So I hardly ever post. There have been a shitload of reasons for this before, but the reason now is that in addition to having no time whatever because of school, I have no time whatever because I’m in the second-annual CW2008 writing contest, which I have just this very moment decided to call CCW0809. CCW0809 is already noteworthy for a number of things, chief among them (from my own perspective, obviously) is that it marks my biggest creative output in history. To help you appreciate this, here is my writing output, recapitulated in full:
1973 .. 1995: 1 story
1996: 2 stories
1997: 1 story
1998: 1 story
2008: 15 stories
October-November 2009: 20 stories.
Okay, so some of those counts are slightly off; the count that is _not_ off, however, is Oct/Nov 09, during which I’ve been going like a raped ape. In fact, for the last 11 days, I’ve written a story every single day. That is to say, a story of a high level of refinement (inasmuch as I am capable of a high level of refinement) that is actually finished, and that can be read and understood, has been written, by me.
The significance of this fact cannot be overstated. Well, I mean, most of you could give a shit. But for me personally, this is pretty much the biggest deal ever. I don’t know how to express how agonizing it’s been all these years, seemingly incapable of finishing a fucking thing, or, when I did, it requiring such titanic effort that I despaired of ever finishing anything else. Two summers ago in Seattle was a brief blip, but afterwards I returned to my old idiotic self. And now this.
Of course, the streak won’t continue indefinitely. The laws of temporal dynamics will catch up to me, the mourning agent will find me, and I’ll have to stop doing this and start doing all the other shit I’m supposed to be doing instead. But right now, god damn, this feels good. Like an agoraphobe who finally goes outside and runs his fingers along a tree, and instead of going inside he keeps walking and walking to see how far he can get.
I cannot help but disclaim that these stories aren’t astounding, and they need work. (You try writing a story in a fucking day and see where you get.) But still. You hear me bitch about everything all the time, and you hear me roll around in self-hatred. So I figured I’d give you a taste of the opposite. I hope you’re paying attention because it probably won’t happen again.
So that you may participate in this history-making moment, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to post them, one at a time. As of today there are twenty, and I will post one each day. Furthermore, I promise to keep writing a story EVERY SINGLE DAY for the rest of 2009 so long as each day, at least one person makes a comment on the previous day’s story. The comment must include the following two things:
1) something you liked, or that was done well
2) something you disliked, or that could have been better
The implication is that the four readers of LSH have it within their collective power to keep me writing a story every single day for the rest of the year. Because I know most of you are largely indifferent I feel safe in making this pact with you. But I’m serious about it. There will be days when the story for that day will suck, I’m sure — I can’t promise otherwise. Sometimes life will preclude me doing a very good job. But by God, I will give you a complete story, or at least write one. Travel or something might preclude me from posting it.
Now, as to the matter of posting it: because I plan to submit some of these, and because markets consider public postings to be a ‘publication’, I can’t make them public. But what I can do is this: I have created a page, called CW0809, which you will find linked on the right sidebar. This page will have the stories, and will be password protected, and the password will be the town in Northern Minnesota where my mom’s from and where I used to spend big chunks of the summer. Most of you know the name; if you don’t know, and want to know, email me.
I’ll post to the front page when there’s a new story. Your comments on the story, should you decide to offer them, can be made in the comments section of that post.