Ebay profiling

It's 8.45 in the morning, so they say. I don't believe them. I stayed up very late last night and now daylight savings has stolen an hour of my life and won't give it back until next March.

4 days until Nanowrimo begins. I've decided this year to have a go at writing young adult, as I can finish that in just over 50,000 words and not lose momentum when December rolls around and still be trying to finish a year later. And I have an idea. Finally. And a title. The title is Diary of the Future. I think I can have a lot of fun with this one, and include a lot of teenage angst.

But I've also signed up for the Revision Hell workshop, so somehow I'm going to be turning the internal editor on and off. Letting her out of the cupboard for daily outings so I can finish off Making the Cut and submit it. And submit I will. Yesterday at my writers meeting, I held a contract from the publisher I want to submit to. It was my friend's contract, but it's the first time I have seen a bona fide publishing contract, and not just a sample or a mock-up. Very exciting and very motivating.

When Roby was told that she would be published, I sent her a special congratulations card. On the front it said 'The Writer's Mantra: "I will be a published author" over and over. On the inside it said, 'It's no longer just a fantasy.' because Roby is a fantasy writer. I now have the cards on sale at the Chickollage shop at cafepress.com as well as a romance writer's version, which has red print, and says inside 'It's no longer just a romantic dream.' In addition, I have put 'The Writer's Mantra' on mousepads, mugs, fridge magnets - any product that might help a writer affirm their goal.
(I tried to post a pic but Blogger doesn't want to play that game)


I am bidding on some fabulous stuff on ebay at the moment. A couple of items which will be very useful to get the world of 'I'm with the Band' right. An inside look into the music industry. No more details as I want to win these items, and lately I've been competing against fanatics who have a lot more money than me. Last weekend I had a maximum bid of $25 on a magazine, and my bid was sitting at $22. In the last 8 seconds two bidders swooped and the magazine sold for $57. Way beyond my budget. I hate that. At least in a real auction room, you can see the competition, and the body language gives a clue as to how badly they want the item.

Sometimes, you can see that on ebay as well if your opposition starts bidding early in the game. I knew I was unlikely to win another music magazine when someone outbid me - I checked out their feedback and the items they'd bought, and they were a Keith Richards nut, and the magazine we were bidding on had Keith Richards on the cover. And they did win. But I didn't keep pursuing it. Because I knew they had a passion for it, and the money to spend. Man, I only wanted probably one article out of the magazine!

Another person was bidding against me early on for the magazine that went for $57. I did some quick 'ebay profiling' on her. She is a Countdown fan who buys a lot of boots and faux fur, so immediately I have a picture of a 30 something year old turning up to the Countdown spectacular in her knee-length fur coat. Maybe ebay profiling is a way to turn up some interesting characters for novel fodder.

But I did score a book on Australian rock photography, published in 1991. That will be cool, and I'm sure it will trigger a few more memories.

This week, I've got the place to myself. Friday just gone to Sunday next, as my partner has gone away. Good timing for the beginning of Nanowrimo. So hopefully by the time he comes home, my head will be so far into the alternate realities of Diary of the Future and I'm with the Band, that I won't be distracted.