I’ve been meaning to post my conclusion to NaNoWriMo for a few weeks now. I guess after all that writing, I kinda got tired of staring at my computer screen. Well, I’m back on that pony and it’s time for the bad news.

That’s right. I didn’t finish NaNoWriMo 2011 as a winner. I did finish with 25,000 words more than I started, and I’m extremely proud of that. I also picked up some great tools this year, including Scrivener (I really can’t say enough positive things about that program). I’m excited to complete the book—sometime in early 2012—and possibly market it myself.

As for NaNoWriMo 2012, I think I may start brainstorming now so I can have a lot of the story already set up in Scrivener before next November.

Now, for your enjoyment, an excerpt from the first half of my novel, Those Who Are Yet to Come:

     By eight o’clock, I was at the bank. A man in a suit came up to unlock the door, and I wished him a good morning. He gave me a big, bright, fake smile but didn’t respond. Once inside, I went straight for the small table opposite the tellers where the withdrawal slips were. I filled one out and walked up to a woman who I recognized from high school. She was a year ahead of me, but we had never talked before. I dropped the paper in front of her along with my ID. Her name tag read “Cate,” though I knew her as Caitlyn. As Cate looked over what I had put in front of her, she laughed.

“Making a rather large withdrawal today, Mr. …” she looked close at my ID for my last name, “Barnes?”

“Yep,” I said with a grin.

“Excuse me one minute.”

She walked over to a small room and began to talk to the man in the suit who had unlocked the front door. He looked at the withdrawal slip and then at my ID. Then he grabbed a small black device and put it over my ID. Then he accompanied her back to the counter.

“Mr. Barnes,” he started, “I’m Hank Bannager, Coventry Bank and Trust’s assistant manager. It looks like you’re making a rather large withdrawal today.”

“Yep,” I said again with the same grin. “Cate asked me the same thing a minute ago and,” I looked around the bank, “I haven’t changed my mind about it.”

“Well, Mr. Barnes, for a withdrawal this large, I’m afraid that we’re going to need another form of identification.”

“State issued IDs that are verified by a black light device aren’t good enough anymore?”

“Mr. Barnes, it’s common practice in this bank to require a second form of identification when a customer requests the removal over over one thousand dollars in cash.”

“When was it made common practice? I was here six years ago with my dad pulling out triple that amount to pay for my car and one ID was enough.”

“Mr. Barnes, I cannot speak for something that happened here six years ago. If you have a school ID, maybe?”

“I have my Coventry bank card.”

“I’m sorry, but that won’t be sufficient.”

“But I could take my card to the ATM outside and take out as much money as I want.”

“Our bank accounts have a five hundred dollar a day limit for ATM withdrawals, so you could only get a portion of the money.”

“So if I wanted to, I could get my hands on as much money as I want to take out, it’ll just take a few days, right?”

“Mr. Barnes,” Hank said as he looked me up and down, “every so often we get a couple of kids that ditch class for the day and come in here to take money out of a fictitious account. None of them have ever had an ID as good as yours, which made it much easier for us to threaten to call the police if they didn’t scurry away.”

“Well, Hank Bannager, bank manager, I’m going to leave now. When I come back with my passport, birth certificate, and FOID card, I will close my accounts with you.” I half-turned to walk away and added, “And when I leave and you look up the account number on that slip and see that it belongs to me, James Barnes, don’t get too red in the face.”

Caitlyn gave me a look of disbelief as I turned to walk away. I got two steps before my memory sent words to my mouth before my conscience had time to filter them. I turned and said, “And your teller, Caitlyn Colson, graduated the year before me. She dated Justin Hansen through most of high school until she got caught making out with his fourteen year old brother at homecoming.”