The Bet
Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 2:36PM Fellow author Brian Farrey, author of the forthcoming With You or Without You (whose name keeps coming up on this blog for inexplicable reasons—I swear he is not the only writer I know) laid down a gauntlet today on Twitter.
First he linked to this Atlantic article about a Stephen King short story, “Herman Wouk is Still Alive.”
“Every year my son Owen and I have a bet on the NCAA March Madness Tournament,” King said, “and last year the stakes were that the loser would have to write a story [with a title] the winner gave to him. And I lost. Except I really won, because I got this story that I really like.”
Along with the link, Brian tweeted, “Anybody wanna make a bet with similar stakes w/me?”
He got two takers. Foolish me and fellow YA author Kimberly Pauley.
Now. We need a bet (sports is probably out, as both Kimberly and I would be guessing), and a title, but I guess the winner gets to inflict that torture. But the bet itself…any ideas shouted out from the floor?
Believe me when I say I’ll keep you posted on how this turns out. Just think…you can witness (tiny, silly, insignificant) history in the making!
Ideas welcome. Please comment.
Reader Comments (20)
Goodness, I walk away from the computer for a few hours and return to find the gage of battle at my feet!
How about this? The Tony Award nominations are announced May 3. From the list of nominees, we each pick who we think will win in each category and post our guesses on the blog. (To even the playing field, we'd each have to attest that we haven't seen any of the nominees perform in their nominated roles this year.) Whoever has the most correct answers after the awards ceremony in June is the winner. The winner then supplies the losers with a title and they must each write a short story and post it on their respective blogs. Could be interesting to see where separate writers go when starting at the same point.
Thoughts?
Hmm. And here I was thinking Kentucky Derby but decided, Nah, that's not till May. Let's see what happens when Kimberly and others weigh in. If we go with this, which is certainly a possibility, I'd like to reiterate that I live in Cambria, CA. We have very few Broadway shows come through. So I could say, in all honesty, that I was really, totally just guessing.
You can try the vanity route and each set up a Twitter account as an "unknown average Joe" and see who can get the most followers in a determined time period. See who can write the most interesting or entertaining tweets to lure new followers.
Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. This is getting interesting.
I like the idea of a fake Facebook guy. That could be interesting.
I'd be okay with either the Tony award thing (the last show I saw was, um, The Wiggles...and I'm pretty sure they're not up for a Tony...) or the Derby one. My only leg up on the Derby is that I used to live in Louisville and I've been to the Derby, but it's not really any kind of advantage since my knowledge doesn't extend past wicked cool Derby hats and mint juleps.
Not sure about the Twitter thing since we're in such different time zones. Since I'm in London and not on when the US is really going, that might be a handicap for me.
Kimberly, I was assuming that the Twitter thing would play out over a period of a month or more. So I would think time zones shouldn't affect it much...
Hmmm...
The fake alter ego idea is intriguing and is sort of writing related. However, here are my red flags. 1) It presumes we have an equal amount of time online. For example, today I was hardly online. And we know that all that Pauley woman does all day is eat scones and mock me with tweets about her luxurious life in London. And 2) Oy, it's hard enough for me to be me on my own account, let alone find the time/energy to maintain another account where I then have to be someone else. I'm intrigued by the idea of being a fake person and trying to lure unsuspecting followers in with Siren-calibre tweets. But, and I'm being purely selfish here, I worry about finding the time. I only have time to read mocking tweets from London.
So I'm still open to other suggestions....
Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn't mention that both my breakfast and lunch today consisted of a crumpet topped with champagne strawberry jam and bourbon vanilla clotted cream...but, honest, I haven't had a scone in ages!
And you know I'm totally saving some Portobello Road doughnuts for you when you come visit!
Don't you love backstory? I know I do. Let's get a few more Twitterers to volunteer possible bets. I won't push for anything that feels like too much time, or...anything else...to anyone involved.
Can't wait to see what you decide on. This will be fun!!!
Any suggestions? We could use them. Still sort of spinning.
Reading about the food above, you guys could have a bake off. I'd be willing to sacrifice my time and taste buds to be the judge. :)
Only thing is, one of us is in London, one in MN and one in CA. Sounds like a lot of traveling for you. And not sure how to tell you to deduct it from your taxes. Also, in the spirit of honesty, I would be forced to divulge that I have baked professionally...
Maybe we should clarify. This isn't really a COMPETITION. We're not trying to see who can best the others at something. I see a bet as being something where we try to speculate on the outcome of an upcoming event based on intuition, educated guesses, and sheer luck. It also, as I've kvetched about before, involves a minimal amount of time commitment. I see the largest amount of time commitment being the writing of the story. Maybe I'm a wuss. But I'm a wuss with a crazy schedule. As I'm sure, to some degree, we all are. I may only be thinking of me but my fellow writers get to benefit from my selfishness. You're welcome.
I think we can all agree that it will be a bet rather than a contest.
Oh yeah. And me, I wanted in because this would truly be a bet where I wouldn't mind either winning OR losing. I'm perfectly okay with doing the Derby or Tony Award thingy.
Yup. Derby is fine with me. Tony Awards is fine with me. Just a flat-out guess either way. And I can't help feeling like writing the story would be more fun than watching others write it, so maybe I should bet on a long shot. Brent suggested we bet on the Lambda Awards, but as I'm a finalist, it feels like I wouldn't exactly be impartial. Not that my partiality would improve my chances of winning...
Yeah the bake off was my lame attempt at humor. It would be difficult with you all living so far apart.
So Catherine, you said you baked professionally? lol, I'm not sure if i can believe that, i think you need to air mail me some goodies to prove it! :) Peanut Butter Cookies are my favorite. (hint hint)
That's the problem with baking professionally. Nobody's willing to take you at your word.