Hey Folks,
I don’t remember whether I’ve mentioned this before, but if anyone would like to read “The Fiction Factory” (being the Experience of a Writer who, for Twenty-two Years, has kept a Story-mill Grinding Successfully) by John Milton Edwards, send me an email and I’ll send you a PDF copy. Very interesting stuff. Chock full of gems.
Part of my recent problem (“problem” is too harsh a word) is that my brain is trying to shut down to allow for the new knowledge I’ll absorb during the workshop I’m currently taking from Dean.
Of course, that’s absurd. Nothing I’ve already learned and made my own through application of my fingertips on the keyboard will be replaced or changed. I’ll grow a bit in understanding, but that’s all.
Nothing he says supplants anything he’s said before. Much he says enhances what’s gone before, but nothing detracts. I think that’s why I’ve taken so many of his workshops (10 at this point) and listened to so many of his lectures.
If you’ve never taken a DWS workshop, and if you’d like to try a free one, I still have the URLs for all six weeks of his Originality workshop (he offers it free on YouTube). Email me and I’ll send the whole list. Forty videos in all, probably 7 – 10 minutes each. Please be sure to remind me it’s the Originality video.
Speaking of workshops, I now have 6 hearty souls signed up for Wednesday, 16 August. (That’s next week!) The latest addition was someone I’ve never met or talked with. A friend referred him. Anyway, if you’re local/regional and you want in, there are only a couple of slots left.
If the thing goes even nearly as well as I think it will, I’ve already decided to do it again, probably in October. That session will be on a Saturday. I have a particular writer in mind. I’ll let her pick the Saturday, then announce it.
Well, for the past several weeks I’ve been trying to adapt to my old writing space (The Hovel). I pumped a lot of words through my laptop out there.
I couldn’t quite make it all work out, and finding a nest of wood scorpions out there a couple days ago put a cap on it for me.
What I need is a space, not necessarily that space. This morning, just about the time it got too hot for physical labor, I carried my small desk from The Hovel up to my office. It fit.
My cat has more surface to walk and lounge on, so she’s happy, and it’s comfortable for me. I can switch from prepping workshops, email etc. on this computer to writing on Hal by simply backing up a foot or so and turning right.
I don’t even have to say I’ll see how it goes. It felt right as soon as I put the little desk in place. So The Hovel is once again the storage shed.
I did buy a portable swamp cooler to use out there not long ago. But I’ll transfer it to the camping trailer we use as a spare bedroom for guests. It’s all good.
I’ll spend the balance of today putting together some things for the upcoming workshop. I’ve decided to write a nonfiction book based on the upcoming workshop. I’ll write it first, then deliver the workshop(s), then revise and publish the book sometime probably next year.
Of Interest
Via The Digital Reader, see “7 Ways to Support Your Favorite Authors” at http://bookriot.com/2017/08/09/ways-to-support-author/.
Some good comments on “WRITING INTO THE DARK: A New Online Workshop” at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-into-the-dark-a-new-online-workshop/#comments/.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 1880 (580, Journal; 1300, Storytelling with Depth)
So total words for the day: 1880
Writing of “” ()
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 13581
Total fiction words for the year………… 376559
Total nonfiction words for the month… 5680
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 124790
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 501349
The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 622 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novel Goal (15 novels or novellas)………………… 8 novels or novellas
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 26
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 179