The update:
As of 11:59 p.m. on 11/12 I have 16,011 words. Hundreds of them are "the".

Morale:
Better. I finally slogged through a pretty depressing section of the book, and now I can have a little fun again. I'm also feeling better about the word count, although at one point I briefly considered searching on apostrophes and expanding my contractions. That's - I mean, that has - got to be good for at least 1,000 words right there. Do not you think so?

Favorite passage of the day that has no contractions and only one instance of the word "the":

Now that I know what to look for, I see them everywhere, clinging desperately to their names. A fully armed Achaean warrior haunts the cleanser aisle in a grocery store; he looks sad and confused, and relieved when someone puts his name in a cart. Only market share can save him from oblivion.