The Unaccompanied Chapter

A while back I got this great idea that I could write a novel, become a famous author, and never worry about finding a job again...so I started writing. The following is not an excerpt, it's the whole shebang. I forgot about it until today, and since I'll probably never end up doing anything with it, I've decided to turn it into a blog post. I hope you enjoy it. Re-reading it made me realize that I should leave novel writing to others. I'll just keep reading them.


“Why is it that in books and movies, even the people with crappy jobs, no skills and a serious lack of cash live in apartments that in the real world would cost approximately $1500 a month?” Hanna asked her best friend Jade; fully expecting Jade would simply roll her eyes and act as if Hanna had asked a rhetorical question.

“Because a movie that takes place in a complete shit hole isn’t entertainment” was Jade’s flippant response.

“Yeah, but doesn’t it tick you off? I mean don’t people want some reality in the story, a dose of camaraderie?”

“No, people want to be entertained, and to imagine that the life they see in the movies is one they can attain. They don’t want to pay $8 to see someone living their life. They want glamour, glitz, a dream, and all that happy horseshit.”

Jade always had a colorful way of viewing things. Her carefully placed expletives made even the most mundane conversations more engaging. These were some of the reasons Hanna had dragged Jade to their favorite coffee shop for some lattes, or coffee flavored milk syrup as Hanna’s dad referred to them. She hadn’t been feeling like herself for several months now, and knew that if she continued to sit in her drab apartment longing for summer weather and a million dollars to fall into her lap she may never make it into the light of day again. Trivial conversations with Jade had seemed just the thing she needed to climb out of her funk, if even just for a couple of hours.

“You know what else bothers me? The fact that stories are always about beginnings and endings. You know what I mean? The beginning of a romance, the end of a marriage and beginning of a life in some romantic land, why doesn’t anyone write a story about the middle years? The part where you’re working your butt off, and can’t pay any bills, and your debt is slowly strangling you, and the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away that you can’t even see it-it’s just a long dark pathway. And who gives a crap about Mr. Right, who the hell has the time?”

“Are you okay?” Jade seemed finally to be catching on that Hanna was not in the best of moods, and the latte didn’t seem to be helping as much as usual.

“No…yes… I have no idea.” Hanna really didn’t. She didn’t know what to attribute her awful mood to, and nothing she had attempted so far had any effect. She had stopped listening to any music that wasn’t upbeat, she limited her movie viewing to anything with a happy ending and her casual reading was reduced to chick lit, or any book that was written for pure enjoyment-no biographies, and anything political was entirely off limits. She did however, refuse to give up sugar. If nothing else made her happy, chocolate was the one friend she had that would never let her down. Each bite was like ambrosia, and it lasted until the very last morsel had been consumed. It was a wonder she didn’t weigh 300 pounds.

“What’s eating you?”

“Good Question. Wish I new the answer.”