I joined WritersWeekly’s Fall 2007 Short StoryContest last September. The web site updated with the list of winners earlier. I’m included in the list of honorable mention (see pic above). Too bad. Maybe in another couple of tries, I’ll be in the top three I promised a friend I’d show her my story, so here it is. I’ll pull it down as soon my portfolio’s up and running and place it there instead.

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KARMA
By: Mariella
Do NOT copy.

“So, what do you think?”

I sighed. From behind his desk, my superior stared at me intently, his sharp green eyes boring deep into my skull.

“Screw you,” is what I wanted to say. But I knew that if I am to have a purpose in my rotten life, I had no choice. I begrudgingly reached into my bag and pulled out a large rectangular mirror.

“You owe me, chief.”

He grunted in response.

I took a deep breath to calm my anxious nerves, closed my eyes briefly and stared into the looking glass. I watched my own brows furrow in concentration, my dark eyes glinting against the seemingly grayish background.

My reflection began to dissolve and slowly, like mixing paint in an artist’s palette, a varicolored vision of fall swirled before my very eyes. The vivid hues of the foliage seemed to bring the vision to life; a painting worthy of an artist extraordinaire.

I felt it again. That familiar feeling, that desperate wish to be there; in that place so far away, and so long ago — a place I’ve never even seen before. I blinked back startled tears, shed for reasons unknown, when I suddenly inhaled the scent of wood smoke, felt a cold wind stirring my hair and saw a movement in the distance.

I looked around. I was standing in the middle of the woods in autumn, alone and feeling miserable in the middle of a golden paradise. Another distant movement entered my peripheral vision. Panting slightly amidst the cold, I padded quietly towards the unknown entity — human or savage beast, I couldn’t see. Much later, I would find out that in that case, between the two, there’s not much of a difference.

Mist rose from my mouth and I can hear myself breathing heavily, my hand clutching the stitch on my side.

‘Human‘, I thought, when I glanced at the color of skin on bare back, though what anyone was doing shirtless on a frigid autumn day, I didn’t know.

I stood behind a large tree, trying to catch my breath. There was a man with his back on me not far from where I stood, a shovel in hand, furiously digging on the hardened forest earth. Not far away from where we were, a small fire was burning. I stared at the man muttering under his breath, wondering what he was doing. My curiosity however, saw its end when my eyes moved downward — at his feet, a boy not older than five was bound from arms to ankles.

I stood frozen.

The boy, who was erstwhile unconscious, began to stir. He blinked against the setting autumn sun, his eyes a deep cerulean blue radiating pure innocence.

“Daddy?” The child addressed the man who remained oblivious and kept on digging. “Daddy, what’s goin’ on?”

“Shut it,” the man grunted.

I felt my heart in my throat, my brain going haywire in fear and disbelief. The child lying supine on the forest floor writhed in agony as he tried to free himself from his bounds. He started shrieking in a voice so agonizingly loud; it seemed to rip into the core of my being.

“I SAID SHUT IT!”

The man turned quickly and in a whiplash, brought the shovel down to his own son’s head. I heard the crack of a delicate skull. And blood, the color of vermilion, stained the forest floor, vitiating the golden beauty of the fallen autumn leaves.

The man kept on digging, muttering under his breath. But this time, I could hear what he was saying.

“Your slut of a mother running off with another man…what was I supposed to do?! She deserves this…”

No, I didn’t want to see any more. I wanted the vision to end.

“You can’t blame me…it’s her fault…it’s all her fault.”

‘Stop it,’ I pleaded. My legs would not move.

“SHE killed you, not me…”

‘Stop the vision, please!‘

As if he heard my silent plea, the man turned and looked me straight in the eye — eyes which scared me immensely like no other. I clutched my chest and squeezed my eyes shut, hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Make it stop, please!” I wailed.

The next thing I knew, when I opened my eyes, I was back in the chief’s office, the man himself wiping my sweaty brow with a towel, his face ashen.

He whispered, “What did you see?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a gander at the couple sitting outside the cubicle. And then I saw him. It didn’t matter what the rest of his face looked like — I could never forget those eyes.

“It’s the father,” I whispered back.

I trudged the corridors of the FBI on my way home, feeling dazed from what I had witnessed that afternoon. I thought I’ve seen everything during my two years serving as their psychic when I am, in fact, an agent myself. I was wrong.

I ran to the toilet which was, thank god, empty — locked the door and allowed myself to be violently sick. Emptied of all my meals for the day, I leaned against a sink and washed my face. Tears began pouring uncontrollably.

I couldn’t take it. I thought I was through with asking “why me” but I guess I was wrong again. I reached a shaking hand into my pocket for my pack of Sobranie Black Russians but merely found an empty box.

“Great,” I laughed bitterly, tears still streaking down my cheeks.

Never in my life had I felt such despair. Never had I felt such fear.

I stared at myself on the mirror on top of the sink and was suddenly brought to attention by something I’m so used to, it surprises me no longer.

A ghostly head rested on my shoulder beside my own, its face looking terribly amused yet ghastly. It was the face of the clairvoyant I had accidentally killed during my days as a field agent.

“When will the visions stop?” I ask, knowing the answer yet dreading it at the same time. I’ve asked the same question a million times before.

The face leered at me through the mirror, a malicious grin on her translucent face, baring rows of her sharp, pointed teeth.

“Never,” she hissed.

I was wishing she’d come up with another answer that day. I should’ve known better.

THE END

I’m still very busy but I read my best friend’s blog and had this big goofy grin stuck on my face. What can I say? I’ve always known.

JK outs Dumbledore

And apparently, he was in love with…Gellert Grindelwald. So that was the reason why he kept on delaying defeating the evil wizard.

My long-time internet friend, aoireeza, has a hunch; “Snape is madonna. Harry’s britney spears, and Draco’s favorite song is Like a Virgin.” It’s only a matter of time.

EDIT:

I’ve been trying to find any indication of this being a hoax for a few hours now, by the way. So far, nothing. In fact, I found this article by BBC UK.

The reason why I haven’t been able to post recently is because I have 25 tech articles, 11 blog posts and 3 magazine pieces to finish by Saturday. And it’s already Thursday!!! I’m doomed…The gimmick for this blog I’ve been planning since I started it would have to wait until next week…

BLOG ACTION DAY

I signed up for Blog Action Day and I was supposed to blog about the environment last October 15. I realized I updated the wrong blog for it. Here is a link to my post for Blog Action Day.

CITY LIGHTS
by: Mariella

Living in the midst of the warren
I got swept by the tides of the throng
Here I am, one of the crowd
A faceless stranger without identity

I trod the streets without a purpose
Holding my high, not meeting anyone’s eyes
With many, I live in close proximity
But someone I can call neighbor, there is none

I do my job by mere rote
A wind-up doll without a choice
I look at the mirror
And stare at empty sockets
A slackened face and rusty smile.

 Why did I let the city lights blind me?
To pierce my eyes so badly,
blood poured and
killed my sight completely?

As a follow up on free samples for my prior post, here’s a conversation we had some time ago in Deb’s blog:

S. says:

Not to kill the school topic (which is very interesting), but some of you may remember me asking a potential client for a nominal fee to send her further samples pertaining to her work specifically. I was reluctant to ask, but I did it anyway.

She emails me today saying she doesn’t agree. She said she looks at it as a job interview and she’s never been paid on a job interview.

Nice!

And my very uncouth answer was:

S>> tell her a job interview can’t be put up on a web site but an article can. Honestly, people suck at analogy.

Katharine, however, addressed the issue well:

I once read something that put it this way — it’s all about how much time and effort the interviewer is putting forth. If they are taking time to schedule interviews, meet with applicants, run background checks, etc., then they are investing themselves and are much less likely to be scammers. If, however, they are just sending out mass requests for writing samples, they aren’t really putting a lot of effort into finding a writer, and have no right to expect you to put effort into writing a sample.

I think that’s a good way of looking at it. I have written unpaid samples upon request at actual in-person interviews, but I would never do so if requested via email by someone I didn’t know at all. That’s what my portfolio is for.

There. Hope that helped clear things up.

Since a lot of my friends have gotten screwed over recently, I just thought I’d share some tips with everyone here.

1. Do NOT write samples for FREE. Professional writers do not work for free. Those who write samples for free are either a) newbies OR b) clueless (no offense, but that’s usually the truth).

Do you see any other professional working for free? If, for example, you need to hire a plumber, do you tell the plumber, “Hey, I don’t know how you work, so your first job should be FREE. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you next time.”

We shouldn’t be treated differently from other professionals. Unless you intended to write for free for a cause in the first place, don’t write samples for free. Your clips should be enough to demonstrate your abilities. If a client or an employer is serious in hiring you, they would PAY you to write samples.

If a client or an employer insists on having you write samples for free, STEER CLEAR. These types are NOTHING but trouble, believe me. Been there, done that.

I was stupid enough to be screwed over twice for doing this when I was a bit newer. I do NOT intend to repeat the same mistake. If I’d have to say it over and over again until I stress it enough, so be it — DO NOT WRITE SAMPLES FOR FREE.

2. If you made the mistake of writing for free, or if perhaps a client or employer “rejects” your articles, post them on the web, ASAP. Put them in your blog, build a new blog with them, post them in article repositories. I don’t care what you do with them, but it’s important to post them on the Internet so that they’ll get indexed by search engines.

If in case your articles appeared elsewhere, you can THEN prove that you own the articles because they appeared on your blogs or all around the Internet with your name, first. To prove that you indeed had posted them on an earlier date, do this:

Quoted from my own article in Desperate Curiosity:

Use the Internet Archive. Input your domain on the WayBack Machine text box and be taken on a trip back in time. Of course, the Internet Archive might not be able to save all your pages, so you have to hope the pages containing the content in question are there.

3. If you’re writing for a client or an employer you just don’t trust completely, and they had accepted your articles, it’s best to create “proof of copyright” so you can argue your case in the future. Here’s how you can do that:

Quoted from my own article in Desperate Curiosity:

a) Save a document file with the copyright insignia beside your name and the date. Do NOT modify this file at a later date even if you change some of the content in your web site later on.

b) Save that same document file with your name, copyright insignia, and the date, as a PDF file. If you do not have a program for creating PDF files, you can try Primo PDF creator — it’s free.

After doing the instructions above, you could also take further lengths and upload the dated files to your server.

4. If you failed to do the above tasks and you found out your content was sold somewhere else or posted on the web site of the offender, contact said slime ball and ask for remuneration. For this cause, ALWAYS save ALL your emails. Do NOT delete even a single one. An email is legally binding. You can use it in court if ever the need for such arises.

If the offender ignores your emails, give him an ultimatum by which you’d take the next step. For an example, see this article on How to Collect Payment from Deadbeat Clients.

If the offender STILL does not pay you by your set date, contact the web master where your articles were posted and inform him of the situation. You might be surprised — some web masters would be sympathetic.

If the web master does not sympathize, inform people of what the offender has done to you. But REMEMBER, back up your claims with PROOF or ALWAYS claim that it’s “your opinion” and be liberal with your “ifs” (i.e., IF this company is a scam) if you can’t provide proof. The last thing you want is for YOU to be accused of sour-graping and for YOU to be threatened with libel. PROOF people, speaks in volumes.

5. And finally, if you haven’t done anything wrong, if you backed up your claims with proof, do not be afraid of threats of legal action. Most shady companies use this to provide verisimilitude to their claims of being legitimate. My most recent brush with a similar one being this.

To know how your articles could get taken down from web sites and de-indexed by search engines, read my article on Plagiarism on the Web.

PS: I forgot one of the most important ones!

Ask for a percentage of the payment upfront. Or at least ask for staggered payment for bulk work (i.e., 50% payment upon delivery of 50% of the work). This is NOT applicable for subcontracts. But for those working p2p with clients, heed this advice.

Again, I totally missed my chats! I was so busy with work when my first real-time chat conference started (How to Self-edit Your MG Novel). So I just logged in the chatroom, left it open while I worked and saved the transcript afterwards. Haven’t read it yet.

In the meantime, I can’t wait to see what Katharine’s big news is. Katharine, you got me all antsy.

Will blog more later.

The regulars in Deb’s blog know I won the September comments contest. Here’s a screenshot of the $50 Amazon GC:

I already have my order lined up and I went WAY over $50. Here are the books I’m considering:

Will Write for Shoes: How to Write a Chick Lit Novel - Cathy Yardley
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition - William Strunk Jr.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print - Renni Browne
Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint : (Techniques and exercises for crafting dynamic characters and effective viewpoints) (Write Great Fiction) - Nancy Kress
Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction) - James Scott Bell
Fiction Writer’s Workshop - Josip Novakovich
The Art and Craft of Feature Writing: Based on The Wall Street Journal Guide - William E. Blundell

All in all, the cost of everything comes up to $76.32. That’s STILL minus the shipping fees (I’m not situated in the US). My order might get a grand total of $100 if I’m not careful and I’m not sure I can afford $100 right now (well, $50 since Deb’s already given me the other $50). I’m thinking of removing “Fiction Writer’s Workshop” from the list. Anybody could recommend me better reads?

To everyone who got stiffed by LCP, I suggest you head over V’s blog right now and see V’s latest post.

This whole situation’s gotten too hairy for my liking. I ALMOST wrote for them. But Hope Hunt’s “How many can you do by [72 hours]” response put me off. I would think a publication would want to see clips first before asking how many articles I can crank out within three days’ time. And besides, I was too busy with other projects during that time.

If I had indeed written for them, it would’ve broken my heart badly. Unlike more established freelance writers, every cent I make right now is important. Had I wasted my time writing for them, I would’ve lost a pretty penny which might have cost that month’s utility bills.

Despite the open letter issued by Stephanie, Hope and Shada regarding their retraction from supporting LCP, so many questions haven’t been answered yet. Here are some of them:

1. Stephanie mentioned in Deb’s blog that LCP is owned by an ex-NFL player. Though we all know by now Roger Owens, Quincy Carr, Tim Baker, Dean Person and David Person might all be indeed just ONE individual, that doesn’t explain where the “ex-NFL player owner” came from. Did this “Quincy Carr” or whatever his name is feed Stephanie BS?

2. Connie said her PayPal payment came from someone named Tim Baker and that this same person issued a chargeback claiming his account was hacked. Some weeks later, Micah said she talked to someone named Tim Baker using LCP’s phone number which means said person is indeed involved with the “company.” Connie never mentioned if she filed a complaint based on this.

3. Hope said she hasn’t been paid the whole time she worked for LCP.

And I quote (from V’s blog):

I have not been paid a dime and have continued to work because I believe in LCP and what their plan is/was.

I feel for her but I wonder what compeled her to work under such circumstance of NOT getting paid when it’s due.

4. Stephanie, in a post made in Deb’s blog said

“and also, the company had absolutely no problem paying the editors or designers for work that was INCOMPLETE and work they will never use.”

So the editors and designers got paid but Hope was not???? Poor Hope who defended the company tooth and nail didn’t get paid? Well, nevermind about Hope, but according to the posts by editors and designers themselves, they DIDN’T get paid. Which is the truth? I think Stephanie got fed with more BS. But I think she, herself, got paid, or at least she said so.

And I quote:

“I quoted them a large sum of money (which includes the cost of my company hiring several new employees and increasing our office space) to take on this monumental task, one I thought they would not be willing to accept- but to my surprise and delight, my company has experienced no issues regarding payment.”

Now that Stephanie has changed her tune, I wonder what happened to that payment.

5. Someone who claims to be acquainted with Quincy Carr says Quincy is real but Stephanie, Hope and Shada think otherwise. I find it hard to believe that someone who’s thinking of stealing an identity would choose a name associated with a prior scam. So I think Quincy Carr is real, it’s the other names that are not. It’s that or they/he/she didn’t do research.

6. Why am I writing this when I have a deadline in one hour? Well, curiosity got the better of me.

So now I’m going back to work. All these questions will remain hanging, I know. But let’s leave them at that for now. As of now, I just want everybody to know LCP is operating under different company names. For more information, check out At Last! Writer Beware Blogs!