The Challenge!

It is a rare thing for me to tell people "I'm a writer!" when they ask what I do. The fact of the matter is that I don't feel like I have the right to tell people that when it's not how I earn my paycheck. I certainly would love to make my living doing so, I definitely have been paid to write and edit, I have been writing for as long as I can remember, but still...it feels...dishonest. Sort of like "embellishing" your resume, which I have never been very comfortable with because it would be just my luck that an employer would look at like, the *only* fabrication on it and be all, "Oh, you're fluent in Chinese? Excellent, because if we hire you, that is where you will be working!"

Recently, though, another writerly friend of mine commented on the predominance of humor in my work and issued some good-natured skepticism at my ability to compose my current project, which should have a decidedly more serious tone. It happened like this:

"You're writing a thriller?! TAB, I have a hard time believing you could write anything even remotely frightening. You're afraid of ants."

"First of all, I'm only afraid of them in swarms and if you don't think swarms of ants are scary, you have been misinformed about their nature. Secondly, writers should be able to write anything, and I believe that I could compose something that is, at the very least, suspenseful."

"Well, maybe you should put your money where your mouth is."

"VERY WELL."

And that's how it started. This week, I will post a very short story of the scary variety on this blog, open to all criticism, commentary and reprimand. Let the games begin!