NaNoWriMo 2018 Results and an Excerpt from The Silent Road

Word Count: 12K

Look what happens when I can take my time. Twelve thousand words in 30 days? The old way I'd have 12K done in three days. And I outlined this puppy!

But it only proved to me that my plot needed more detail. Such is the learning process.

The fact remains that this year NaNoWriMo was an experimental exercise. Plotting has given me the capability to have more detail in my stories. More foreshadowing without having to go back and add things. A better middle that doesn't sag. 

But learning a new process takes time. Thankfully, I have time. 

I refuse to subject you to my outline. It's way too long (22 pages long) and too boring (there's only sentences and bullet points with very little dialogue). But, if interested, here is my word count, time spent and notes. 

So I hope what you've learned from this is... if you want to write, start. 

NaNoWriMo isn't about finishing, it's about beginnings. 

Because I can't resist (I love showing excerpts) I have a small snippet of the 12K words for your reading pleasure. 

Please note: This is a Contemporary M/M Romance
Which means this relationship is between two men. Here's the premise:

Heterosexual truck driving trainee must complete his training in time to send his daughter to college and finds love with his homosexual truck driving instructor. 

Yeah, I know, it's not all that plausible. Or is it... :) 

I'm giving it a go so we'll see. 

The images included throughout the article are inspirations for the characters. One of the characters is Tabasco, the Peterbilt semi that Jake (the driving instructor) owns. 

On to the excerpt! (After legal stuff)

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© S.N.McKibben

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, with the exception of a reviewer who may quote passages in a review, without written prior permission from the publisher. ​

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The Silent Road

“Look on the bright side,” Troy said. “You still get to drive.”

What I needed wasn’t short of angelic intervention. But matters were in my own hands and my decision was made. A canvas “go” bag sitting at my feet, I squared my shoulders and summoned as much gumption as a scolded puppy, but I had to ask.

“Troy, is there a bonus to this job?”

My boss wiped his face and rubbed his eyes. “Tell you what, if the two of you can do a turn-around before Steve gets back, I’ll give you forty-eight cents a mile bonus.”

“Each?”

“Split.”

Partners sucked. But to beat a single driver, you needed two. Still, shouldn’t be too hard since Steve only had a day on me—us. “Thank you, Troy. For everything.”

“Yeah, yeah. He’s out there waiting for you.” He waved me off. “Get used to Jake. I’m thinking of implementing mandatory two-man teams.”

I jerked upright fast as if a harness pulled me back. Partnering with Jake full time was not in the plan. I was barely going to get through it this once.

“What’s the matter, Dan?” Troy chuckled. “Can’t handle a guy who likes it every way?”

His words set my feet in motion. I snatched my duffle bag and left my boss’s office. For all I knew Troy was doing this on purpose. How could I blame him? One lousy paper stood in between me and the road. How I loved the pavement, the journey. That’s why my marriage broke down. The road beckoned and she was a tempting mistress.

But what waited for me, idling in the parking lot, gleamed hot red and looked not a day older than when it hit the lot twenty years ago, was a 379 Peterbilt semi-truck. A true Optimus Prime. I’d seen older trucks, but someone could tell me this beauty stepped off a show room yesterday and I’d believe them. I made a long, low whistle as I moseyed over to her. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

I settled my baseball cap on my head and pulled the passenger side door open. There, sitting on the seat were the bluest eyes on a growling, white, canine face.

“Whoa…” I held my hands up. “I don’t want no trouble.”

The dog couldn’t have weighed more than thirty-five pounds. But I never dealt with pets growing up. There was no room for them in the cabin.

“If no trouble’s what you want, try not walking into somebody’s house easy as you please.”

I turned to see Jake’s pearly white teeth behind his plump lips. His perfect Germanic features caught me off guard. A flash-back I never wanted to remember filled every centimeter of my mind.

The side of Jake’s face pressed up against the back gate of a truck lift, his eyes half-lidded in ecstasy as he pushed his ass out towards another guy who zealously dicked him from behind.

There was no helping it. I stared at him then, just like now. Cold shivered down my spine while hot rolling waves rose. Opposites colliding together, roiling my stomach.

“Call off your hound.”

“She’s not a hound. She’s a Korean Jindo and her name is Mimi.” He nodded to the dog. “Mimi, this is Dan. Dan, Mimi.”

“That thing is going with us?”

“If you don’t want to ride with us, don’t.” Jake sidled past me and went around the engine.

​God dammit Troy. “I don’t like dogs.” I squinted at Mimi. No grandmother ever wanted to be named after a mutt.

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