Professional Writer Series

The Journal: Good to Be Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Sorry I’ve been away * Updates * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “I don’t pay no attention to no kind of critics about nothing. If they knew as much as they claim to about what they’re criticizing, they ought to be doing that instead of just standing on the side lines using their mouth.” Cassius Clay in an interview with Alex Haley “Ninety percent of success can be boiled down to consistently doing the obvious thing for an uncommonly long period of time without … Read more

The Journal: Despite the Bluster

In today’s Journal * Despite the bluster * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Well, despite all the bluster, I didn’t start the next Gap novel yesterday. Probably today, maybe tomorrow or the next day. No biggie. It’ll come when it comes, and I’ve been doing this long enough not to be worried about it. I’d rather not get too far behind the curve ball for the 80,000 words I need per month for the rest of the year to attain my ‘big’ goal, but if I do, I do. I’ve missed that particular goal before. The world didn’t end … Read more

The Journal: Anthony Trollope and Challenges

In today’s Journal * Anthony Trollope * Challenges * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Anthony Trollope A couple of years ago I posted a link to a video about Anthony Trollope. The title of the video is “How to Be Prolific.” I posted the link in today’s “Of Interest” again. What brought this up is a cmment someone made in response to a comment I made about 2 years ago. His comment (today) was “Yeah, but Trollope was using pen & paper for all of it. That’d slow you down!” In the first place, he obviously missed what I … Read more

The Journal: The Novel Wrapped

In today’s Journal * The novel wrapped * Keeping Track * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ The novel wrapped yesterday. Weird. I put pressure on myself just before the end of this novel. I wanted to finish it yesterday, and I allowed that desire to translate into pressure to finish it. Pressure is never a good thing. As a result, I wrote three separate endings, only one of which I completed. (The right one, of course.) So when the smoke cleared (literally) I had written 1865 words that did not make it into the final novel. Oh well. It’s … Read more

The Journal: The novel will wrap today

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The novel will wrap today * Talking numbers * It doesn’t happen * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “I view my life as a novel in progress. As I awoke this morning, I anxiously turned the 27,373rd page to see what happens next.” Lars Bagman I love this quote. In my mind, it’s absolutely true. That’s why I often refer to the difference between “my life/story” vs. “my characters’ life/story.” I assume the characters’ life (and story) is ongoing even when I’m not checking in on … Read more

The Journal: New Releases

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * New Releases * Of all the blogs I visit and read * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “[Y]our words are how you see yourself, your actions are how other people see you.” Farnam Street blog “Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick “If you’re too busy to read the fine print and figure out what it means, don’t enter the contest.” The Passive Voice New Releases Well, Wes Crowley: The Final Chapter went live yesterday. You can see it at https://books2read.com/u/3Lw9le. That’s the … Read more

The Journal: Why I Post Every Day

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Why I Post Every Day * The Novel * An interesting newsletter * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “It is as if these authors were in a dark prison cell, pulled up by the bars to look out the window at Armageddon, and fail to look behind them to see that their cell door is open. … It’s really hard to feel pity for those who willfully disregard changing reality.” Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt on tradpubbed authors who can’t believe indie publishing works “[T]hese companies are now … Read more

The Journal: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb * On Tidbits * Marketing Tidbit * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quote of the Day “On a different subject, “… head shaking with rue” sounded odd. Is this just me or is the author desperately avoiding the adverb?” Mike Hall, in a comment on a post on The Passive Voice Topic: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb For many years, I’ve kept a running list of verbs writers use in dialogue tags to replace “said” and thereby, they reason, to “spiff up” the tag and make … Read more

The Journal: Just Write Something Already

In today’s Journal * An astute reader * On the cigar front * Tidbits * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ An astute reader caught an egregious typo in yesterday’s Journal (Thanks, Russ). In the Numbers section, I reported 60031 total words of fiction for the year. Let’s play with that for a moment. That would mean on average in the first 208 days of 2021 I’ve written a rip-roaring 289 words per day. Yeah, somehow I managed to omit a numeral. That number should have read 600381, which it now does. Which means on average, I’ve written 2889 words … Read more

The Journal: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Being ‘good at things’ is not the point. Enjoying the ride is. [R]emember to take joy in the process.” PJ Parrish “Given the growth in the audio market, I use far more dialogue tags than I used to. On the page, I believe they become invisible, and on audio, it keeps the listener on track.” John Gilstrap Topic: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers I used to say there are two kinds of fiction writers, but … Read more