the writing life

The Journal: Crawl Before You Walk

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Memorial Day * Topic: Crawl Before You Walk * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[W]e writers are great with imagination, yet we don’t know enough about licensing and copyright to imagine what products could come from our IP.” Dean Wesley Smith “He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.” P.G. Wodehouse “It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of … Read more

The Journal: Memorial Day, and Just for Fun, Part 2

In today’s Journal * Memorial Day * Topic: Just for Fun, Part 2 * Oops * Of Interest Memorial Day I hope you will have a safe and happy but thoughtful Memorial Day. I hope you will consider all we still have in this once-great nation and on whose sacrifices we stand. Topic: Just for Fun, Part 2 Matt P. emailed this morning to ask how I would respond to writers “who claims that getting critiques helped them improve their writing and that if they hadn’t, they never would have gotten better.” Note: This topic, including this sentence, is delivered … Read more

The Journal: William Faulkner

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * William Faulkner * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Once these people come to life … they take off and so the writer is going at a dead run behind them trying to put down what they say and do in time…. They have taken charge of the story. They tell it from then on in.” William Faulkner “These people I invent and after that I just run along and put down what they say and do.” William Faulkner “They are still in motion in my mind. I can laugh at … Read more

The Journal: Another Brief Note on Critiques

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Another Brief Note on Critiques * And Then There’s This * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Here’s a revelation for some people: the age of the audience is not a genre.” R.S. Mellette “PG has never read a book because he wants to impress anyone either positively or negatively and doesn’t think he would enjoy associating with someone who does.” The Passive Guy Topic: Another Brief Note on Critiques K.C.’s comment on yesterday’s post drew my attention, especially when I received a similar response to a comment I posted … Read more

The Journal: Reviews and Critiques

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Reviews and Critiques * Speaking of Which * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “As we all know, a reader’s opinion of a book is enormously subjective. The way [readers] approach a story can vary at different points in their lives, or even their day. They read things into it that you might never have intended—and they’re all going to have vastly different opinions about what worked and what didn’t.” Joe Moore, whom I believe is a founding member of The KillZone blog, on why he recommends not reading reviews. … Read more

The Journal: Reader Pet Peeves: Thin Stories

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Also from Kris Rusch * Topic: Reader Pet Peeves: Thin Stories * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The hardest thing … are the writers whose work just stops. Not because Dean or I got tired of reading them or the writer veered into territory we weren’t interested in. But because something got in the way of the writing.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch (see “Of Interest”) “[Writers] who have long careers constantly work on their craft. They might be afraid — hell, they might be terrified — but they step beyond it.” … Read more

The Journal: Reader Pet Peeves

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * An Important and Informative Post * Topic: Reader Pet Peeves: Preconceived or Contrived Stories * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting.” Robert Frost “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” Robert Frost The first item in “Of Interest” links to a very important and informative post. If you currently use video (Zoom, etc.) or audio … Read more

The Journal: Learning the Craft Revisited

In today’s Journal * FLASH! * Topic: Learning the Craft Revisited * Of Interest FLASH! See “Tami Hoag Giveaway – Two Free Registrations to the 2022 Writers’ Police Academy!” at https://leelofland.com/tami-hoag-giveaway-two-free-registrations-to-the-2022-writers-police-academy/. I’m not entering the drawing. If you do, good luck. If you win, please let them know you heard about the drawing through the Journal. (grin) Topic: Learning the Craft Revisited Matt’s keeping me in topics for the Journal. (grin) As a followup to the email that became “On Learning the Craft” in yesterday’s Journal, he asked two more questions. I thought I should share those with you. I’ve … Read more

The Journal: On Learning the Craft

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On Learning the Craft * A Study in Suffering? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “If the English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a shortage of flowers.” Doug Larson “Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football.” Bill Bryson Topic: On Learning the Craft My friend Matt emailed me this morning and asked this question: “[D]o you think it’s possible one could learn about Craft solely by reading novels, short stories, screenplays … Read more

The Journal: WITD Is Not the Only Way

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Thank You * Topic: WITD Is Not the Only Way * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The really great writers are people like Emily Brontë who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.” James A. Michener “For more than a decade, writers have asked me what they can do to sell their existing books. I always tell them to write the next book. Some writers don’t have time for promotion. Others don’t have the constitution for it. … The one thing that will … Read more