Note: I’m going to start rounding off wordcounts.

Rough day. 600 words about the way dreams don’t quite fit together. Then I went back to the art teacher story. I wanted to write another scene but I only got 100 words out on it. It’s weird–I felt terrible about trying and failing, but if I hadn’t even tried I would have felt fine. It was the failed attempt that upset me so much.

I have a lot of trouble with “moving targets.” When I meet a goal, I think, “Oh, I can do more than that!”–and I try to do more. And of course eventually I hit a wall and can’t do more, and then it’s like my previous successes vanish. Kind of like double or nothing, except I keep doubling until my luck turns and then I have nothing.

Must find solution. Somehow.

Going to bed with a headache. 😦

Lookit me! I’m on eBay!

Clarion West and I are auctioning off the right to Tuckerize a character in one of my stories. For a charitable donation, you get to pick the character’s name. Details are here. The auction ends on Tuesday the 26th.

Tuckerization is usually a real person’s name (like you or your cat), but I’m open to weird invented names too. I also take requests for what kind of story you want (no guarantees).

1209 words about a kindergarten art teacher and a playground fort.  I had a great deal of trouble getting started today, but the words came easily once I did.  I stopped because I wasn’t sure where this story was going yet.

533 words about a swamp and a runaway soldier.

I’ll be updating my blog daily with my Write-a-Thon progress.

Things I’ll talk about: what I wrote about, wordcount, and anything interesting I experienced while writing

Things I won’t talk about: the quality of the piece. (Why not? Because I want to practice keeping an open mind during the creative stage. I usually hate everything I write during the first draft, which makes writing miserable a lot of the time. I’d like to be less critical–at least until I’m ready to edit.) So if you guys catch me judging how good or bad the actual story is, you’re officially allowed to whistle me offsides for a 5-yard penalty. Since I don’t have a yard, I’ll go pick up trash around the apartment complex. That counts for at least five yards. Yes, I’m serious. Please note that talking about a difficult day of writing is not the same as criticizing the story itself. You guys will know.

So, today’s experience:

I wrote about blood diseases, poverty, and an orange tomcat. It felt good to sit down and take this project seriously. And the best part was–it didn’t matter what the quality was at all. For all I know, I may never finish this story. I felt very free. So far, I’m liking this project. 🙂

1304 words.

Once again, I’ll be participating in the Clarion West Write-a-Thon. This year I’m trying something extra-challenging. Instead of writing one story per week for six weeks, I’m going to…

Well. You can see it here.

I’ll be starting a new story each day for the first four weeks, and finishing some of those stories in the last two weeks. So that’s 28 newly started stories, the best of which will be completed by the end of the 6-week period. I’m nervous but excited. I’ve tried something like this before and I failed at it–which is why I want to try it again. I know I can do it, but it’ll be hard. I really need your support and encouragement. You can donate to Clarion West to help motivate me, or you can email me and let me know you’re cheering me on.

If you’re donating, you can either donate a flat amount or vary it depending on my success level (perhaps $1 per successful story start and $5 per story completed, or whatever you like). The donations help talented writers attend the Clarion West writing workshops. All donations are tax-deductible, and every little bit helps–even $1 per week is motivating for me.

This year, I’ll be posting daily updates here. The Write-a-Thon starts on Sunday, June 17, but you can still pledge support through the coming weeks. Your support is the reason I do so well with the Write-a-Thon. Thank you, everyone!

I stopped in Bittersweet, the chocolate cafe in Oakland. They have a ton of exotic chocolates in bizarre flavors. I picked up a bar of Zotter Marc de Champagne as a special treat. Is any bar of chocolate worth $6.95?

Answer: Yes. Pardon me while I swoon.

One time in Albuquerque, I interviewed for a job with the fraud
division of a credit card company, and as part of the interview they had me
listen to some calls with one of their employees. One of the
most common indicators of fraud–a few bucks of gas, then a big-ticket
item. Some credit card companies will freeze your card if they see that
pattern, forcing you to call in and verify that you made those purchases.

Stolen cards are on a “time limit”–the time from which the thief acquires
it, until the time the victim figures it out and cancels it. So the thief,
having acquired a new card (or just a new number, sometimes), will go to a gas
station and buy a few bucks of gas. If the card fails, he knows it’s already
dead to him. But if the card works, he races to a Best Buy to get a plasma TV
before the cardowner realizes what’s happened. The reason gas stations are so
popular for the “test run” is that they’re more anonymous, no one asks for ID,
and the thief can make a quick escape if needed.

There were other indicators that fraud might have happened, and the guy I was
watching showed me a few of them. (I can’t remember now; they were pretty
obscure.) But part of his job was to make outbound calls when there was
suspicious activity on an account. The calls all went something like this:

Mark: Hi, I’m Mark with [major credit card company]–
Customer: Oh, hey, it’s dinnertime, can’t talk.
Mark: *speaking quickly and interrupting before they can hang up* Fraud
division, ma’am, I’m not selling anything. I’m calling about the [type of
card] you have with us. We have seen some activity on the account that might
be fraudulent. May I ask you about it?

Customers, once they figured out that this was important, were really nice and
helpful for the most part. One person was suspicious that Mark was who he
claimed to be. Mark said it was smart to be skeptical, but to please call the
number on his credit card statement and ask to be transferred to the Fraud
Prevention department. During the half-hour I saw, he talked to a woman
who had just purchased a cello for her daughter, which is why there was a
sudden burst of activity–she was really glad to know someone was monitoring
this. And a businessman who was very terse, and clearly thought the credit
card company should be psychic and know that he went to France for two days.

It was really interesting.

And on a related note: If you’re ever a victim of identity theft, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has a great resource telling you what steps to take to restore your good credit.

My friend Debbie Notkin and I were talking yesterday about the differences between roleplayed characters (such as in D&D and other games) and fictional protagonists. I think that roleplayed characters require more “presence” from the player than protagonists do from the writer. It’s hard to roleplay a subtle look or an unspoken word, at least in tabletop gaming. Therefore people play characters more similar to themselves than they would necessarily write–at least in terms of talkativeness and personality.

Which led to the observation that at least 50% of my roleplaying characters go insane at some point. Quiet, you peanut gallery. Debbie asked how many protagonists in my stories are insane. I wasn’t sure, so I counted.

Insanity is difficult to measure, but for this purpose I used an adaptation of the spice thermometers you see on jars of salsa. My protagonists are Basically Normal, Kinda Cracked, and Madder Than A March Hare on Mushrooms.

A quick survey of my published and circulating work:

BN: 12

KC: 7

MTAMHOM: 9

And there we have it.

Not me. But there’s some fine stories in the StorySouth Million Writers Award finals, and I plan to vote.