Cycling

The Journal: Cave Creek and Update on Cycling

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Cave Creek Kickstarter * Street Team update * Kevin Tumlinson * Topic: Update on Cycling * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “‘No one will like this.’ ‘It’s not funny enough.’ ‘It’s too short.’ ‘It’s too long.’ [These] are projections into the future, which don’t actually exist because no one has read your book yet. Write your book, put it out there, and then don’t dwell in the past worrying about whether the book is good enough. Keep in the present and write that next sentence.” … Read more

The Journal: Finished an Edit and the Critical Voice

In today’s Journal * Finished an edit * Topic: WITD, Cycling and the Critical Voice * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Well, I finished the copyedit I was working on, and Oh Wow was it ever a great read. The thing was so fast-paced I kept wishing it had already been copyedited so I could ‘just read’ it. I don’t usually announce new releases of any work but my own here, but I think I’ll announce this one when it’s published. It’s just that good. Topic: WITD, Cycling and the Critical Voice A writer wrote to ask me … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, June 3

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Thanks * A new goal * Topic: On Sharing and Copyright * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “They say ‘write what you know,’ which frankly I just find a dull truism. I say, write what you write. Write what engages you. What you know will just shine through.” Sean Monaghan “Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, February 8

In Today’s Journal ▪ Short Journal entry today ▪ On cycling and first reading and how they’re similar ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Not a lot going on today. Got the gate moved and a new upright post in place on the latch side yesterday afternoon. Now I need to rebuild the gate itself. Probably this weekend. *** I was talking with a guy the other day (maybe in comments) about cycling. I don’t recall the whole conversation, but the take-away point was, cycling is all about Story. It isn’t about individual words or sentences. … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, December 23

Hey Folks, Well, the Dean/Harvey discussion continues. (grin) See the post (and comment) in today’s “Of Interest.” Up early again this morning at 2 a.m. But today I shouldn’t have as much cycling to do, which means I can write more new words. Yesterday I wrote only about 2000 words, then hit a snag that caused the necessity to cycle back through the story and adjust the timeline (hours within a two-day period) and ages of the actors. I’ll finish that this morning, then pick up where I left off. Topic: On Readers’ “Taste” and Writers’ Ability I do understand … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, December 22

Hey Folks, Happy Winter Solstice yesterday. I forgot. (grin) Topic: The Importance of Paragraphs While glancing over the internet this morning for items of interest, I checked in on a blog I’d saved in my bookmarks but hadn’t looked at recently. When I save one in my bookmarks, it’s because I hope it will provide valuable, or at least valid, information. A writer posed this implied question: I have trouble trying to figure out when to begin and end paragraphs and when to have dialogue included in the paragraph and when to have it stand on its own as an … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 14

Hey Folks, Welcome to a new subcriber from Germany. I hope you’ll find something of value here. My characters will definitely wrap up the story in my 35th novel today. Somehow, 35 seems like a milestone to me. I’m not sure why. My new short-term goal now is to write at least 50 novels. We’ll see. *** I mentioned this a long while back, but if you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter from CrimeReads.com, you’re missing a bet. The focus at CrimeReads is recommending books on crime (duh), but they regularly interview writers about their process, about various genre touchstones, … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, November 13

Hey Folks, I have no expectation that the story in this novel will end today. But barring any unforeseen omplications in my own life, it will end tomorrow. I have to go to the doc in Tucson at mid-morning for a routine check on my new pacer-defibrillator (read “make sure I didn’t screw up the doc’s work”). I guess that was in my mind as I slept. I rolled out at 1:30 and was in the Hovel before 2. I used up the first hour with nonsense, as I am wont to do, and turned to the novel a little … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, October 23

Hey Folks, On this day in 1983, two suicide bombers in truck bombs attacked the Marine barracks near the airport in Beirut, Lebanon. The attack killed 220 Marines and 21 other service personnel. This was the deadliest attack against US Marines since the battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945. At the same time, another truck bomb attacked a building housing French paratroopers, killing 58. We will not forget. *** Now to writing…. First, a thought to ponder: When we look back at something we’ve written and think it’s good, our first thought is usually “But writers are the worst … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, September 20

Hey Folks, A great “Of Interest” section today (playing catch up), but first some personal stuff, though it is related to writing, or in this case, not writing. So sorry about missing yesterday. I missed writing not only this Journal but fiction for a day too. My “streak” ended at 4 days. Today it’s back to 1. (grin) Here’s the rundown on the past couple of days: As you know, we went to Tucson on Tuesday for what we believed was an out-patient procedure. We expected to depart Tucson around 5 p.m. Then the following morning, I would resume my … Read more