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Suzy ignored the impatient knocking at the door while she was preparing herself. As irritated as the pounding might become, she didn’t doubt for a second that they knew which one of them was in charge.

She’d only been at her position for two years, but Suzy felt she was lagging behind in achieving her career goals. If she was going to follow the trajectory she’d always envisioned for her career, now was the time to act.

It made little difference to her if she ran a little late. What were a few minutes if it meant getting everything perfect?

 Suzy closed her eyes and mouthed her talking points one last time. When she opened them again to read her index card of notes, she saw her memorization had been perfect.

It better be perfect. It’s only the umpteen thousandth time I’ve gone over it.

“Are you about ready, Madam?” the near irate voice of her assistant called out from the other side of the oak.

“Just about,” Suzy nearly sang back.

Her office phone rang. She doubted her assistant would have the gall to call her as well. She dashed to the phone to make sure it wasn’t from her next appointment. Suzy didn’t think she was running that late, but she had to confess to herself that she’d lost track of time. It was one thing to arrive a little late to make sure everything was in order, but not at the risk of sabotaging her power play.

Suzy breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized the number. Malcolmson’s office.

“You’re not answering that, are you?” her assistant asked, exasperated, from the other side of the door.

She checked the clock on her desk, to see if she had the time to dawdle further. Her assistant was excellent at her work, but sometimes, like right now, she could be overbearing. Suzy supposed she was grateful to see she didn’t have the time to answer it.

“No,” she said. “Heading out now.”

Along the way, she stopped to examine herself in the mirror she’d hung along one of the walls by the door, placed there to do a last spot check of her appearance before she emerged. She normally never concerned herself with her looks while she was working, but chose to indulge today.

Why not fire on all cylinders? And if I’m feeling great about myself, I think I can really sell the plan.

“You can do this,” she whispered to her image. “You will do this. You’re going to be great. He won’t know what hit him until it’s too late.”

Suzy flung open the door mid-knock. Her assistant’s eyes grew wide in astonishment, while her hand couldn’t drop to her side fast enough.

“Ready, Miss Congresswoman?” her assistant did her best to recover.

“Ready,” Suzy responded with the same calculated smile she’d utilized during her entire campaign. She only exercised her lips into this focus grouped mold of perfection when it was time to get down to business.

“Then let’s head to the Hill.”

This year’s NaNoWriMo is almost a week old. It’s always fun starting work on a new book, but the added challenge had made the writing process a whole new experience.

Right now, I’ve written 6,883 words for my new book. This is currently behind the pace of reaching 50,000 words in a month, but that’s okay. My main focus is doing some quality writing For me, finishing the book before December and winning NaNoWriMo are bonuses.

The contributing factor to me lagging behind was day one of the competition. True to form, I only wrote one page when starting the story, which led to a deficit of approximately 1,100 words. I still have confidence I’m going to make this up before the end of the competition.

See you guys next week for more updates!

“I just don’t know, Suzy,” Gillie said, breaking eye contact to look around the office again. She hadn’t stopped taking in the size of the place since she’d arrived. “I feel like I’d be in over my head.”

Suzy waved it off with a laugh. “Can I let you in on a secret? I felt the same way when I first moved in.”

Gillie bit her lower lip as she let her eyes dance around the room again. The place had an allure to it, and Suzy trusted that the longer Gillie sat here with her, the more her friend would get over her cold feet.

Also, the longer Gillie stayed, the longer Suzy could continue to work her.

“It’s just…” Gillie started to launch another protest, “You had it easy. You were replacing someone who announced they were retiring. I’m going to have to fight for the position.

Suzy hated it when people told her she had had it “easy.” She never remembered getting people to buy into her crusade of bringing massive change as being “easy.”

And in the years since Suzy had moved into the office, it had been anything but “easy” initiating a single one of those promised changes. Most of her ideas were butchered beyond recognition by the time they were implemented.

“Gillie, if I could do this, you certainly could,” Suzy assured her. “I’ll let you in on another secret. Err, maybe I told you already, but…I was always a little jealous over how you just breezed through law school.”

“Really?” Gillie almost gushed.

“Just a little,” Suzy said, playfully trying to save face. “You just always seemed to have your hand raised, and even when Professor Abernathy sprung a new question on you trying to stump you, I always believed you’d come up with the right answer.”

Gillie blushed when she smiled, informing Suzy she was warming up to the idea. It was time to make one last pitch.

“Hey. Remember. I’m going to be in your corner every step of the way. Don’t ever feel like you’re going after this alone.”

If Gillie got on board, as Suzy expected she would (with enough gentle nudges), they’d be in it together for the long haul. Her ideas for the sweeping changes she’d promised to bring about might have been stalled for now, but Suzy had a mind to fix that as soon as she could.

“And it will be so good to have an old friend in the building here,” Suzy added. “The two of us can do a lot of good here,” she said, laying the foundation for things to come.

That was how things got done around here. Years of strategizing, waiting for the right opportunity.

Like this one.

“But…they don’t already have someone else in mind?”

Suzy flashed her friend a smile. To Gillie, it would’ve been reassuring., but Suzy knew its true nature was contentedness. She knew she’d won Gillie over.

“I’m putting in a good—no, great—word for you with the higher ups, and I’m not leaving until they know you’re the best candidate.”

Gillie giggled as she smiled. “Alright, but not too great a word. I still need to talk it over with Marco.”

“Of course,” Suzy said jovially.

After a couple of long years of accomplishing next to nothing, she felt this was her first real step toward the changes she’d envisioned.

This year, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month competition.

For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to yourself to write 50,000 words, or one book, during the month of November. So the competition doesn’t pit you against other writers, but against the clock to reach your goal.

I’m excited being a first time participant and giving this a try. I always love trying new things as a writer, and if I take to this competition, November might be the month I start writing all my new novels/novellas.

I feel like I’ve set myself up to have a successful first NaNoWriMo experience. The idea for this latest story came to me in May, festered in my brain until I started jotting down notes for the next two months, and have been actively drafting outlines since August. To say I’m chomping at the bit ready to go is an understatement.

That being said, any and all encouragement is welcome 🙂

Every Tuesday during the month of this competition I’ll be posting updates on my progress.

Her face lit up immediately after her cell phone did. She’d been eagerly awaiting the call, which came at the same time every day he was on one of his trips. Usually, while in the midst of this insufferable waiting, she got distracted by something around her and had to run back to her phone to answer before it went to her voicemail. For the first time, her eyes were glued to the phone’s screen when it came alive and said

‘Daddy Calling’

“Hello, Victoria,” his voice cheerily sang to her from far away. “How has my precious little princess been today?”

“Good, daddy,” she said with a smile.

“You haven’t been making any mischief for the nanny?” he asked, following his standard line of questioning for his calls.

“No,” she lied.

“That’s good to hear. How was your day? How was school?”

“Good. Mrs. Stenson lost track of time so we got to spend a lot more time outside for recess.”

Her father didn’t share her enthusiasm for the extra play time. “I’m glad you got some more fresh air, but I’m not paying what I’m paying to send you to that school just for you to play.” Victoria rolled her eyes. Everything was about money with her daddy. “Was Mrs. Stenson still able to go through everything she needed to teach the class that day?”

“Yes,” Victoria replied in an agitated, tired tone.

“And was the class still able to make sure they got through all of Mrs. Stenson’s lessons for the day?” he continued to grill her. She should’ve expected that. Any time she gave her daddy any sort of attitude as a response, he buckled down and became equally gruff in his questioning.

“I don’t know about the rest of the class, but it was no problem for me,” she said, relaxing her tone to a more docile one. She’d picked up that he spoke more reasonably to her when she wasn’t giving him what he called ‘an attitude.’ “She gave us our first homework assignment!” she said excitedly. It’d been the first time she’d ever been given homework, and like the rest of the kids in her class, it was enthralling to finally be treated like big kids.

“Have you finished it already?” her daddy asked after a pause. She had no doubt he’d checked his watch and worked out what time it was back home.

“Yeah, it was pretty easy,” she said with a touch of remorse. “I don’t know if I’m going to get a good grade on it.”

“Why not?” the faraway voice asked.

“We were supposed to make a family tree. Include pictures of our family and relatives, but…you told me you didn’t have any brothers or sisters, and your parents were both only children…and all the photos of them were burned up in the house fire that killed them. So, I don’t know what I’m going to have on the tree besides you, me and mommy.”

Her daddy didn’t take long to come up with a solution. “I’ll find you a picture of your mother’s parents so you can have your mom’s side filled out. For my parents, just draw a picture of what you think they look like, and turn it in. If your teacher gives you a bad grade because of it, I’ll talk to her.”

Victoria smiled, relieved. She usually benefitted when her daddy spoke to someone.

“Okay. Sometimes I’m sad that I’ll never meet them.”

“Well, Victoria, what do I always tell you.”

“’We can’t stay upset over things that will never be,’” she recited.

“That’s right,” he said fondly, then paused. She imagined he was checking his watch again. “Alright, princess, I’ve got to go. I should be back home from my meetings in two days. Love you lots.”

“Love you more,” she said and hung up.

She got to work coloring a picture of her grandparents with markers, and although she was sad she didn’t have a real picture of them to see what they looked like, she soon became engrossed in the coloring itself, instead of what she was drawing. Victoria handed in the assignment the next day, and had it returned to her not only with no problems, but a perfect score.

By the time she came home the following day, she’d forgotten all about the family tree she’d made, and its subject matter.

Nils observed his son was following the same pattern he’d always exhibited when coming home. Axel had pushed past him when he’d opened the front door for his son, and settled on a couch in the living room without a word, waiting for his father to join him.

While Axel did this every year, the callousness of his actions seemed to deepen with each passing year. His son arrived in a greater drunken stupor, and his agitation when he flippantly gestured with a wave of his hand for his father to start talking was more apparent than ever. In a way, it made Nils reflect back fondly on all of Axel’s prior visits, when it oddly felt like Axel at least tolerated returning home.

“We’ll need more this year,” Nils said humbly, earning a sharp glare from his son. Nils couldn’t tell if it was because he dared to ask, or if it was because the amount of neediness in his voice wasn’t to his son’s liking.

“The medication your mother needs to take,” he quickly elaborated, “it, well…my unemployment checks aren’t enough to cover them.”

“Why don’t you get your job back at the factory?” Axel snarled as he rubbed furiously at his temple.

“The plant closed down,” Nils reminded his son. He had a sneaking suspicion Axel knew this, just like he had a sneaking suspicion that Axel had been the one who acquired the plant seven years ago just to lay everyone in it off and shutter its doors.

“So go find another plant or warehouse to work in.”

“I’ve tried,” Nils cried, desperately. “They all think I’m too old to do the work.”

Axel snorted. “Seems like it’s a bad idea trying to always rely on a company to give you steady work instead of creating one yourself.”

Nils clamped his mouth shut. There it was. Axel’s annual lesson he was teaching his father. He appreciated that his son had at least gotten to it quickly this year, faster than any year prior. Perhaps it was a sign that Axel was finally getting tired of delivering his annual tutelage of what happened when you didn’t believe in him. Perhaps it was a sign Axel was finally ready to forgive him and move on.

Nils hoped so.

“How much more did you need?” Axel barked. Nils gave an amount, and Axel quickly stated he would only be granting him half. Nils feigned like this would create a hardship, but this was one of Axel’s lessons that he’d learned: Nils had been asking for over double and sometimes triple what he really needed, knowing Axel would never give him the full amount.

“You’re not staying?” Nils asked when Axel rose unsteadily from the couch and began to stagger for the door. He glanced out the window to see his son’s cab was still idly in front of his yard.

“I’ve got an amazing room at a five star hotel waiting for me. Why would I stay here?” His son didn’t react to the stifled sob that came from the kitchen.

“Please,” Nils said, grabbing his son’s shoulder to stop him from leaving. Axel wrenched himself free of Nils’ grasp, then turned on him, the fury in his eyes accentuated by how bloodshot they were.

“I’ve amended your allowance,” Axel snarled. “You’ll now only receive a quarter of what you’ve asked for this year.”

“Please,” Nils persisted. “If you want to punish me, fine, but don’t punish your mother. Please. Her health is failing. Bring our granddaughter here, so that at least your mother can see her. Just once.”

Axel opened the front door, then turned to face his father one last time.

“I told you, promised you, that you both would never see your grandchild as long as you were alive. She’ll never know who you are. Do you not get how this arrangement works? I will never grant you even the smallest of victories.”

And with that, he shut the door behind him, and his visit was over.