a bobbing head breaks the sullen surface

3-Day Novel contest is on. At present I am still coherent, and shouldn't really be wasting my 'quiet aware' state posting, but I have my duty towards my fanbase, you know (cough, choke) regardless of the weight of sacrifice I must endure.
I got up at 5:30 am, my usual time, watered the plants and had breakfast: boiled egg, shredded wheat and a bowl of blackberries. Made tea, sat down and started typing.
9:40 am, break to make coffee: 1,011 words
1:10 pm, break to stretch, run in place and fetch snacks: 2,260 words
3:11 pm, break to run in place, think about dinner: 3,212 words
5:09 pm, break to bike to bank, order Chinese food: 4,216
8:40 pm, break to run in place, feed cat: 5,083 words.

My target, which I don't expect to hit, but which gives me something to aim at, is 8-10k a day. My priority is having a complete story, regardless of length. I'm planning the same strategy I used last year, a story with a set beginning and end, the middle to be filled like an accordion, stretching as time and energy permit, pleats flattening into ripples.
As far as story goes, I'm 3 chapters in (chapters being a fairly arbitrary division) and little Pearl has wandered from her home into the prairie. Her parents search and fear. An avatar of slow and lonely death (a crow, as it happens) hangs over her, and a semblance or segment of Pearl flees into the night. The carrion-crow follows, leaving the real Pearl curled sleeping on the ground, where she is found the next morning by German Shepherd Dale.
Dale is based on a real police dog Dale, so I might be changing his name tomorrow.
I'm playing here with the psychic investigation / paranormal theory that ghosts are split away during extreme stress, and will be mixing that up with MPD (yeah, the same idea I'm playing with in Climbing Boys, but a different treatment).

Now I must sink again and see if I can gear up into my 1k/hr speed, my peak last year. 16k total shouldn't be that hard to beat, when I don't have any meetings to attend, ferries to catch or classes to teach!