BAFAB Competition: A Fabulous Thing
It is BAFAB time again and the competition this time round is for you to tell me the most original/worthwhile/fantastic/exciting thing (although it doesn't have to be all these) you intend to do this year in the comments below.
Please give yourself a fictitious name and do not include your website so I can pick the winner without knowing who you are.
The winner will receive an appropriate book to be decided by me at the end of the competition.
The closing date is 14th January.
posted by Clare Dudman at 5:03 pm
32 Comments:
This year I am scketching every day and getting my art set up as a business. I have a site, but I won't tell until you decide. This has long been a dream of mine to do, and others have inspired me to make 2007 the year to do this.
Blog Queen, that sounds a magnificent venture. I shall follow with interest.
I have to do the thing I fear most--read my work and speak in public. My vow? I WILL NOT BE AFRAID!
I will enjoy it...I will...I will...
I am going to set up a publishing business and publish books that I have enjoyed reading that are either not published or out of print. I will use the graphic design talents of two members of my family.
Be reviewed in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and by critic James Wood. Can you guess that I write works of fantasy?
I plan to let go of those things I cannot control for more peace of mind. I plan to be more honest about my friends' writing. I plan to cover myself in peanut butter, put on a biohazard suit, slather that with mayonaise, put clown clothes on top of that, and then glue tacks to the clown clothes and cause great mental distress to my worst enemy.
Anonny Nonny
Good luck, Sadie J. I hate reading my work in public too - it feels too much like baring the soul so you have my heartfelt sympathies. But it is good to enjoy it if you can because then everyone else will.
Professor Fantasy: Well that sounds and excellent worthwhile venture - and I like the idea of a family enterprise. More of this sort of thing, I think.
If this is a dream, Dreamweaver, I hope it comes true - but only if they are thoughtful reviews written by reviewers who have really tried to understand your work. Those are the only reviews worth having in my opinion - no matter where they are published.
Anonny Nanny: Wild - I like it! Especially the peanut butter bit - but the first part is maybe the most important of all...
After so many years of being in/seeking the desert, this marks the year when I will find a partner. I hope. I'm up for it. But are they?
If you want "a partner," don't start by talking about "they"!
Just some stray advice.
I'm not entering--just thought anonymous needed some free counseling.
Having been reviewed in the NYT & the Washington Post (though not by the Guardian or JW), I feel qualified to say to Dreamweaver that such things will not automatically build you a readership or give you good feelings beyond the initial day.
One must find a publisher who will p-u-s-h. That is all. If you find one, let me know!
Filberta, thanks but I was jesting. I have no intention of looking for a publisher; I'm not that sort of writer. However, when they decide to include blogs for the Nobel Prize ...
I wish you good luck with your search, Anon.
Flberta: Yes,a good point in general, I think - indiscriminate partner-seeking tends to lead to nowhere in the long run...not that I think Anon meant that, I suspect. I expect he/she is using 'they' like I sometimes do - referring to something singular...which is pretty odd, really, now I come to think about it. But then English is a very odd language.
And I agree completely about the reviews. Surprisingly they make no difference to anything very much - which is not what you'd think.
Ah yes, Dreamweaver, an excellent idea - a Nobel Prize for blogging - I think we should inform Stockholm at once because I am sure Alfred would have approved. In fact I suspect Mr Nobel would have been a bit of a blogger himself.
Well, then, that's my fantastic project for the year: to campaign to have bloggers considered for the Nobel Prize.
Dreamweaver, I knew you were teasing--I am just annoyingly opinionated when it comes to all the things that irk a writer...
Clare, anonymity is so strange. You probably can recognize your anons, and yet it is interesting to wear a mask.
A much-published friend told me recently that he had decided to vanish, tired of the world of publishing. This is another way to vanish. I wonder if it makes us freer, or less kind.
Life experience has taught me to be grateful for small things, so I'm crossing Everest and all the lesser Himalayas off my 'to-do' list this year. My hopes and dreams are purer, simpler things.
I hope to get up each morning whether I feel like it or not. I'll face the worst day of the year in the same way I face the best. If I fall into a lake of mud, I will not wallow. I'll claw and kick and find my way out.
I'll try to be pleasant to people who don't seem very pleasant themselves. In the face of incivility I will try to be civil myself.
I'll look into people's eyes and if I see pain, I'll look for something I might do to help.
I'm going to try to feel less 'responsible' this year. I might even leave dirty dishes on the counter sometimes.
I'm going to read more and work less.
I'm going to be less serious about life!
I'm going to draw lots of happy faces and little waving hands. I think I'll get a scooter. (Not a motorized one - one that looks like a skateboard with a handle.)
I'm going to try not to break any bones!
Excellent, Intisar - yes, the small things are often the best. I particularly like your idea of getting a scooter.
Dear filberta,
it's a bit of what Clare said about the use of 'they' but also the fact that I'm currently nurturing some seedlings in the hope that one will grow further. Just like chatting at a party to three and finding one you'd like to walk you home.
I intend to get to the South Pole in record time using horses and good old English grit. No skis and dogs for me.
To Scott: Been there, done that, got the anorak. Too late, my friend, as usual...
Love and kisses,
Shackleton.
Bloody Irishman
Dear Claire,
I just read you book, 'One Day the Ice Will Reveal All It's Dead'. Loved it so much I went online and here I am writing my first'blog' (Is this a blog? I'm not sure), distracted from my fan letter. I'm sure you still want to hear how much I looved the book. I found it in what I call the impulse rack at the library. Just picked it up-the title is certainly arresting-and liked the bit I read and later at home could barely put it down (well yes, I do have to work).
I am interested in winning so you can send me your other book. that is my motivation here. I must state that I am not a woman of means (nor am I a prostitute). I am resourceful and in doing all this, I also hope to win a book!
I do have a plan for this year and my wish for the year year (better than resolutions) is to implement my plan:
I will develop and put on a chamber music concert series (already in motion). I have been singing everyday and feeling very good about my voice. that's not always the case with us singers, professional or not. We are the worst critics. I will continue to sing regularly. In the first of two concerts I will be singing contemporary music by at least 4 living composers. 50 tickets will be given away to various people including a school for the blind.
I will finally invest-God willing-in a piece of property that will be around for me when I'm old.
I will secure work in New York city to live in Manhatten for 2 years or so ( I begun that process) living in a pent house or something similar. How will I do that? Ask me after I've won. ha ha
Before I leave the west coast for this endeavor, I plan on taking a few months off and traveling to Italy and then Germany, living with friends and practicing my languages there. In Berlin I will give a concert of Russian music with a wonderful Russian composer.
I will finally take a side trip to France for the first time (My French friend says, "Oh my dear, they will LOVE you there.") and Sweeden. Perhaps I will sing a capella in Sweeden in Stockholm and in the woods near my artist friend's communal like studios. (It's funny not using names. It's pretty cool.)
I will eat as much different kinds of chocolate I can, more than ten different fine chocolatiers, at least.
I will swim in the North Sea and the Atlantic and the Medditeranean in the fall and winter. I love to swim.
I will write to the President and my congresswoman 20 times, at least, telling them to end the financing of a deadly war (They're all deadly.).
Any man I date in this year, I will tell them what I want at the appropriate times. No more wishy washy responses.
I will buy new underwear and new bras whether anyone will see them or not. Can you tell I'm doing my laundry at the same time I'm writing this? And this came after the last paragraph? ha ha
I will give up trying to go to bed early-it never works anyway.
I will continue to sing in public at weird times and places becasue, the spirit moved me to, and it wasn't because I heard voices. It is because life is so exciting and just literally jumps out of my throat. I will continue to delight and yes, sometimes shock, people and friends, making life a little less boring.
I will continue to encourage the people around me to do good, be good, be themselves, love themselves and their fellwo men.
Is this enough? I hope so.
In any event, it was fun to put it all into words.
your new fan,
the badgirl
This year I'm putting 'me' first-both sons have finished uni-so now it's my turn to return to uni and hopefully get my phd.
Well, The Bad Girl thank you for picking up my book from the library. To hear you liked it has certainly made my day. I wish you well with all your excellent ambitions - as someone who is an enthusiatic rather than tuneful singer you have my deepest admiration.
Anon: a most worthy ambition - education is so important for its own sake I feel, not just for what might follow. What do you hope to do your PhD in, I wonder - and please could you leave a pseudonym?
I intend to get to the South Pole in record time using pigs and sheep.
I am upset because, Scot will most definitely win. Clare obviously has a soft spot for people going to icy places and just today I said that I just hate the cold. I will not be writing about how I intend to go to really cold places with sled dogs. No, NYC doesn't count either. There are plenty of warm places to be at any time of day and I would take a cab to the museum on a really cold day, not a sled. So, there you go, I'm out of the running. But then, maybe her book of choosing might be "Topographical Maps of the Arctic", who knows?
Right now it is actually quite beautiful outside. It's evening and 4 inches of snow has fallen, quite unusual for here and it's as lovely as all those good snow photographs show. It has filled me with wonder and awe, almost enough to take a walk in. I think I'll just stay home and write about it instead. ha ha
badgirl
Scott never wins, Badgirl, poor bugger. Hubris, common sense and all that. I find his pigs and sheep method of taking on the South Pole frankly ludicrous. Only a madman from the British Isles would even consider it. Though I wish him all the best.
That is very generous of you Amundsen, but to be frank I don't think that idiot Scott deserves your admiration - always a bit overdramatic, I found him, and rather too pleased with himself. Once I went with him to Disco and each time he was his turn to get the drinks he would smile at me and say 'I may be some time.' Of course he was never gone for more than a couple of minutes. After a while it just got tedious.
As for the pigs etc. Ludicrous but so typical. I told him that a balloon would be the best approach but he just laughed. Ah well, he that luahgs last, laughs longest and all that.
And Bad Girl... Please do not worry. I have it on good authority that Clare Dudman much prefers the European approach so Scott is really no competition really.
I'll do it, damn you all. And I'll win that bloody book, too. As for the pigs and sheep- the sheep idea is ingenious as if it gets too cold, we can knit ourselves socks, jumpers, etc. And if things get very bad, we can then eat the sheep. Without their wool it might be hte kindest thing for them, after all. The South pole can get very, very cold. Alot of people equate the south with warm climes though this is an error- contrary to some claims, I have, you see, done my research.
The pigs idea I admit is more of a hunch than anything else.
Who's laughing now?
Can we vote on this? Scott of the Antarctic gets my vote! I'm warming up the knitting needles, Scott - do you need some nice woolly underwear?
Excellent idea, Susan. I need all the help I can get. Shall revise today's post.
I'm going to marry money!
Oops, no...
Just remembered. I'm already happily married. I'm backing Scott eating mutton and ham hocks, though I really think that that poor crazy Professor Fantasy ought to win--he/she will take whatever size fortune he/she has and make it very, very tiny. (He'll/she'll need that BAFAB book to flog, later on.) I may be a filberta, but I'm not that nutty. Then there's badgirl. Fans are nice, aren't they? Ah, well. I think they all should win.
Would Susan maybe make us all some nice woollies? The non-scratchy kind?
Ow! I'm suddenly struck by genius. Scott can take some of Professor Fantasy's books to the pole and bury them in an ice capsule. That will get worldwide attention for them both.
Filberta! There's no character building in non-scratchy underwear. We should strive to build character this year. Suffering is the route and our man Scott will lead the way.
Yes Susan, Scott should be made to wear itchy underwear at all times. A hair shirt is too good for him.
And Filberta, I think your idea of Scott burying Captain Fantasy's books in polar ice is a good one in principle, but unfortunately Scott has shown himself to be a unreliable in a variety of circumstances and judging from previous performances would most likely fail to get there.
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