The LadyKillers

What Happens in Vegas: No Longer Unknown

First of all, it's Las Vegas, not Vegas, baby. Three syllables = the place. "Vegas, baby" is a construct that serves casinos and hotels and movie theatres. It's an expensive illusion for the visitor who can easily blow through thousands of dollars in a 24 gamble-and-party cycle, only to fly home hung over and penniless. If that's your idea of a good time, more power to you, but I think most people are harboring the illusion that this time, they might take the house.

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" captures the real experience. Read Hunter Thompson's novel, or see either the Johnny Depp or Bill Murray movies.

Let me save you some time and money. If you play the game, you'll lose, sooner more often than later. That feeling that your luck has got to turn may be true when job searching or romance-hunting, but in a game of chance, your odds on the first roll are the same as they are on the last--bad odds. It's the illusion that your break is coming that keeps people at the table until their rent money is gone. 

How do I know? I lived there for eight years, age 8-15.

Nothing makes one a feminist faster than reaching sexual maturity in a town that perfected "woman as commodity." Seeing young women today volunteering for the role of commodity breaks my heart. Luckily, neither of my clever, talented nieces are heading down that road. For every would-be Lindsey Lohan, there's a teacher-in-training, a writer-perfecting-her-craft, a scientist, a mathematician...

What does Las Vegas have to do with the unknown? Well, I'm in Las Vegas right now, locked up in a discounted hotel room, finishing my first mystery about a fraud investigator who follows a trail of missing casino millions that leads right back to her own checkered past. I've been trying to finish it forever--new role at work, house purchase and other disasters have been too time consuming, so I set aside five whole days to just Get The Darn Thing Finished. My cheering section can only be expected to generate enthusiasm for so long, after all.

I realized that although I know a lot about gambling and Las Vegas history, and what it felt like to grow up in a place so violent that cocktail waitresses had to be escorted to their cars at end of shift, certain basic realities were missing. Like what it's really like to play in a poker tournament. Take a wad of cash to the pit and try to leave with more of it in my pockets than in the belly of a slot machine. How to play 21 at a real live table.

So I did all of that today, starting at 8:00 AM, when the real gamblers are still asleep. I wanted as few witnesses to my mistakes as possible!

My beginner's luck at the 21 table let me double my $100 stake in about ten minutes. A  pit boss (they let women be pit bosses now! Not just keno runners!) came over to watch the poor dealer. My first time, so I kept doing little things wrong. But they let me keep my winnings, so I must not have been that bad. I did remember to tip my dealer.

And oh, the poker tournament! First I had to take a lesson. I was the only woman in the place. Poker junkies, jonesing no doubt, circled the practice table like sharks, waiting for me to get out of the way. Turns out casino poker is very different from the shouting-match style games I played with my brothers.

Did you know they have low-stakes tournaments? $40 bought me in. I was the second person to go bust, not bad for my first game.  I played the slots for a while, cranked it up to $70 net gain, and then left the floor to finish todays' writing. The experience left me jangled--it's hard to think straight in the pit, even if you're just gambling for research. I can see how people get addicted.

I discovered that for me, slots are boring, 21 moves too fast (insurance?! double down?! all the options are so confusing!), and poker is just hard work with free drinks. I work in software, so the free drinks don't impress me.

The tournament lasts about 2 hours, and the most you can win in low stakes is $400 ($40 times ten players), unless someone goes bust in the first hour and they let him buy back in. You can't shout or laugh or smack the other players on the arm, you can't really have much fun at all, and to win you have to concentrate so hard. Ugh.

So now I know more about the gambling experience than I ever wanted to. Experiencing a thing is so different from knowing the statistics, or observing the aftermath from a safe distance. I'm still not sure how to get gambling scenes into my novel, as my heroine doesn't like gambling any more than I do. Much more fun to bust card cheats and embezzlers than to sit, stone-faced, at a table and wait for a lucky hand.

Tuesday morning I jump on the plane and head home to my beloved San Francisco, with a novel that should just need a fast copy edit before I can finally start submitting it to agents. Looking forward to the next unknown for me, Getting An Agent. Speaking of gambling!

What experiences have you had, things that took you from unknown to known?

Fear of the Unknown

After such witty and informative posts I was paralyzed with the fear that I couldn't compete. Then I realized that this blog isn't a contest; it's a collaboration. So I am taking another tack and talking about the fear that keeps writers from becoming authors. You know who you are. There are books and stories in the desk and closet but you've never sent them to a publisher or agent. They aren't quite right. No one will want them. You just need to make a few more tweaks, maybe after the kids are grown and you retire.

Does that sound familiar? It's something all of us do in one aspect or other of our lives. We are afraid of failure, of change, even afraid of success, afraid of the unknown.

Many years ago I was in a writers group. Two of the members, both good writers, have had very different experiences. One was writing a gripping thriller, but he listened to all the comments and continually rewrote the beginning. He had no confidence in his own work and, as far as I know, never sent it out. The other member tried all the regular channels and then, when e-publishing started, took the plunge and put the work out. She has also been tireless at promoting. She writes romantic suspense and the books are fun, set all over the world. She is doing well. Here is a link to the good reads page on her: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2993012.R_Ann_Siracusa

Ann faced her fear of the unknown and now she knows that there are people out there who like her stories.

Every day the unknown future looms. It's easy to stay on familiar paths or even hide under the bed to avoid it. It's easy to make excuses not to try. Or you can take a chance. Face the unknown and leap into it. No matter the result, you'll have conquered the fear and be ready to try again.

Sharan, speaking from experience

The Unknown By Michael A. Black

“People always fear the unknown,” my father used to say.

After all, it’s lurking around every corner, waiting for us. But why do we fear it? Why not embrace it? Or, at the very least, be prepared for it.

Sure, not knowing what’s coming can be disconcerting because we feel that it’s beyond our control. But what if we could exert some control over things? Would that make us fear the unknown less ominous?

Like most people, I’ve faced a lot of unknown factors in my life. Everybody does. But as a cop, I faced a significantly larger set of circumstances every time I put on the uniform and went to work. Driving in I never knew what the shift would bring. Would it be a busy night, or uneventful? Once it started the unknown factor would increase. With every call, every time someone dialed 9-1-1, the potential was there to develop into something unforeseen and really dangerous. Danger can be an attractive companion, and I must admit I grew to love the adrenaline surges as I’d race to one of those situations not knowing exactly what I’d be facing. So I grew to embrace the unknown rather than fear it. But I also had a few allies with me, most notably training and experience. And these usually brought a third ally into the fray: confidence. I found out that usually, if you’ve prepared for something, you can handle it.

So the key is in your preparation. That’s why as a cop I was always big on training and making sure my guys were well trained. Developing proficiencies in various areas (weapons, physical fitness, interviewing, observation, etc.) became a way of life for me. It was my way of preparing to meet the unknown head-on. I always maintained a regular exercise and running program, and worked in other areas as well. Our range practices used to include shooting with both hands, dominant and non-dominant, as well as one-handed reloading drills. It’s a lot easier to react if you’ve trained for an eventuality than trying to figure out what to do when you’re first confronted with something unexpected. In police work things can turn violent in a moment, and you should be on guard at all times. It’s like they say in boxing: the punch you don’t see coming is the one that knocks you down.

Not all of this has to do with running four or five miles, working on take-downs and arm-locks, or developing proficiencies in shooting. Noticing the little things and being aware of your surroundings is something that’s equally important. The next time you’re pulling into a parking lot, take an extra look around. Instead of talking on your cell phone or thinking about the stuff you want to buy once you get inside, concentrate instead on your first objective: getting through the parking lot safely. And once you go through the doors, stop and survey the area from which you came. Anybody lingering around your car? Anybody walking close to you? Anybody paying you particular notice? This goes double for returning to your vehicle. Keep yourself sharp mentally by planning what you would do in the event of some emergency. Like I said, being ready for every eventuality can cut down on the chances that the unknown will surprise you.

So how does all this relate to writing? Believe it or not, there are similarities. A writer faces the unknown every time he or she sits down to write. You’re staring at a blank screen (or page, if you prefer) and it can be a daunting task to start. How well you’ve prepared yourself can make a big difference. Have you done your research? Have you thought the story through? Being prepared can make a difference here as well.

So in the final analysis, the unknown is not something to be feared, but appreciated. Think of how boring and mundane life would be if we always knew what was coming around the next curve. Just know which way to turn your wheels if you hit a patch of black ice and start to skid.

Like they used to say when I was in Boy Scouts: Be prepared.

News? Unknown...

News!! (...late breaking, because the spam filter refused to 'fess up)

• Susan Shea is speaking at the Belvedere-Tiburon Library Thursday, February 16 th 7:30 (free and all are welcome). Title of the talk is "How Money Moves the Art World," and it's about the intersection of art, money...and crime, of course!
• Feb 18, Saturday, at 10 AM: Rita Lakin, Vinnie Hansen, Susan Shea, and Priscilla Royal at the AAUW book panel, Fellowship Hall of Christ Lutheran Church, 780 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito.

UNKNOWN

The topic has several of the LadyKillers scratching their heads, but that's okay. Join us this week to see how creative minds interpret THIS one...

A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.  -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Something unknown is doing we don't know what.  -Arthur Eddington