I’m up to 15,300 words. Still have to write about 3,000 words to get up to the mark, but I’m quite confident I can get there. For your entertainment, another excerpt:

Stephanie hated that reception area. Because of the wall it was dark. Because of its proximity to the stairway it was cold. Everyone had to walk by her coming in and out of the office. Her only comfort was that the wall also cut her off from the office clearing, so unless someone was walking by, she had a modicum of privacy. Except that people were always walking by. And the phone was always ringing. And there had been a convex mirror hung up in the corner by the ceiling, so that she could see into the office clearing and conversely, everyone in the office clearing could see into her area. It was an introvert’s nightmare. But the worst part had to be that the only thing in front of her eyes, her only visual source of stimulation in her workday, was the picture of Mr. Nelson, the Founding Father of Regis Foods, the current Mr. Nelson’s father.  The picture was in black and white. It featured an old man sitting in a chair holding a large book. It was impossible to tell the nature of the book. It might have been a dictionary. It might have been the Bible. Stephanie liked to think it was a Louis L’Amour novel written in large print in hardcover version. A cane leaned against the chair. He had the hairstyle and glasses of the 1950’s. He peered at the camera with a combination of wisdom, suspicion, and discomfort. It was the office icon, Regis Food’s Patron Saint, its Founding Father, the Creator. He was reverenced, esteemed and ignored.