Download my NaNoWriMo novel: “Day of the Kangaroo Man”

Posted on December 3, 2013

I didn’t do a lot of writing in this space last month, because I was participating in National Novel Writing Month, aka “NaNoWriMo.” NaNoWriMo is an annual exercise in creative writing: participants have the month of November to write a novel, with “novel” being defined as “a fictional story 50,000 words or more in length.” At the end of the month you upload your story’s text and, if you have at least 50,000 words, you win! It’s a challenge that hundreds of thousands of people take up every year; for 2013, I decided to take it up with them.

It’s all pretty simple, in theory. The hard part, of course, is writing 50,000 words in the time alotted. I made it by the skin of my teeth — I crossed the 50,000 word mark at around 10:30 PM on November 30. But a last-minute victory is still a victory, right?

Anyway, I thought I would share the fruits of my labor with those of you who read Just Well Mixed, so here you go: a free, downloadable PDF copy of my NaNoWriMo 2013 novel, DAY OF THE KANGAROO MAN.

Enjoy:

• Download DAY OF THE KANGAROO MAN

DAY OF THE KANGAROO MAN is a comic adventure novel about Marvin Wendt, an ordinary man who discovers one day that he has developed extraordinary powers. His conscience tells him that he should use those powers to promote justice, but he quickly discovers that he’s not very good at being a superhero — certainly not anywhere near as good as Captain Amazing, the city’s beloved #1 hero. Then, as he’s contemplating whether or not to hang up his costume and go back to his job as an insurance claims adjuster, he stumbles across a nefarious plot that threatens the future of the entire city.

Can Marvin get his act together in time to stop it? Can he live up to the standard set by Captain Amazing? Can he convince anyone that it’s OK he sewed a pouch onto his Kangaroo Man costume, even though only female kangaroos have pouches, because it’s not really a pouch but a “tactical pocket”? You’ll have to read the novel to find out.

I haven’t done a lot of editing to the manuscript, so this version is pretty close to the way the story stood when I finished the novel on November 30. I’m sure it could use some polishing up, but hopefully it’s at least fun to read. Of course, you, dear reader, will be the final judge of that.

Anyway — I hope you enjoy the book, at least as much as I enjoyed writing it!