In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Opening Up Copyediting Again, Redux * The Bradbury Challenge * Important: If You Want to Donate * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I can tell you now that Plotting with Depth, Magic Bakery, Teams, Action in Depth, Applied Depth,and Advanced Depth will not be regular classes starting in 2024. We will be starting up new ones as the spring goes along. So grab them on the sale while you can if you want feedback on assignments. If not, they will be classic workshops.” Dean Wesley Smith, from … Read more

In today’s Journal * One More Time to Blackwell Ops 10 * I Am Not a “Local Author” * I’m Copyediting Again * Of Interest * The Numbers One More Time to Blackwell Ops 10 Welp, after my first reader noticed my shift from third to first-person at the beginning of Chapter 4 of the novel, I revised Blackwell Ops 10. Yep, conscious-critical mind stuff. But then, I’ve been a copyeditor for around three decades. Maybe four. I’ve lost count. Mostly I changed Chapter 1 into a Prologue and left it in third person omniscient to introduce the POV character. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Story: “The Interview” * Tag Line Verbs Update * Reverse Structures * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Nope,” Mama said. “You can’t talk to the earth with shoes on.” Mama Tombo explaining the facts of life to another character as she starts to pull on her shoes in K. C. Riggs’ excellent second installment of The Widow’s Circlehttps://www.amazon.com/Widows-Circle-K-C-Riggs/dp/1534807276/ “You better live every day like your last because one day you’re going to be right.” Ray Charles A Story: “The Interview” A new story … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Vella Correction * Workshop Sale * Reflection on Editing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “It’s not what WE see in the setting or know from research that matters. It’s what the CHARACTER sees and knows AND cares about enough to mention that matters.” Professional novelist Dawn Turner “With all of the qualities of the scene-setting, the dialogue, the place and time and the time and place in which your characters move. And I want to move with the characters, move with them and … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Welcome * Another Note on Vella * A Note on “Depth” * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Up until now my process has always been, mainly, rushing. … flying at breakneck speed, rushing myself and missing the actual meat of the story. … I’ve never felt immersed before, and now I do.” Chynna Pace, after experience Dean’s “Depth in Writing” class That’s exactly it. That’s why I constantly tell folks to slow down, take their time, don’t skip over what the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Why the Journal? * Finished the Novel * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along – and I must say I had a good time using them.” Tom Wolfe “The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.” Tom Wolfe “From what I can gather, there are more than a few bruised and dented apples … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Writing Prompts Are Yours for a Song (guest post) * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Ernest Hemingway “The English major reads because, as rich as the one life he has may be, one life is not enough. He reads not to see the world through the eyes of other people but effectively to become other people.” Mark Edmundson Shameless Self-Promotion Those of you who are in southeast … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Four More Episodes * Rare Book Signing Event * Vignettes, Short Stories, and the Challenge * Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “What does it matter if I’m 23 or 53? I’m making stories up, not fighting fires or digging ditches under a steady rain.” George Kordonis, on starting to write fiction seriously at 53. “Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.” Carl Sandburg (stolen from Dan Baldwin’s Writing Tip of the Week, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * An Administrative Note * A Quick Lesson on Spanish Name Pronunciation * No Joy * More Info on Vella * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.” John Cleese (Thanks to Russ J for reminding me of this.) Take note, fiction writers. Once again, all things “bad” about creativity boil down to fear. And every fear you ever have is a function of the conscious, critical mind. Shameless Self-Promotion (and … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Shameless Self-Promotion * Welcome * A Quick Lesson on Spanish Name Pronunciation * “The Old 710” * The Myths, and What Gives? * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” Muhammad Ali “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” BB King “The island on which traditional publishers and their camp followers live provides a very warped view of the real book … Read more