It’s officially November and I am participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time! Below is a few paragraphs from the first chapter of the novel I am writing for the project. It’s rough and needs some revisions, but I am eager to share with you guys. I plan to share more highlights throughout the month as I work hard on the writing project. I would love feedback so don’t hesitate to leave your comments below!
January 2020
I don’t remember anything special about New Year’s Eve. In hindsight, perhaps that’s where the trouble started. I’ve talked to many people over the last few months and all accounts point to a generic celebration of little consequence. That was my first indication that the collective memory was faulty. And so, I began my research.
Armed with a laptop, smartphone, and a notebook, I started digging. Before this phenomenon caught my attention, I was employed as a private investigator. Though the title sounds exciting and glamourous, the job itself was mundane and tedious. The majority of the cases I handled involved cheating spouses and missing people. Lately, it seemed to be far more missing people than anything else. I hadn’t had a chance to crunch the numbers until the mysterious events of 2020 caught my attention.
One cold day early in January I pulled up my spreadsheets to give the numbers a look. Every single month in 2019 the number of missing persons cases I was approached about doubled every other month. January and February had each netted 2 missing persons. March and April produced four missing people. Early in the year, this didn’t appear abnormal at all. By September and October, which each amounted to thirty-two missing persons cases, I hadn’t had time to take on all of the cases which approached me. November and December accounted for sixty-four requests each. I kept track of every case, whether I took on the file or not, for recording purposes. Sometimes people would approach me about the same person multiple times. Usually, I would take the case after the third attempt, whether I anticipated finding the person or not, to give the family some closure.
Cathy Marie Bown 