In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Not Much to Report * A Reminder * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Hardcovers, considered permanent and as a result difficult to afford, were for upper class and/or educated readers. … Paperbacks were considered disposable, though, like the pulp magazines before them. So anything that was in cheap paper was considered cheap fiction, and not worthy of all the things we used to measure ‘good literature’.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “Algorithms, not creativity” Anthony Leung in Lexology “I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The First Quote of the Day * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King “Pace is the speed at which your narrative unfolds. There is a kind of unspoken (hence undefended and unexamined) belief in publishing circles that the most commercially successful stories and novels are fast-paced. Like so many unexamined beliefs in the publishing business, this idea is largely bullshit. … I believe each … Read more

In today’s Journal * Fair Winds and Following Seas * Of Interest * The Numbers Fair Winds and Following Seas That’s the blessing Marines give each other when one of our own passes. I wasn’t going to post an edition of the Journal today, but yesterday I learned that one of my oldest, dearest friends, Edward Lee Courtney, passed away on June 4. Still, to bend this toward writing I thought I’d offer up a few anecdotes. These are all real, but please feel free to use any of them as the seed of a story. “Corky” and I served … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Turns Out I Was Wrong * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure.” Stephen King “I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren’t compatible.” Stephen King “The job boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * A New Short Story * A Success Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Speed [in writing fiction] does not kill. But I always keep this in mind: the writing has got to be top notch.” Vincent Zandri “If you have a number of serial readers who read everything you put out, you can’t write fast enough for them.” Vincent Zandri Welcome to NYT and USA Today bestselling author Vincent Zandri and any others who have recently subscribed to the Journal. I hope you will … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * About BookBub * Free Email Marketing Service * What Sort of Writer Are You?* * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[I]t is … important for me to write in tranquility, trying to write as well as I can, with no eye on any market, nor any thought of what the stuff will bring, or even if it can be published….” Ernest Hemingway “The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Zen in the Art of Writing * Speaking of Writing * A Lunacy Too Far? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Critical Voice has one job, and that is to stop you from writing. Creative Voice is always positive. Critical Voice is always negative.” Dean Wesley Smith “[W]e all have health and family issues that stop the writing. Those are not excuses. Those are reality and we come back to writing when the world allows us to.” Dean Wesley Smith Zen in the Art of Writing I swear, if it … Read more

In today’s Journal * Learning Craft Through Immersion (Guest Post) * Of Interest Learning Craft Through Immersion a guest post by Chynna Pace I enjoy learning foreign languages, and I have taught myself Korean for the past 9 years. Recently, it occurred to me that learning a language in order to communicate fluently with the natives of that language is a lot like learning writing craft in order to convey a story to readers. With writing, I wrote constantly for a solid decade before ever picking up a craft book. I didn’t know anything about deep POV, or the five … Read more

In today’s Journal * The Myths Are Very Much Alive * Of Interest The Myths Are Very Much Alive If you want to see the myths in action (strongly) read “Starting Over. It Never Gets Easier” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/05/starting-over-it-never-gets-easier.html and the first couple of comments. I was amazed. This is a bestselling author (a pair of authors and sisters, actually) talking about how hard it is to start a new novel. How discouraging must a statement like that be to a new writer? Or is it ENcouraging? Maybe such statements enable the new writer to imagine girding himself or herself for … Read more

In today’s Journal * Do You Need a Copyeditor? * A Beautiful Time of Year * Of Interest Do You Need a Copyeditor? In response to yesterday’s guest post by Dan Baldwin, one writer (thanks, George K) emailed, “Dean said (in his 20booksto50 speech on youtube late last year) that his editor only corrects typos and thats it. They are ‘not allowed to change a word’. My question is when you said a good editor is essential are you talking about [only] searching for typos as well? What advice in your opionion do you accept from an editor?” I responded … Read more