NaNoWriMo Is Over...

NaNoWriMo is over, but my story isn't.  Overall I met the goal for NaNo, 50,000 words.

I wish I could’ve finished the novel in the month of November, but I wasn’t able to do so.

Here’s hoping that I can finish it in December.  I striving to continue the journey until it’s finished.

Chapter 25

Still talking about the associate minister and the revival set up.

Chapter 24

I'm talking about the associate minister of Redeemed who coordinated the revival.  Let's see if the pastor tells the preacher why he doesn't like single preachers.

I won!  But the story isn't over yet!

Chapter 23

Another chapter introducing a character.  I have about 5 or 6 more chapters that involve the characters.

I'm going to have to finish this in December.

Chapters 20, 21, 22

Added more about the parents.  They're backstory is both cute and interesting.  I'm done with the parents.  Still working on other characters.  I have about 5-7 chapters about characters.  Gotta keep going.

Chapter 19

The parents are working through some things in this chapter.  I think this chapter shows the dynamic of the family.

Chapter 18

The pastor of Redeemed Baptist Church is dealing with some things, but hopefully, the revival will give him some clarity.

Chapter 17

Worked on another chapter.  I'm introducing the parents right now.  I'm excited because I get to write about how they met.  Awe... Love...

Chapter 15 & 16

Well... Cornelia felt that she needed more chapters than her sister Victoria got (which as two), so thees two chapters are about Cornelia too.

Chapter 14

I'm talking about my Female Main character... Cornelia Nixon.  We'll see how it goes.

Chapters 12 & 13

Chapters 12 & 13 written today.

Today was a little hard because I wrote about a character (Victoria Nixon) who is having major romantic and familial issues in her life.  She only wanted to listen to sad R&B songs, so I've been listening to the sad songs.

#1 on the list... "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" by Deborah Cox

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Chapters 10 & 11

I wrote Chapters 10 & 11.  Two more characters introduced today.  I have a whole lot more characters to introduce.

Chapters 8 & 9

Chapters 8 & 9 finished today.  I'm introducing my characters today.  The first two in the books.  Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Chapters 5, 6, & 7

Yesterday, I wrote chapters 5-7.  It was hard.

On Saturday, I learned that my godsister died.  She won her battle with cancer.

One of the chapters I wrote yesterday dealt with the death of a young lady.  It was part of a back story.  It was hard to write because I had my godsister and her family on my heart.  At one point, I was crying.

After I finished with my writing for the day, I got a text telling me that a friend of mine lost her brother.

This has been hard.

Chapters 3 & 4

I wrote chapters 3 and four today.

Chapter 2

The Set-Up

Proverbs 19:21 New Living Translation (NLT)

You can make many plans,
but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

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Chapter 2

It was unusually warm for this fall day in the state of Maddocha.  The leaves had been changing and the weather had been cooling down.  That’s why it was weird to feel the heat of the sun bearing down on the 12th day of November.  It was usually cool enough to wear a sweater or a light jacket.  But, today, neither was really needed.

The city of Alexander, Maddocha was enjoying the unusually warm weather.  People bustled around downtown.  The city was a hip upscale city.  It boasted of chic shops that had the latest fashions, technology, and transportation.  It was one of the priciest cities in the state of Maddocha, which is why most of the people who lived there were upwardly mobile, well-to-do, middle class families.

The city had the best rated school district of the state; paying the best salary for teachers in the state.  The teachers were the best educated, best trained, and well-recognized, this included both the public and private schools.  Education was a highly valued commodity in the city.

The higher education in the city was among the best colleges and universities.  Many companies sent their employees to the schools in the city.  Top professionals in their departments were professors at the schools in the city.  The higher education institutions in the city were among the best rated schools in the state.

The median age for the city was 45 years of age.  The largest section of the population was 35 and under.  Alexander was the hottest city for upwardly mobile 25 to 40-year-old couples with children.  If you wanted to be somebody, you lived in the city of Alexander, Maddocha.

The downtown area was filled with quick paced people, moving about, trying to find some place to eat.  Various groups of people walked and talked business, fashion, technology, and life as they moved around the neatly landscaped sidewalks.  Well-manicured sternbergia lined the curbs, painting the in brilliant colors.  Beautiful sourwood trees shined brightly, lavishing the city with its brilliant crimson, purplish-red, and yellow leaves.  Autumn was in full bloom and the foliage made sure to proclaim it throughout the city.

Cornelia Nixon watched the people as she and Courtland Brigham drove through the downtown area heading towards the Alexander airport.  They were on their way to pick up the guest preacher for the revival that week.  He was arriving around 1:30 pm, so they headed out of from Cornelia’s place of employment with more than enough time to get to the airport on time.  traffic in alexander wasn’t that bad during lunch, but they didn’t want to take any chances.  Cornelia watched cars go by them driving the stated speed limit.  The car they were in dragged a little behind the flow of traffic.  Mr. Brigham, better known as Deacon Brig was a very cautious driver.

The buzz of traffic kept Cornelia company.  Deacon Brig was focused on the road and made no attempt to talk to her.  she looked at him several times, but he seemed to be in his own world.  the quiet was getting on her nerves.  There was no music to fill the air because Deacon Brig didn’t like to ride with the radio on.  She shrugged her shoulders and huffed.  Deacon Brig kept his eyes on the road.  Cornelia sighed.  The man still made no attempt to even acknowledge her presence.

A blue Ford Focus slid over in their lane in front of their car.  Cornelia looked at the license plate.  It read… “FRD 9391.”  She laughed.

“Deacon Brig, the license plate on that Ford Focus starts with FRD.  That’s funny isn’t it?”

He grunted.  She made a face.

“Are you really going to drive this whole time without talking to me?”

He grunted again.  She rolled her eyes.

“If you aren’t going to talk to me, then I’m going to turn the radio on.  I’m about to go crazy in here listening to my thoughts.”

She reached for the radio.  He touched her hand.

“Girl, if you don’t leave my radio alone.”

She twisted her lips.  “Well then, talk to me or something.”

“Lawd… Child… What do you want to talk about?”

She looked at the side of his face.  “Why did you ask me to come with you to pick up this dude?”

He blew a breath.  “That’s what you want to talk about.  Really?”

“Yes.  Why did you ask me?  You usually ask James or Hander to come with you.  I don’t understand why you asked me.”

“I asked you because I wanted to ask you.  We hadn’t spent any time together in a while.  I thought this would be a good time to do so.  Have we talked enough?”

Cornelia looked at the man.  His eyes were blinking rapidly.  Based on their past interaction, that meant he wasn’t telling the whole truth.  He may not have been lying, but he wasn’t telling her everything.

“Papa B, what’s really going on?  Why am I here?”

She hadn’t called him that since she was about 19 years old.  That was her and his daughter, Angel’s name for him.  He quickly looked at her and then looked back at the road.  He was silent.

“So, you not gonna answer me.  Seriously?”

He was silent.  He was the loudest man ever when he was silent. She shook her head.

“You know you wrong for this.  You just not gonna answer me.”

He looked at her, then made a face.  He turned back to look at the road.

“I told you why I invited you.  Leave it alone.”

Cornelia made a face.  She looked at Deacon Brig one more time.  his eyes were on the road and that was the end of the conversation.

***

Deacon Brig focused on the road.  The only other person who could peer deep into his eyes and read his mind was his daughter, Angel.  She and Cornelia were best friends, and somehow, Cornelia had the power to read his mind through his eyes.

Lord, please forgive me.  You know how Leonora is.  I tried to say no, but, it’s darn near impossible to say no to that woman when her mind is made up.  Lord, just let this go smoothly. Please.

His thoughts lead him back to yesterday.

***

Deacon Brig was trying checking the men’s restroom before he was going to leave the church on Sunday.  As he was walking to his car, Leonora Nixon-Caldwell approached him.  He stared at her for a few minutes before he took out his keys to get into his car.  She had a look of treachery on her face and he wasn’t sure he wanted any part of what she had on her mind.

She was about 3 feet from him, when she said, “Brig.  I know you see me walking toward you.  Don’t you get in that car.”

He rolled his eyes.  “You are bossy as all get out.  What do you want?  I’m trying to go home.  I got stuff I need to do.”

She reached him.  “I need to talk to you, right quick.”

“What is it?”

She smiled at him.  “You look nice tonight.  Brown is a great color on you.”

“Woman stop buttering me up.  What do you want?”

She laughed.  “You are one cantankerous old man.  Good grief.”

“Keep it up.  I’m going to get in my car and drive off from you.  Keep it up.”

She rubbed his arm.  “Don’t act like that.  I just need a favor that’s all.”

“What is it, woman?”

She blew a breath at him.  “Alright.  Who are you taking with you to pick up the preacher tomorrow?”

He made a face.  “First of all, who said I was going to pick him up?”

She batted her eyes rapidly.  “You always go pick up the speakers, so quit that.  Who are you taking with you?”

“Who said I was taking anyone with me?”

She rubbed that back of her neck.  “Would you quit giving me a hard time and answer my question?”

“You’re taking the fun out of this.”

She rolled her eyes.  “Courtland Wesley Brigham.  Answer me, please.  I thought you were ready to go.”

He laughed.  “It’s more fun to stand here and torture you.”

She starched her hair.  “Can you just answer me?  Hurry up before Henry comes out here looking for me.  I ain’t in the mood to deal with him right now.”

He shook his head.  “What has he done now?”

“Don’t worry about that.  Just answer my question.”

Her eyes glossed over with tears.  He touched her arm.  She looked away from him.

“Alright.  I’m taking James or Hander.  I have to call them when I get home.  I didn’t see them today.”

Her eyes gleamed.  “Take Cornelia with you.”

“Wait, you want me to take Cornelia with me to go pick up the male preacher?”

She smiled.  “Yes.  That’s what I want you to do.”

“Why?”

She rubbed her eyebrows.  “Do I have to explain myself?  Just do it for me.”

He shook his head.  “Naw, uhh uhh.  You ain’t about to get me mixed up in whatever scheme you are cooking up.  Uhh uhh, Leonora.  I don’t want to be in the middle of this.  Woman, naw.”

She touched his arm.  “What makes you think I’m cooking up a scheme?  I just think it would be good for you and Cornelia to spend some time together.”

He touched his head with both of his hands and ran his hands over his full head of hair.

“Woman, I was born at night, but not last night.  You know good and fare well that ain’t why you asking me this.  You trying to fix her up with that preacher.  Have mercy.  Pastor is going to come looking for me.  woman, you gonna get me in trouble.  Pastor already told me to not let ya’ll crazy women get near the preacher.”

Leonora rolled her eyes.  “He’s about to get on my last nerve.  He talked to you already.”

“Yes, he said he didn’t want any of ya’ll talking to him and trying to fix him up with any woman from the church.  Pastor was adamant about it.  I don’t want to get on his bad side.  Quarles’s already in trouble for inviting the single preacher.  I ain’t getting involved in this.”

She rubbed his arm.  “Brig, please.  Please.  You know Cornelia.  She ain’t ever going to get married.  At the rate my silly daughters are going, none of them are going to get married and have some kids.  I just want my babies to meet a good man and get married.”

“How do you even know if he is a good man?”

“Old man.  Just invite her to ride with you.  That’s all you have to do.  Just ask her.  you don’t have to say anything to the preacher.”

He laughed.  “What if it doesn’t turn out like you want it to turn out?”

“I don’t even know what I want to happen.”

He shook his head.  “I’ll call her and ask her.  I’m not going to beg her or anything.  If she says ‘no,’ then she says ‘no’.  you can’t hold it against me.”

“Fair enough.  no pressure.  Just ask her.  Call her now.”

He huffed.  “I’m not about to call her right now.  I’ll do it later.”

“Brig.  Call her now.  If you don’t do it now, you’ll talk yourself out of it.  Call her now.”

He rubbed his head.  “I done told you, I’ll call her.  if you don’t trust me, then, I’m not going to ask her.  Back up off me and let me do this my way.”

Her shoulder wilted.  “Fine.  Just do it today.”

“I’m getting in my car.  I told you, I’ll ask her.”

“Okay.  Thank you.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Whatever.  If I get caught by Pastor.  I’m dropping all kinds of dimes and telling on you.  You can believe that.”

She laughed as she started to walk off.  “Thank you, Brig.  Love you like pre-k girls love pink.”

He opened his car door.  “Whatever woman.  Bye.”

She waved her hands as she waved back towards the church building.

***

Sunday night, just before going to bed, Deacon Brig picked up the phone and dialed Cornelia’s number.  The phone rung four times before she picked it up.

“Hello, Cornelia, it’s Deacon Brig.”

She exuberantly responded, “Hey, Deacon Brig.  What’s going on?”

“Nothing baby girl.  Just wanted to check on you.”

She smiled through the phone.  “Thanks.  I saw you at church today.  I didn’t get to speak to you because you looked busy.”

“Yes, I’m always busy.  It’s always something to do at the church.

She laughed.  “You need to tell them you’re retired.”

“They don’t care.”

She laughed.

“I don’t want to keep you too long.  What’s on your schedule tomorrow?”

She was silent for a moment.  “Nothing, I don’t have any classes on tomorrow.  I was just going to do some planning for next week.  Why?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to ride with me tomorrow?”

She was quiet.  “Ride with you where?”

“No where in particular.  Just want to spend a little time with you.”

She asked, “Where are you going?”

“You can come ride with me or sit in a stuffy office and look at a computer.  I think you need to get out of that stuffy building and come hang out with me.  it’ll be fun.”

She laughed.  “I think you’re up to something, but I guess I’ll ride with you.”

“That’s good.  Have a good night, sweetie.”

“Yes sir, you, too.”

“Alright.  See you tomorrow at 11:45 in the morning.”

“Okay, I’ll be at the college.”

“Alright.  Bye.”

“Bye, Deacon Brig.”

***

Deacon Brig swerved slightly to get back in his lane.  He blinked his eyes rapidly.  He shook his head.  He glanced at Cornelia quickly.  She was looking out the window.  He reached down and turned the radio on.  She looked at him and smiled.  He focused back on the road.

This is going to be a mess!