Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal: Stomping on Chandler’s Good Advice

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Happy Veterans’ Day * DWS * Stomping on Chandler’s Good Advice * I started writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “You can’t have guys with guns running around loose in your novel and surprises popping up like Whac-A-Mole.” Elaine Viets “Um, why not?” Me, in the back of the class, arm raised, waving frantically Happy Veterans’ Day or as we used to call it, Marine Corps Hangover Recovery Day. Yesterday, your United States Marine Corps celebrated its 246th anniversary. Semper fi to my brothers and sisters … Read more

The Journal: Why Do You Write?

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Why Do You Write? * Time to Start Considering Goals? * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[T]he world I create in the writing compensates for what the real world does not give me. … I write because I’m scared of writing, but I’m more scared of not writing.” Gloria E. Anzaldúa “Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself.” Harper Lee “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.” Gloria Steinem “Real writers don’t write … Read more

The Journal: Another DWS Kickstarter

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A couple of comments * Another DWS Kickstarter * Back to NaNoWriMo * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I’ve never written a novel in 30 days (as if!) but I did do NaNoWriMo to write 500-1000 words a day of my then-WIP and it really got me over a hump.” Kathleen McCleary A couple of comments The above quote is from an article that says if you want to “win” NaNoWriMo, it’s easy: Just change the definition of “win.” That advice is right up there with taking … Read more

The Journal: 10,000 Trillion Ants

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Rewording Heinlein’s Rule 4 * An Analogy * Dean Wesley Smith’s post yesterday * An Anniversary of Note * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “There are, by some rough estimates, 10,000 trillion ants in the world at any given moment, and their combined weight would match the total weight of the planet’s human population.” Christoph Irmscher, paraphrasing Edward Osborne Wilson in “The Ant Man’s World.”https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-ant-mans-world/ Idea for an SF novel or series of novels? Rewording Heinlein’s Rule 4 I was talking with screenwriter MGP again and he … Read more

The Journal: Learn

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Today * A Rose by Any Other Name * Arm Yourself * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Terror’s not ghosts flying through the walls, going woo-woo-woo. Terror is when the party is over and everyone has gone home and at last you can take a deep breath and you lock the doors and your place is finally empty and quiet, and you turn out the lights and then you hear the toilet flush upstairs. That’s terror.” Warren Murphy Today the Journal has only three entries in “Of … Read more

The Journal: Traditional Publishing Contracts: Derivative Rights

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * From Dan Baldwin’s Writing Tip of the Week * About Kris Rusch Licensing Books * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “There is only one thing you can do, I think. Log out of BookScan. Close Goodreads. Log off Twitter. And go write. I know it’s not a very original thought. But clichés can be true. Maybe it’s the only true thing.” Lincoln Michael “At the root of most fear is what other people will think of us.” Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday Below is reprinted most … Read more

The Journal: One More Benefit of Being Prolific

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * One More Benefit of Being Prolific * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.” Richard Wright, Black Boy I didn’t know books (and films) affected others like this. I received an email this morning from a person who apparently “follows” me on Amazon. She wrote, “Amazon announced yet another book publication by Harvey Stanbrough. How is it possible that you say you are not writing, yet books keep shooting out?” Well, that’s … Read more

The Journal: WITD and Cycling

In today’s Journal * Nothing good in literature * WITD and Cycling * Readers are different * All of that being said * Some good songs * Of Interest * The Numbers A couple of days ago I wrote that “Nothing good in literature ever came from the conscious, critical mind.” Given that “good” resides in the eye of the beholder and given that we can never know how good a plotted work might have been had it been written into the dark, I’ll stand by my statement. A friend emailed me part of an article (copied and pasted) from … Read more

The Journal: A New DWS Series of Posts

In today’s Journal * I no longer subscribe * A New DWS Series of Posts * A promotion myth revealed * Of Interest * The Numbers If it matters to you that you get market news, etc. from Authors Publish, you’ll want to go to https://authorspublish.com/ and subscribe. It’s free. I’m no longer subscribed, so I won’t be passing along their information any longer. Likewise for David Farland’s writing tips newsletter. Go to https://mystorydoctor.com/writing-blog/, scroll to the bottom of the page, and enter your information to subscribe (free). I’m no longer a subscriber. Too much nonformation for me. This morning, … Read more

The Journal: Analogies and a Clarification

In today’s Journal * Yesterday’s post * Some writers and some drivers: analogies * My experience, a clarification, and more of my experience * The essential key * Of Interest * The Numbers This is long. My apologies in advance. Yesterday’s post struck a chord with a few folks. There were emails and there were comments. In one comment, Matt P called the post a “low-KT tactical nuke.” (grin) In another, Anitha K wrote “on days when WITD seems to lead me down an underground mine with no exit in sight, it’s that much harder to trust it.” I encourage … Read more