The Journal: Yesterday, a Topic, and Today

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: You’ve Finished Your Novel. Now What? * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday, I worked on creating covers and promo docs for four novels. I’m rusty. I started creating covers around 7, then wrote the promo docs, and finally got them all uploaded to D2D and Amazon a little before noon. Then I decided to take the rest of the day off. Finally back to the novel today. Yay! Topic: You’ve Finished Your Novel. Now What? I actually saw the second item in “Of Interest” yesterday, but I waited until today … Read more

The Journal: Well, Fooey

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Well, Fooey * Smashing Smashwords * Daniel Fellows * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Governments always claim noble purposes as the basis for limiting speech or other rights.” Jonathan Turley I started a new novel yesterday morning. As usual, a fairly slow start. And then around noon I realized, well, fooey. In talking with a friend, I came to know that I have five unpublished novels: Terra 2, the last novel in the FOH SF series (so far); Wes Crowley: The Final Chapter, the 12th … Read more

The Journal: Some Cover Design Fundamentals

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: Some Cover Design Fundamentals * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday, which should have been a relaxing day off, was mostly a bust. We went to a couple of estate sales over in Sierra Vista. Neither had much that we were interested in, and the other attendees at one acted as if they’d never been around other humans before. Sheesh. We shopped in the commissary too, and found some of what we needed but not all. And then I chose and ate the wrong thing for lunch, making myself ill. It was just … Read more

The Journal: SpaceRons, and Author Angst

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel Wrapped * Author Angst * SpaceRons * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “We have have been discussing how writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls…” Jonathan Turley Well, my short novel wrapped yesterday at a little over 28,000 words. I was fine with that. Honestly, this one felt more like a really long short story than a novella or novel. (grin) That makes an even dozen novels this year so far, including novels 5-10 of the SF FOH … Read more

The Journal: Unknowingly Trying?

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Unknowingly Trying? * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “That’s the beauty of copyright. It’s divisible. … Authors will be well served to think about protecting the rights in their characters when signing publishing contracts and licensing agreements.” IP Attorney Kathryn Goldman “The two books stalled and stalled and stalled. Each time I thought I had found a way to tell the story that I wanted to tell, I would hit another wall—or the same wall. And usually, that was because I was unknowingly trying to do … Read more

The Journal: One Writing Process

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: One Writing Process * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I always tell people to just let a story or a book be what it wants to be. Sometimes I even forget my own lessons.” Dean Wesley Smith “Most of the ‘wisdom’ from members feels like advice we’ve all heard over the years presented as inviolable rules. Those of you who have hung around TKZ for a while know my opinion on the rules of writing: There aren’t any. Fiction writers need only to entertain their audience. … Read more

The Journal: David Farland and a Royal Model O Typewriter

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * David Farland * Royal Model O * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[E]ventually the character’s story demands to be told in full.” David Farland If you get David Farland’s newsletter, you recently received one titled “Writing Your Series, Part 3.” But if you go to Farland’s Writing Tips blog, it doesn’t seem to be up yet. Actually, it is. So are Parts 1 through 6. But they were originally written in 2014. So to see the entire series of posts on “Writing Your Series,” visit https://mystorydoctor.com/?s=Writing+your+series. There … Read more

The Journal: Are You Like Me?

In today’s Journal * Are you like me? * Of Interest * The Numbers Are you like me? Do you wake up each morning with a child-like desire to get dressed and race past breakfast (and the surprised look on your mother’s face) and out the front door to play with your friends? It’s an exciting game, but it ran long yesterday. When the sun started to fade in the west, you had to stop and go inside, “wash up,” and eat supper. But the game was far from over at that point. Still carrying the fire of the game, … Read more

The Journal: Short Writing Day

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Short Writing Day and a revelation * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “People want stories. That never changes. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting pulled into a fictive dream.” James Scott Bell Short writing day yesterday though it was also an exciting day for me. After writing several short stories and 15 novels in concert with Wes Crowley, he finally told me what happened to him before he met Mac and consequently joined the Rangers. Turns out that’s when his one rule for life was … Read more

The Journal: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing * As predicted * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I will fail to success. Two novels this month and four next month.” Dean Wesley Smith “To be an author, you have to sit your gluteus maximus in a chair, somewhere, and string words together.” Reavis Wortham Topic: Some Next-Level Stuff on Pacing Just had a chat with a mentoring student. In part of that, I told her the main thing DWS taught me about pacing: Hit the freakin’ return key (Enter … Read more