all the writing things that are not writing.

5. Rewards

NaNoWriMo can probably be done without rewards, but I don’t recommend it. I have a system in place to reward myself every 10,000 words. The one I’m most excited about? Probably my Etsy cart. What about you? Do you reward yourself? Maybe a chocolate every 1667 words? Sounds pretty good, right?

See you on the other side!

xxxlinsey

Well, what did you think?

Could you see the ending coming? Are you intrigued? Confused? Satisfied?

Can you guess the four prompts that led to that story? Here they are!

What’s next?

I’m extending the offer. Comment with four random words, images, or prompts, and I will write you a story here on the blog.

Next up: PREPTOBER

It’s that time of year again.

NANOWRIMO is just around the corner.

What are you doing to get ready?

I’m planning to follow the rules and start typing on Day 1, but I’m still prepping another novel in October in case that’s the one I want to work on in November. I’d love to hear your thoughts about Justine or your projects upcoming. Just leave a comment below.

Until next time.

xxxlinsey

Inside the box was a girl’s wonderland. Dolls and ponies and makeup and nail polish, long ago dried up. Little girl’s toys and all the latest fads from the last decade maybe more. It was all brand new. A pink CD player and a couple of unopened CDs of the kind of kids bop little girls dance to. A bead kit for making bracelets. A stuffed rabbit and a pink teddy bear. Little notebooks with rainbows and shiny raindrops. Coloring books. A cash register set with cash and coins. Shoe-tying games. A doctor kit. A tea set. A science kit. Perfume spray. Hair accessories. Everything a girl could want from toddler to teen.

Justine wondered vaguely how much all this stuff had cost and how much it was worth altogether. What was this stuff? Why did he have it? What in the world? She put the box down on the bed.

She started to dig. Not everything was unused. Little things: erasers, small stuffed animals dingy with love, chewed-on pencils with smiley faces and rainbows. Near the bottom was a pile of construction paper art and cards for various occasions. This was some little girl’s stuff. A real little girl. This was…she opened one of the cards…her stuff. JUSTINE it said in little girl’s handwriting, big capital letters with a heart dotting the I. She thought she remembered it, though who could tell. Still. She had no doubt this was a box of stuff saved from and then bought for her. 

Justine sat down very slowly on the edge of the bed, the stack of papers in hand. 

Everything became still. She could hear the dishwasher sloshing in the other room. Her heartbeat was in her ears. She felt sweat popping out on her forehead. She flipped to the front of the card. Sure enough. Father’s Day. From one of the good years then. She felt suddenly angry. How dare he? Her mind went through a list of a million things he had missed. All the things. She didn’t even remember him, he’d been gone that long, and all this time he’d been, what, hoarding stuff for her? Waiting for her? What?

She shuffled through more papers. Many were blank birthday cards but a few had writing in them. “Wish I could be there” “Love you bunches” “Growing up so fast!” As far as she knew, as far as her mother had told her, he’d left and never looked back. She found herself wondering if he had a different story. It looked as though he did. He’d lived here, how long? Ages she thought, and never made contact? 

Why hadn’t she known her father was less than 20 minutes away her entire life? Thinking about her. Wanting to see her. She felt the tears welling up again. 

Was it her fault? Had she believed blindly and missed an opportunity to know him? Was he a jerk who walked out on his family? Someone who loved and missed his daughter? Something else entirely. She didn’t know. Couldn’t know. 

Justine heaved a heavy sigh. She tossed the papers back into the box. She still had the bathroom to clean and she felt wiped of energy. Maybe if she took a nap. She didn’t like the idea of staying here that long,  but she shrugged it off. It would be ok, she thought, just 20 minutes. Technically this was her place until the end of the month, and she would have to drive home in the dark no matter what.  She set the timer on her phone, grabbed her coat from the other room, and spread it on the bare mattress. She crawled onto the bed and lay down on her coat. After a moment, she sat up, pulled the stuffed rabbit from the box, and cuddled it.

Within minutes, she was asleep.

Oranges. Or grapefruits. Something round and yellowish in color. They were moldy.  Sinking in the center under the weight of their rot. Justine fought the urge to gag. She went straight for the cabinet under the sink and, by some miracle, found garbage bags there. She had brought some, but they were still in the car with her other cleaning supplies. Justine dumped the overripe fruit into the bag where it made a slick thunk. She returned the cut glass bowl to the counter, then changed her mind and put it near the sink. 

There were dishes in the sink. Not many, but enough to block her. A mug. A plate. A knife fork and spoon. On the other side of the double sink were the cooking pan, a spatula, and a pair of tongs. All had been rinsed, but not washed. Justine braced herself and then opened the dishwasher. Empty.

Interesting. 

She made the rounds looking for other trash but she found little. Some old junk mail. A mailer or two with no return address, empty, some back issues of manly magazines. Field and Stream. Tractor Today. Men’s Health. Only one Playboy. 

She went back to the kitchen and washed her hands. Opened the fridge. Same story. Fairly empty. She didn’t smell the milk but dumped it down the drain. Everything else she tossed in the bag. She might have to wipe down the shelves, but this wasn’t going to be a big cleaning job either. In fact…

Justine looked around again, more carefully. She didn’t see much in the way that did need to be cleaned other than a good freshen-up. She could be done with this in an hour. A wave of relief washed over her. She would leave the dishes and any supplies he’d had and tell the complex to deal with them as they would. She would take nothing. She would clean and turn in her key and leave this place and never look at it again. She would forget this day and that phone call and that anyone by his lousy name ever existed. 

Justine marched back out to her car. She used her keyfob to pop the trunk and retrieved everything she thought she’d need. If she found duplicates in the apartment, so be it, she’d use them and save her own, but she was not about to tromp out here every time she needed something. She managed to get the trunk closed without dropping anything or locking her keys in, and she made a crooked hobble back to the apartment hauling too much stuff. 

After she’d locked the door behind herself again, she stripped out of her winter gear and surveyed the space.  She washed her hands again and donned cleaning gloves. She wasn’t touching anything that belonged to him. Next, she put on her headphones and pushed her hair back from her face with a workout headband. She got down to work.

She got the call first thing on Monday morning. The caller had used her full legal name and asked her to hold. Transferred her to another voice who asked her to verify her identity. “What’s this about?” she had asked. She was put on hold again before a final silky voice apologized for her wait and informed her she was the beneficiary of a small inheritance.

Everyone’s dream, right?

Justine clenched the steering wheel with her gloved hands. She bit her lip.

This was not going to get any easier. The sooner she started the sooner she’d be done. If she had any hope of getting home before dark, she’d have to start soon. Nothing helped. She didn’t want to go in.

An inheritance meant someone had died, but all of Justine’s nearest and dearest were accounted for or already in the other world. She thought. When she heard his name, she froze. Literally. Her blood went cold and she could not move for several seconds. The silky voice asked half a dozen times if she was all right before continuing with the details. 

She wanted to call someone, but she couldn’t think of anyone who’d be remotely helpful. They’d tell her what she already knew or offer some platitude. It would only kill more time. Time she didn’t have. 

A flutter of motion caught Justine’s attention and she stretched forward to see through the windshield. A green bird landed on a bare branch, its color stark against the overcast sky. Such an unusual color. More exotic than anything she thought one would find around here, but what did she know? It seemed to be watching her. Watching her watch it. This was ridiculous.

Justine opened the car door and climbed out.