Hey Folks,
Well, I emailed DWS yesterday about CreateSpace closing their online store. He wrote, “Saw it. No books ever sold out of there anyway, so no great loss.”
So there’s another take on it for you.
***
I was going to recommend James Scott Bell’s column over at The Kill Zone Blog, but I decided not to. The title is “Use NaNoWriMo to Repo Your Mojo.” All well and good. But if you go look it up on your own, PLEASE take it with a huge grain of salt.
I’m glad NaNoWriMo exists, and I’m glad so many people have fun with it. Though I suspect the number of professional fiction writers who got their start from NaNo is extremely low, probably hovering somewhere around zero.
The one massive thing I actively DON’T like about NaNoWriMo is that it actually encourages poor writing and holds that ugly practice up as a Good Thing. It isn’t.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Just get the words down, then come back and fix them later. But what’s wrong with getting the words down To The Best Of Your Ability the first time? How is that a bad thing?
Incredibly, even James Scott Bell apparently advocates writing sloppily the first time through, which is hands-down the stupidest advice I’ve ever heard. Again, why would ANYone write poorly intentionally? For that matter, why would anyone do ANYTHING poorly on purpose just so they could come back and clean it up later?
Am I just being a grouch here? I mean, has doing something to the best of your ability somehow become passe?
It reminds me of that old saying: There’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always time to do it over. Well, there you go.
Bell also actually writes in the article, “It’s a major accomplishment to finish a novel. To do it in one month is astounding.” Again, astoundingly, head-shakingly ridiculous.
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Today has been a bits and pieces day. Today has been fragmented. I took a vehicle title in to get it switched over this morning, mailed another one out, then swapped out a license plate. All of that pretty much wraps up what was going on yesterday. Finally.
I’m the kind of guy who likes to have things settled. Whether in my favor or not, settled is good. Settled means it’s off my plate and I no longer have to think about it. Settled means I can move on with other stuff.
***
I actually dreamed writing last night. I don’t think I was in my current WIP — or maybe I was in and out of it — but it felt like I wrote for much of the night.
Whatever the story, it kept taking off on tangents. I was up through about Chapter 49 when I woke up a little after 3. That was a very good night. A wonderful night.
Do I remember the dreams? No.
But that’s all right. Whatever I was dreaming is “in there,” so it’ll come out when it’s time.
Back tomorrow.
Of Interest
For a LOT of declassified documents on a range of topics, see The Black Vault at http://www.theblackvault.com/. (This is under Writers’ Resources on my website now too.)
Just for fun, via The Passive Voice see R. Heinlein’s take on “Writing” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2017/10/writing-5/.
Dean’s Pulphouse Magazine Kickstarter is winding down. If you’re interested in jumping in, see “36 Hours or Less Left” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/36-hours-or-less-left/.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 550 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 550
Writing of Pulp Novel 5 (a Stern Richards novel)
Day 1…… 1080 words. Total words to date…… 1080
Day 2…… 2167 words. Total words to date…… 3247
Day 3…… 1370 words. Total words to date…… 4617
Day 4…… 1840 words. Total words to date…… 6457
Day 5…… 1193 words. Total words to date…… 7650
Day 6…… 1407 words. Total words to date…… 9057
Day 7…… 1180 words. Total words to date…… 10237
Day 8…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 12462
Total fiction words for the year………… 446608
Total nonfiction words for the month… 9050
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 161733
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 608341
The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 687 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novels to Date………………………… 9
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 27
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182