In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * New Short Story * About Yesterday * You Can Subscribe on the Website Now * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.” George Carlin “At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.” W. Somerset Maugham “I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends….” Ricky Nelson in “Garden Party” Enjoy a blast from the past. (grin) … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * No Questions * Writing Again * Recommended Nonfiction * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller “He is short-sighted who looks only on the path he treads and the wall on which he leans.” Khalil Gibran Welcome Welcome to Ryan (are you part of the famous racing family? [grin]) and any other new subscribers or reader of the Journal. I hope you will … Read more

In today’s Journal * Welcome * Pacing * Of Interest * The Numbers * If You Want to Donate Welcome Welcome to Lee and any other new subscribers or reader of the Journal. I hope you will find it useful. Be sure to check out these Archives and other free downloads. Some Notes on Pacing Pacing is a topic many writing instructors won’t touch. I suspect that’s because there really isn’t a lot to know. After a few facts, it’s all practice. And by practice, I mean writing a story, finishing it, spell-checking and publishing or submitting it, then writing … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Editing and Writing * A Brief History of Publishing * Story Lengths * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein “An artist discovers his genius the day he dares not to please.” French novelist Andre Malraux “The secret of fiction writing is to have fun with it, do the best job you can, write only what you want to write, and then release and do it again.” Dean Wesley Smith Editing and Writing For … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Opening Up Copyediting Again, Redux * The Bradbury Challenge * Important: If You Want to Donate * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I can tell you now that Plotting with Depth, Magic Bakery, Teams, Action in Depth, Applied Depth,and Advanced Depth will not be regular classes starting in 2024. We will be starting up new ones as the spring goes along. So grab them on the sale while you can if you want feedback on assignments. If not, they will be classic workshops.” Dean Wesley Smith, from … Read more

In today’s Journal * One More Time to Blackwell Ops 10 * I Am Not a “Local Author” * I’m Copyediting Again * Of Interest * The Numbers One More Time to Blackwell Ops 10 Welp, after my first reader noticed my shift from third to first-person at the beginning of Chapter 4 of the novel, I revised Blackwell Ops 10. Yep, conscious-critical mind stuff. But then, I’ve been a copyeditor for around three decades. Maybe four. I’ve lost count. Mostly I changed Chapter 1 into a Prologue and left it in third person omniscient to introduce the POV character. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Story: “The Interview” * Tag Line Verbs Update * Reverse Structures * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Nope,” Mama said. “You can’t talk to the earth with shoes on.” Mama Tombo explaining the facts of life to another character as she starts to pull on her shoes in K. C. Riggs’ excellent second installment of The Widow’s Circlehttps://www.amazon.com/Widows-Circle-K-C-Riggs/dp/1534807276/ “You better live every day like your last because one day you’re going to be right.” Ray Charles A Story: “The Interview” A new story … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Vella Correction * Workshop Sale * Reflection on Editing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “It’s not what WE see in the setting or know from research that matters. It’s what the CHARACTER sees and knows AND cares about enough to mention that matters.” Professional novelist Dawn Turner “With all of the qualities of the scene-setting, the dialogue, the place and time and the time and place in which your characters move. And I want to move with the characters, move with them and … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Welcome * Another Note on Vella * A Note on “Depth” * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Up until now my process has always been, mainly, rushing. … flying at breakneck speed, rushing myself and missing the actual meat of the story. … I’ve never felt immersed before, and now I do.” Chynna Pace, after experience Dean’s “Depth in Writing” class That’s exactly it. That’s why I constantly tell folks to slow down, take their time, don’t skip over what the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Why the Journal? * Finished the Novel * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along – and I must say I had a good time using them.” Tom Wolfe “The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.” Tom Wolfe “From what I can gather, there are more than a few bruised and dented apples … Read more