In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * About Writing Historical Fiction: Response * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Fiction is so much fun and I find more truth in fiction than a lot of history.” Robert Calverley “Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.” Philip Roth About Writing Historical Fiction: Response Note: Because I’ve been an instructor for so long, when I receive an email I often (and sometimes wrongly) leap to the conclusion that the writer … Read more

In Today’s Journal * About Writing Historical Fiction * Of Interest * The Numbers About Writing Historical Fiction A guest post by Robert Calverley Note: What follows is an email I received from Bob Calverley, who suggested it might make a good guest post. I agreed because fiction writers in any genre can learn from fiction writers in any other genre. Many aspects of the fiction writing craft are applicable across genres. I hope you’ll glean some gems from this. In tomorrow’s issue of TNDJ I’ll post my response. I used to live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Extra Words Matter * The Bradbury Challenge Report * A New Short Story * An Annoyance from a Lazy Dumba—uh, Person * How Find Me Lost Me * Next Up * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Treading water in pursuit of perfection is always a regrettable waste of time and the best possible way to ensure literary death by drowning.” Harvey Extra Words Matter (or Humorous and Wrong-Headed Quote of the Day) “Should men EVER be allowed in women’s locker rooms with other girls?” taken … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Touching Base * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then you practice, practice, practice. And then when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker Touching Base I have to admit, not publishing TNDJ every day seems weird. On the other hand, I’m getting a lot of other things done. I’ve often said I sometimes wish I could go back to the beginning, when I was just learning (finally, in my early … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Report * The Collector * I’m Not Completely Gone * A New Short Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Never give up on something you can’t go a day without thinking about.” Jenn Windrow The Bradbury Challenge Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I’m Taking a Step Back * A Few Housekeeping Notes * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Life Needs No Red Lights” a sign hanging in my office in the Hovel I’m Taking a Step Back I love sharing knowledge and maybe cutting others’ learning curves a little. But over the past several months the desire to continue TNDJ has waned. The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote “by teaching, we learn.” I agree. But I’ve found the best way to learn is to practice and teach at the same … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Don’t Intrude on the Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Note: This is a very long blog post, but due to the subject matter I didn’t want to break it into two separate posts. Quote of the Day “Any time a reader can see the writer—word choice, preaching or teaching, a character who doesn’t speak or act as he should—then the author has stuck a toe, a finger, a fist, or even his mind into the fiction.” The Editor’s Blog (see Of Interest) Don’t Intrude on the Story In yesterday’s … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Dean Koontz Revisited * Of Interest * The Numbers Dean Koontz Revisited I’ve long believed Dean Koontz probably writes into the dark. From his interview on “How I Write,” I learned that he does. But he does so in very much the way Hemingway wrote: one ‘perfected’ (to his standards) page at a time. For various reasons that I’ll discuss tomorrow, I also suspect he probably reviews his pages from a conscious, critical standpoint at times. Koontz is very aware of readers and clearly understands that what’s ‘perfect’ to him might not be perfect to every … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Lee Child Revisited * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “That kind of self-confidence is the way to do it. The less you worry about ‘are they going to like [the story],’ the more they do like [it].” Lee Child, in his interview on “How I Write” Lee Child Revisited As I wrote a couple of days ago, my original intention was to post a series on the interviews I mentioned in Sunday’s TNDJ. I’m not going to do that because I don’t want to cherry pick among … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Write Your Book’s News Release Upside Down * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.” DH Lawrence Write Your Book’s News Release Upside Down This is yet another guest post by the particularly lovely but sometimes cranky Dan Baldwin (grin) The fastest and most effective format for releasing news about your book, your award, your public appearance, yourself, or whatever is by writing … Read more