Hey Folks,
Be sure to see the “Of Interest” section today. There’s a lot of valuable information there.
***
I had to catch my breath this morning for a moment. A blogger named Ola Kowalczyk, on her website (Ebook Friendly), posted a “Worldwide Map of Copyright Term Length” and cited Wikipedia.
The map makes it appear that copyright law is changing in the US. (Don’t worry, it isn’t.)
Currently a copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.
But according to the map she posted, beginning with works published in 2019, copyright will expire 95 years from the date of publication. (This is actually part of the current law for works created “under hire.”)
Naturally, I clicked the Wikipedia link beneath the photo. And I found that copyright law is NOT changing, that it’s still the life of the author plus 70 years.
So where’d Ms. Kowalczyk dig up the other graphic?
I scrolled down in the “File History” section on the Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_copyright_terms.svg). The earliest image file — dated 23 July 2012 and posted by a user nicknamed “badseed” (f that gives you a clue) — is the one Ms. Kowalczyk chose to use.
The more important question is why Ms. Kowalczyk chose to post that particular image.
There are six images in the history. All but one, the earliest one, shows the correct information. It seems she wanted willfully to mislead people.
And that’s just annoying. Isn’t there enough trouble and fake news to go around in today’s world?
***
I started on the novel at around 9. I wrote around 600 words, then headed up to the house to tend to some laundry I’d started earlier.
As I finished folding one load and was putting the second into the dryer, my wife drove up. She brought news that my father’s youngest brother, who was 80 and in ill health for some time, passed away last evening.
A life roll. So the writing was put on hold for awhile as I contacted some others who would want to know.
My Uncle Bill served a stint in the National Guard. Afterward, he married his childhood sweetheart and served as a forest ranger for the US Forest Service.
He spent most of his life where he lived, in the beautiful Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, but was also a firefighter who helped battle forest fires all over the United States. The guy was a hero in my book. He had a very unique, very dry sense of humor and he will be sorely missed.
I probably will have a few days off in the coming week, but for now, back to the novel.
Back soon.
Of Interest
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch have come up with a series of “New Pop-Up Weekender Workshops.” They’re shorter and more intense than the usual online workshops but longer than the lectures. Read about them at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/new-pop-up-weekender-workshops/.
Now for some freebies:
If you’ve considered signing up for Dean’s lecture on Pen Names, you can see the first video free at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKanXRxtyek. Just over 11 minutes. This is a great lesson in the history of pen names and publishing overall.
There’s another excellent take on pen names by Michelle Campbell-Scott at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoILCDyN1OE. Just over 17 minutes.
I urge you to check out Dean’s first lecture (free) on Being a Prolific Fiction Writer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH1wz-YnFe0. A little over 7 minutes.
Finally, if you do nothing else today, check out the first video of Dean’s best lecture (in my opinion), “Heinlein’s Rules” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24K_YIhsYUY. It’s a little over 10 minutes and chock full of gems from about the 2 minute point.
You’ve heard me talk about Heinlein’s Rules, and you can get a free copy by clicking http://harveystanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Heinleins-Business-Habits-Annotated.pdf, but if you haven’t bought into it yet, I strongly advise you to purchase Dean’s lecture. It literally was the lecture that started me on my writing career.
There’s also an interesting article titled “Now Users Can Create Their Own…” at http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/3608965.
Fiction Words: 2354
Nonfiction Words: 700 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3054
Writing of The Origin Novel (working title)
BF…………… 32658 words.
Day 1…… 2689 words. Total words to date…… 35347
Day 2…… 2636 words. Total words to date…… 37983
Day 3…… 3189 words. Total words to date…… 41172
Day 4…… 2525 words. Total words to date…… 43697
Day 5…… 2609 words. Total words to date…… 46306
Day 6…… 2455 words. Total words to date…… 48761
Day 7…… 1341 words. Total words to date…… 50102
Day 8…… 2354 words. Total words to date…… 52456
Writing of “The Storytellers,” the first story in The Less-Relatable Tales of a Desperado
Day 1…… 1304 words. Total words to date…… 1304
Day 2…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 21102
Total fiction words for the year………… 21102
Total nonfiction words for the month… 4020
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 4020
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 25122
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 0
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 27
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182