National Novel Writing Month “2024” – Writing Log

The Novel – The Writing Log

Sunday, January 19, 2025 – 0 words (+0)—Let’s do this!

This is going to need a few explanations. Why am I writing a NaNoWriMo 2024 novel in January 2025? Why start on January 20? Wasn’t National Novel Writing Month in November? What’s going on?

Yes, it’s a bit strange. But these are strange times. To recap what happened last November: No, I did not write a novel. I was, instead, obsessively dealing with my 1,093-long movie review backlog, an effort that took me 86 days from September to November and produced over 210,000 words — twice a novel! I worked on reviews rather than a Science Fiction novel because I was eager to get that albatross off my neck, and because my idea for the 2024 novel wasn’t completely panning out.

But then weirder things happened. On November 5, Americans made a spectacularly ill-advised electoral choice, and my imagination ran wild with the what-ifs in store for the next four years. On December 4, a targeted assassination on the streets of New York City eerily duplicated the opening of my proposed novel. I shrugged—by that time, I had started transforming some of my speculations into an idea with far more potential—a comic thriller set in 2027 Washington.

Who said November is the only month fit for novel writing? Rather than throw things at the TV during the months leading to the presidential inauguration and right after, I instead channelled my frustrations and dark humour into a creative project. A novel written in the weeks following January 20, essentially moving the 2024 NaNoWriMo to eighty days later. By sheer happenstance, January 20 also ended up being 2024’s most-depressing-day-of-the-year “Blue Monday,” which also plays into another reason for this NaNoWriMo—keeping myself busy through the worst of winter. By the time I will emerge from writing the entire thing, it will be time to plant seedlings.

So here we are. My thousand-word outline isn’t as detailed as I’d like it to be (they never are), but the basics are there and I’ve got enough of a three-act structure to follow until the end. Plus, I’ve got enough dumb jokes to keep me interested over thirty days. Let’s go!

Monday, January 20 – 3,128 words (+3,128)—Rusty start.

It took me longer to write those 3000 words, but at least we’re back into it, and my prologue isn’t nearly done yet. In other words: Pretty much what I expected from a first day. I couldn’t help but lecture a few co-workers about writing over lunch break today, and one of the things I noted was that writing is problem-solving, and there’s no substitute (planning, outlining, structuring) for actually sitting down and doing it. My fuzzy idea for an opening action sequence (this is a Bond parody, so I’ve got to do what’s expected) gradually developed itself as I was writing it, which is as it should be—and writing in a comic tone opens up a lot of possibilities that would be forbidden to a more serious writer.

Anyway—the first three thousand words are done, and they’re up on the web. I’m still posting online this year—it’s not as if this novel will ever be publishable anyway (have you read the tagline?) and it’s more fun to post it as a serial for anyone interested.

There is one more thing to do today—send an email to tell everyone I’m writing, just so that I feel accountable every single day until it’s done.

Tuesday, January 21 – 6,141 words (+3,013)—Slower than expected.

Problem-solving isn’t equally easy every day, and if yesterday went well, today was a bit harder. (I may end up lopping off five hundred words of dawdling in today’s words to make the prologue go a bit faster.)  But the important part is that the three thousand words are done, I’m nearly done with the prologue, and tomorrow should see us comfortably in Chapter 1, with the main action of the novel finally getting underway.

As the introduction to this log suggests, Mayhem on the Potomac is very much what author Charles Stross (among others) calls “an attack novel”—the kind of unshakeable concept that demands to be written down, even if you’re supposed to be working on something else. I had a perfectly good Science Fiction novel idea that just didn’t have the motivating spark, and in the sombre post-election days, it was quickly pushed aside by another idea that sparkled with potential. This is one of the very specific joys of not writing for publication—I can abruptly run with an utterly unsalable concept and get it finished in roughly four months from having an idea to writing THE END. Maybe it’s self-therapy. Maybe it’s self-expression. I just know that right now I’m happier writing than not writing.

Wednesday, January 22 – 9,139 words (+2,998)—Wrap-up and Exposition.

Today wasn’t that hard… but I don’t think it’s particularly good. On the good news front, we’re now finally out of the prologue with two quick parting shots (and this PG-13 novel’s sole harsh expletive). On the less good front, much of Chapter 1 so far is paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition. Which I like writing but I fear isn’t as interesting to readers. But it had to come out, and now that we’ve firmly established that bit of necessary exposition, we can move on to something else. Tomorrow won’t necessarily be more action-packed, but should see the inclusion of the novel’s tagline, so that’s something to look forward to.

Thursday, January 23 – 12,058 words (+2,919)—More exposition?!

Another humdrum day—took longer than I wanted, but I did get those three thousand words in (rewatching Bond movies doesn’t help, I suppose). More exposition, but at least our hero now has his mission and the novel has its main hook. Hopefully, that’s enough of a foundation for the rest, although the next action sequence is not planned until at least Saturday or Sunday. Time to get the plot gerbils back to work in the downtime…

Friday, January 24 – 15,051 words (+2,993)—Are we ever going to be done with the exposition?

Another day of mostly-blah writing. We’re now in Chapter 2, but I’m still moving the pieces where they should go, still setting up the next fun sequence, still in the strictly procedural phase of the novel before the fun begins. At least I got things done—the action is now in Washington, our protagonist is finally working on the ground, and an alternate viewpoint character is coming into his own. One more supporting character was set up for later use (not entirely sure what for, although I have new ideas) and I threw in an added wrinkle because it was getting a bit boring. Tomorrow, the shape of the novel should become clearer and funnier.

Saturday, January 25 – 18,010 words (+2,959)—Now it begins.

Most of today’s writing is once again “protagonist prepares for something big, with plenty of details to make it credible and not a lot of dialogue” procedural stuff, which is getting old—but today’s writing segment started and finished with physical confrontations, which is always fun. Tomorrow is the first big twist of the plot—I stopped on a cliffhanger of sorts, but now I have to figure out how to best introduce and manage the insanity of what’s next.

I probably won’t attempt a double-sized writing day tomorrow—for one thing, this novel is not going to get above 100,000 words and my goal to finish sometime around February 20 is a lot fuzzier than the usual November 30 big deadline. For another, I’m trying to keep up a more normal life during the writing of this specific novel. I’m still playing video games (albeit ones selected to be picked up and playing in small bursts of time rather than an all-encompassing RPG), still going out (I spent much of the day greeting an old friend and visiting a museum, for instance) and I may even skip a few days once in a while. This novel is supposed to be a goof, an outlet and a way to keep myself entertained during the winter—not a punitive measure. I’ve got the experience required to get to the end of it, but the way to get there is mine to manage.

Sunday, January 26 – 21,056 words (+3,046)—Now we’re having fun!

Much of the novel has been building up to this—one big comedy sequence featuring an ensemble of film spies, assembled in all of their quirks and clashing personalities. Today was the beginning of that big scene and I’m not doing too badly so far—there are more than a few balls to juggle, but I reckon that today’s writing had at least one or two chuckles for the readers. It’s interesting to see how some archetypes don’t really survive the requirements of moment-to-moment writing: what began as a Bond parody is slowly accumulating layers and depth of its own because of the actions taken by the characters from one moment to another. I’ll see later how many of those deviations from the archetype I’ll keep, but for now I’m writing slightly more than a Bond copy. Another thing: If you, dear reader, have now many more names to keep track of, imagine the author—I have to have my own cheat sheet to keep them straight.

Monday, January 27 – 23,013 words (+1,957)—Ugh, not a good day.

Poor showing today, for no real reason—I simply got stuck trying to move forward, having to pick between several paths forward. In the end, I settled for a classic Bond casino sequence with a few twists (including a bit that’s probably too over-the-top, but still made me laugh out loud), and copy-and-pasting pieces of a presidential speech transcript held today rather than try to invent something as inane as what that guy actually said. I’ll try to make up for the shortfall tomorrow, although my evening is scheduled to be busy.

Tuesday, January 28 – 25,841 words (+2,828)—Better, but not funnier.

While yesterday was not a good day words-wise, I kept cackling at one of the jokes all day long. (“Blended, not stirred”) Despite a few time constraints, today was better—I had focus, I wrote a cute little Bond-like scene of high-stakes poker (even leaning into my lack of poker knowledge by spouting obvious nonsense at times) and solidly put some necessary pieces of plot scaffolding in place. A short action beat to wrap up the night and now here we are at the end of a decent day. The only problem is that I focused far more on the plot than humour, so there’s not much in comic matters other than some debonair wisecracks from our protagonist. I stopped when I did so that I could think about what’s next—is it time to rush to the end of the first act, or can I squeeze in a little bit more fun? I have about twenty hours to figure it out.

Wednesday, January 29 – 26,348 words (+507)—Not much, but still forward.

Despite the underwhelming word count, I wasn’t idle today—I went over a few chapters, corrected some of the writing, added one short scene, threw in a few more jokes and thought about what’s next. (I also was out at a restaurant for a family birthday during most of the evening, so there are extenuating circumstances.)

Thursday, January 30 – 30,085 words (+3,737)—End of the first act

Pretty good day—more words than average, and they all flowed more easily than usual. But this was to be expected—after what I recognize to be a few days of hesitation before one of the big showcase turns of the novel, I finally committed to the bit today and ushered in the moment that readers have been waiting for since the first chapter. A slower writing pace during the last few days helped because it let me insert an ominous scene that came up to me over the past few days, and deftly stickhandle a tricky mini-climax of sorts. Don’t expect the same number of words tomorrow: Now that I have straightened out the end of the first act, I now have to start over again with a brand-new second act. But that’s a problem for tomorrow.

Friday, January 31 – 31,956 words (+1,871)—Beginning of Act Two

Fewer words than I’d like today, but a major shift in the novel’s narrative: We’re done with the initial situation, and we’re moving on to a radically different one for the second act. I used a long lunchtime walk to convince myself that it was time to hurry up something that was planned for later in the novel, and used the evening to start executing some of that (and also to nap, which partially explains the lower word count). Also, the day’s cliffhanger was simply too good to keep going forward. Since an entire thicket of possibilities has just opened up, we’ll see where this takes us. There’s a fair chance that I can put a laptop and myself into a high-boredom environment tomorrow, which may be helpful for the word count.

Saturday, February 1st – 36,589 words (+4,633)—Best day so far.

Pretty good day today! I had some free time, so I got to write at length and moved the action forward quite a bit, then threw in a wild action sequence to keep things lively. As we near the mid-point of this short novel, a few upcoming plot beats got clearer today. I may have a challenge tomorrow in piecing together how I’ll make my way to the next important plot turn (time for another gratuitous action sequence?) but at least I’ll have some time to think about it.

Sunday, February 2 – 38,124 words (+1,535)—Mostly thinking, some writing.

There’s something freeing about not having to write the novel according to the strict confines of the November calendar month. Since this will not reach 100,000 words, and since I’m not necessarily tying myself to a completion date of February 20, I don’t have to stick to a daily quota—as long as I advance the thing every day, I’m reasonably happy. So, anyway: 1,500 words today isn’t anything worth crowing about (especially since it’s all exposition), but since the process of writing it clarified what I’m going to do in the next few days, it was worth it. I was forced to put down a few markers on the way to the next big action sequence, and that’s going to be the focus of the next two days. Until then—early bedtime.

Monday, February 3 – 38,420 words (+296)—Mostly thinking, little writing.

I wrote mostly pseudo-prose today—spent two hours, one of them on the treadmill, reading a book about spycraft (specifically about the Moscow CIA station in the 1970s–1980s), then another hour with Google Maps to plan the next action sequence set around Washington, DC, monuments, then wrote and refined a synopsis of the main beats I want to hit in the next action scene. I also listened to a lot of Bond-related music, but that’s not really showing up in the writing. Readers will be disappointed at the lack of an update, but there’s still a lot of work brewing behind the scenes.

Tuesday, February 4 – 43,457 words (+5,037)—In search of the obvious.

As you may have guessed from the last few days’ inconsistent word counts, I had a few problems getting through this patch of plotting. I knew where I was going, but finding the best, most dramatic, most action-packed way to get there was a bit of a process. But as I stated yesterday, everything came together today—the pseudo-prose synopsis was gradually expanded into prose, and the thinking work of the past few days was transformed into the biggest daily word count so far. In other words, I had to think about it long enough that the way through this section of the novel was not only clear, but obvious—it could not have been anything else.

I may face a similar knot of possibilities on the way to the next big set piece, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. In the meantime, I have nice things to say about how modern technology and helpful website designers have enabled me to virtually walk down the streets of Washington, visualize the action beats of today’s sequence in real locations, and even correct some factual errors on the fly. There’s a bit of explosive mopping up to do tomorrow, then we’re headed straight for the conclusion of the second act. I can already anticipate that the third act is going to be a beast to wrangle.

Wednesday, February 5 – 45,521 words (+2,064)—Wrapping up a big sequence

Two thousand rather easy words today—although this “wrap-up” to yesterday’s big action scene took longer than I thought, and had more action than I expected. But at least there’s now some actual mayhem on the Potomac in this eponymous novel rather than it being merely metonymic. I’m stopping because it’s a natural chapter break, I’d like to go to sleep not too late, and I could use a few hours to figure out the sequencing of the next few steps. The entirety of the novel’s last act is planned to take place over eight hours, so everything has to be at the right place before the last stretch begins, because there isn’t as much tolerance for errors and shuffling plot pieces when it gets more chronologically intricate.

Thursday, February 6 – 48,131 words (+2,610)—The day it all came together

Not as many words as I’d like, but there’s a limit to how much exposition I can cram without boring the readers. Plus, it wasn’t just exposition—I ended the day on such a high note that it didn’t seem right to keep going just for another measly four hundred words. The highlight of the day was to neatly wrap-up the underlying plot behind the plot of the novel—and the most hilarious thing is that everything was pieced together after the fact, with no going back into the narrative to fix or add things. I had left myself so many dangling plot elements that adding another level of plotting was just a matter of making links between what I had already put in the story. Writing magic! (Or maybe I was semi-consciously putting the pieces I would need later on. This is my thirteenth novel, after all. Writing’s mysterious that way.)

Sadly, don’t expect as many words tomorrow:  I will most likely be spending the evening planning the last act of the novel, which means a fair bit of research, a lot of time spent on Wikipedia and Google Maps, more pseudo-prose than prose, and hammering out the big story beats I want to hit on my way to the conclusion. Calling it right now: I would be surprised if the entire novel ran more than 75,000 words—which would be higher than average for one of Fleming’s Bond novels. At my current words per day, that would mean ending around February 16, more or less on schedule. Of course, I have a regrettable tendency to cut things short in my conclusions, so it may be a few days and a few thousand words earlier than that.

Friday, February 7—“49,097” words (+”966″)—More pseudo-prose.

I did not update the novel online tonight—but I still “added” nearly a thousand words of pseudo-prose in my Word document in figuring out the shape of the third act. As mentioned before, the rest of the novel takes place in the span of roughly ten hours in downtown Washington, DC—so I have to make sure that I’ve got the choreography of the action tightly wound up… otherwise I’m not going to have a lot of space for fixing things on the go. (And they may break along the way.) I’m generally satisfied with how things are shaping up so far with the high-level movement of the remaining six chapters provisionally mapped out. But I won’t be really happy until I figure out how to make it funnier because right now it’s a heavy-duty political thriller with action sequences thrown in. Which is not necessarily a bad thing—this novel has oscillated between almost-slapstick jokes and dead-serious thrills a few times, and I’ll argue that the best way to handle a comic thriller is to have a solid plot framework, and then add the jokes. But I’ll rest more easily once I get a few funnier moments in there. Part of the day was spent mulling about how to have an action sequence set in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and I think I’ve got the beginning of an answer. I just have to figure out how to get there, and that stands for a few of the smaller details as well. I’m expecting more pseudo-prose tomorrow, but also to start chipping at the next scene in the sequence.

Saturday, February 8—“50,710” words (+1,613)—We begin again.

After kicking at my outline all day long (in between housework and some video games) and figuring how we get some of the action to the Smithsonian (it’s elegant!), I started transforming some of that pseudo-prose back into prose. I’m relatively confident in the synopsis for the rest of the novel, and I started adding some more ridiculousness along the way to make it funny again. The next few days should see a return back to more regular word counts until the end of the book. I would normally feel pretty good about exceeding the 50K word-count mark, except that this total still includes a lot of pseudo-prose: If I strictly exclude the pseudo-prose from the total, I’m just above 49,000 words right now—the 50K celebration will need to wait until tomorrow.

Sunday, February 9 – 52,805 words (+3,095)—End of Act Two.

As anticipated, today was a pretty good day—another three thousand words down, simply following the outline I developed over the past two days. I’m not entirely convinced that I have milked the moment for all that it’s worth, but it’s still quite dramatic and more or less delivers what I intended. We are now two hours into the ten hours of near-continuous action planned for the last third of the novel, so the next few days are about maintaining that intensity. Also noteworthy—we’re now formally above 50K of word count, which was one of the big milestones of past NaNoWriMo projects. (The word total above now excludes the remaining pseudo-prose.)  Depending on how things go, there’s roughly a week’s worth of writing left—I may wrap this up by next Sunday if things go well.

Monday, February 10 – 55,132 words (+2,327)—Untangling a snarl.

Slightly more laborious writing session than I expected today—There was a blind spot in my outline that required some straightening-out, and thinking my way out of there (essentially—getting a character where I needed him to be in order to get a glimpse inside the opposition to our protagonist) took more time than expected—but I got an interesting character moment out of it, and plenty of possible complications waiting for that character in the next few days. What’s a redemption arc without stumbling once this close to the finish line?

Tuesday, February 11 – 56,877 words (+1,745)—Putting the pieces on the checkerboard.

Not that good of a day in terms of words, but pretty good of a day in pushing the story forward. There are a lot of moving pieces to this climactic arc, and the challenge is in making sure they’re all in the right position before the mayhem starts. I’m pretty happy at the way things got pushed forward today—a bit of scene-setting, some foreshadowing, a character making his way back into the narrative, and moving forward to the next sequence. I’m breaking off earlier than usual in that I am more tired than usual, and I can use a break before plotting the next chapter.

Wednesday, February 12 – 56,877 words (+0)—Eek!

(Written the day after.) Well, it had to happen—after a few days of waking up unusually early and a family supper at a restaurant on the other side of town, I came back home, napped… and ended up sleeping through the morning. No writing today. But rest is not a bad thing.

Thursday, February 13 – 58,592 words (+1,715)—Still stuck in scene setting.

There is good news today—I’m closer to being done putting all the pieces where I want them, and I’m running up my word count at a point where there wasn’t much planned. But the not-so-good news is that I’m really not writing at the pace that I had set for myself. Part of it is figuring out what happens next and in what order; but part of it is also, I think, a reluctance to actually commit to those things. Or maybe I’m having such a generally good time writing this that I’m not that keen on making it end. Ah well; I suppose we’ll see tomorrow.

Friday, February 14 – 60,138 words (+1,546)—All aboard, we’re moving now.

I’m still not happy about today’s underwhelming word count, but at least I got things moving after days stuck in the Sargasso Sea of exposition. I did a lot of research on the US Capitol Subway system, and while watching the YouTube videos was really overkill, the result was to get started on a small action scene that brings us forward in the action. If things go well tomorrow, I should conclude Chapter 12 and approach the mid-point of Act Three. This weekend will be make-or-break if my goal is to finish this novel within thirty days.

Saturday, February 15 – 61,553 words (+1,415)—Slow, but not idle.

Not many words today, but things are progressing—I completed the second of the third act’s five chapters, and while the debit has slowed down (along with the jokes, alas), I’m still on track to wrap this up in 70–75,000 words or so. Part of the reason why I’m not advancing as quickly is that I’ve spent the day working on an elaborate papercraft project for work, and another part of the day fiddling with a possible cover illustration for the printed version of the book. I’m pretty happy with the cover, though—it hits hard, perhaps a bit too much considering the novel’s comic style.

Sunday, February 16 – 63,172 words (+1,619)—Still slow, still not idle.

Still working at half-speed compared to where I would want to be. I think that the biggest problem is that I’ve started taking this silly novel seriously—despite the “just get the words out, worry about quality later,” I’m actually making an effort to write something good, and it shows in the time I’m taking to think about what’s happening next and maximizing the opportunities at my disposal. (The prose hasn’t improved at all, though, if that reassures anyone.)  Ah well—it will take the time it will take, even if I go over the 30-day self-imposed deadline.

Monday, February 17 – 64,394 words (+1,222)—Forward, With Impact

Not that many words again today (I could have sworn it felt like more), but those words did include moving the needle forward quite a bit, including a long-awaited turning point for one of the main characters. This had been a long time coming, and I wasn’t terribly sure how I would do it—but it ended up working better than I had imagined. Tomorrow should be the conclusion of the middle chapter of that last act, and then it’s off to an action-packed wrap-up.

Tuesday, February 18 – 68,144 words (+3,750)—And then the logjam broke.

Going back to the “just sit down and write” basics, I indeed just sat down and wrote today, finally breaking through a few set-pieces and moving the action decisively forward. One big set piece, in particular, I had been nursing for two weeks so it was almost a relief to make it happen. While delivering a few payoffs and action scenes, I also put together the pieces in place for the next few thousand words. So, it’s looking pretty good for a weekend finish—a bit later than expected, but nothing outrageously worse. It now looks as if this is going to wrap up around 75 or 80,000 words: it all depends on how the next two big action sequences play out.

Wednesday, February 19 – 70,015 words (+1,871)—Forward, with action.

Not that many words today, but today’s writing included one big payoff and two back-to-back action scenes that bring us nearly to the end of the penultimate chapter. Tomorrow, we wrap up with the henchman and then move to the main villain himself. That last chapter may be quite short considering that there isn’t all that much left to do once we’re at that point. I still think we’re going to wrap within 75–80,000 words. Getting closer to the end…

Thursday, February 20 – 71,124 (+1,109)—Paltry but pivotal.

Still not happy with the number of words today, but at least it was one nail-biter of an action sequence payoff with a bit of setting/thematic alignment on top. I’m now into the last chapter of the novel, and will be wrapping this up in the next few days. It dawned on me again that if I’m slower than usual this time around, it’s because I’m both enjoying this and I want to do a decent job at writing this one. Not that I’m getting any delusions of literary excellence, but there’s a process into ensuring that the right things happen in the right order, and that’s not usually a good thing to rush. Ah well—it’ll be over soon, and then I’ll start thinking about the next novel.

Friday, February 21 – 72,783 words (+1,669)—And that’s the climax.

I’m not completely done yet, but only the epilogue is left to write—the last chapter is done, the big explosive over-the-top climax is in the book, and all that remains is to mop up the pieces. I’ll probably get that done tomorrow. I won’t claim victory until the end, though. Amusingly, I shifted one passage from the penultimate chapter to the last one as to keep ratcheting the wow factor and tighten up the action slightly.

Saturday, February 22 – 74,177 words (+1,394)—It’s finished!

I wrote the epilogue of the novel today, which means that this novel is done! Well, not completely done yet—I still have to do at least three read-throughs before sending it to the printers and letting go: A content-adjustment pass to tweak things that changed during the writing of the novel (sometimes because I had better ideas, sometimes because the real world outstripped my speculations); one technical grammar and spelling pass to ensure that it’s readable, and one final polish pass to punch up the language. That should take a few more days of lower-intensity work, but my goal is to wrap it all up by next weekend. Until then, I’m taking a victory lap—I just wrote another novel! Woo-hoo!

Sunday, February 23 – 74,564 words (+387)—First round of revisions.

Today was all about proofing the worst of the grammar and spelling—One targeted revision in Word, another in Antidote. I’m not done yet: I still have three chapters to do in Antidote, and then I have two more read-throughs to complete. One for adjusting elements of the novel that changed as I was writing it, and another fine-tooth pass to try to correct any remaining typos and weaker prose. Amusingly enough, I realized today that a scene I meant to write (nothing less than the end of the road for a viewpoint character) was not written—I just forgot about it in the excitement of wrapping up the last chapter. So, clearly, I still have another 500-1000 words to draft before calling this complete. (And now that I think of it, I may add another scene to the epilogue.)  All of this revision work should bring us to next weekend, at which point the novel will be ready to slap in a template and send off to the printers. Which reminds me—I now have to ask which of my faithful readers want a printed copy of the book.

Monday, February 24 – 75,835 words (+1,271)—Second Round of revisions.

Today was a deeper dive into the content of the novel—I completed the first Antidote pass, added two new scenes to round off one of the viewpoint character’s dramatic arc, added a few more details that I had been mulling over, and corrected some more grammar and spelling. I dipped in and out of the novel to smooth out the prose. Tomorrow’s going to be about starting (but likely not finishing) a full read-through with a focus on rewriting what needs to be rewritten.

Tuesday, February 25 – 75,986 words (+151)—Start of first read-through.

My evening was fritted away on too many non-novel things, but at least I started my first read-through—all the way through the lengthy prologue and first chapter. Added a few things, took out a few things, put in some foreshadowing and early introductions, and added more evidence of American fascism to strengthen the novel’s world-building. As far as read-throughs go, this is a good start… but it’s going to take a few days.

Wednesday, February 26 – 76,038 words (+52)—First third of read-through.

Sigh… another evening fritted away on too many non-writing things. Still, I made progress, rereading and fixing chapters 2–5. Mostly mechanical corrections, not that many substantial changes—although I caught a few embarrassing oversights and contradictions along the way.

Thursday, February 27 – 76,873 words (+835)—Second third of first read-through.

Fair day today—I reread and corrected the middle third of the novel, and added appendices that will be exclusive to the printed version: Casting the characters (and firmly stating their inspirations), an annotated soundtrack with comments on every Bond song, and design notes on the proposed cover. I’m still mulling whether I should add notes on the various jokes and quotations that readers may miss. I should complete the first read-through tomorrow. Then probably a second read-through on Saturday, and sending the entire thing to the printer on Sunday right before the Oscars. I’ll have a few notes on the novel in the coming days for those who are still sticking around.

Friday, February 28 – 77,072 words (+199)—Completion of first read-through.

Today reached peak absurdity in “too many non-novel things” with me cramming the equivalent of thirteen hours of job training on top of a normal day, and still editing the last third of the novel. The next step in to pour it into the print template and re-read it once more.

Saturday, March 1st – 77,685 words (+613)—Conclusion: A second read-through and off to the printers!

Last weekend of work on the novel: It’s not done, but it’s time to put a stop to the fiddling. I poured the content into the template used for printing. This has the advantage of changing the look of the novel, and so facilitated a second read-through. I ran Antidote another time, caught a few more typos (I’m sure there are more left), added a few bits and trimmed a few others.

It’s now time to wrap it up and offer an overall assessment of this specific novel. In a few words: I’m happy about it! This is my thirteenth novel, and the third in my “modern” period after a few years not writing as much. It’s more cohesive than its last few episodic predecessors, has more sustained plotting and borrowing known archetypes as characters did help a lot in writing distinctive dialogue. (When you’re basing a character on Samuel L. Jackson’s screen persona, it’s easy to write “in his voice,” which, in turn, informs the characterization.)  Despite the wholesale parody, every character is showcased according to their own specific quirks. I really enjoyed writing some of the sustained action sequences, and a lot of the humour felt successful here, perhaps more as a characteristic of my own specific style of writing than outright jokes. Some of the best scenes in the book are really all about dialogue rather than action or ideas.

Other things I’m not so sure about. As mentioned above, I’m guilty of taking the silly novel seriously—what was supposed to be a big joke ended up getting a semi-serious treatment when I deliberately worked at delivering a better novel than the dumb-joke premise required. This means that a serious thriller emerged from the laughter—and consequently, some shifts from absurd humour (say, the entire Nathan Lundt character) to some far darker material (such as whenever Carter got into a violent fight, as per the original Bond novels). Whether the balance works or not is up to the readers—I don’t think the mixture is necessarily incompatible, and there are plenty of guideposts to show what’s supposed to be silly and what’s not (McGuire’s dramatic arc is not supposed to be a joke, for instance—perhaps one of the clearest examples of taking the silly stuff seriously) but ultimately the audience will pass judgment. Perhaps one of the signs of how seriously I took the novel is my sense of unfinished business as I move on to something else—there’s a lot to fix in the novel that I simply don’t have time (or energy) to tackle right now—ensuring that Carter’s inner monologue is stronger on the Britishisms, fixing the mess of metric/imperial inconsistencies, perhaps giving earlier voice to Aubert’s inner narration, perhaps bolstering the profile of the female characters, smoothing out the use of datelines, perhaps further strengthening the bonding moments between members of the Wrecking Crew. There are a few scenes that I did not write because they felt redundant (there’s a lot more to the Carter/Diestel relationship than what is on the page, for instance) but maybe I should have written those. Ah well, maybe I’ll rewrite everything at some point in the future.

Mayhem on the Potomac also served its purpose by helping me stay grounded during the chaotic first few days of the administration it lampoons. I would take in the daily news and channel them into the writing of the book. I definitely anticipated a few shocks and was surprised by others, but at least had an outlet for my frustration. That administration is not going to get any better, mind you—so maybe there’s another attack novel in my near-future.

(I did have ideas for a few thematically similar books—a horror novel set in the White House, for one, and another for a meta-thriller about a novelist anticipating a presidential assassination who’s then targeted by shadowy forces wondering, “How did he guess?”  We’ll see where that goes.)

But, overall—it was a thrilling creative experience. The result isn’t particularly well-written, but it meets its non-literary goals. It backfills the novel I did not write in November 2024, and will stand as a summary of what I was thinking about in early 2025. Now let’s see what I can cook up in the months until November 2025!