In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * The Bland Ugliness of “Winner’s Tilt” Part 1 * Of Interest My Quote of the Day “Once a reader has selected his genre, the excuse of ‘reader taste’ is exhausted and becomes just another myth writers use to explain why the reader doesn’t like their work. It’s the writer’s responsibility to pull the reader into the story and keep him there.” The Bland Ugliness of “Winner’s Tilt” Part 1 Any practicing or even wannabe psychologists out there? You’re fiction writers, so there should be. Here’s a case study for you. … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I’m Serializing Again * To Anyone Whose Work I’ve Critiqued * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Happiness is your current situation, uh, minus expectations.” Comedian Jimmy Carr I’m Serializing Again Awhile back I started a story about a highly competent young woman named Marie Dubois. Over the past few days I’ve refurbished, written, and finished that story at something over 7500 words. Best of all, this story’s trying to lead me into two other stories, both of which will be novels. Anyway, I decided since this story is kind of … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Bradbury * Of Interest 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 week, the following writers wrote these new stories: Vanessa V. Kilmer “Play It Again” 3057 Adventure Christopher Ridge “The Hatchet Challenge” 1237 horror 1237 “Dr. Toepher’s House of Squealing Toes” absurd comedy horror 2186 KC Riggs “The Straw Hat” 1114 Paranormal Dave Taylor … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Remembering the 4th of July * Of Interest Remembering the 4th of July In the sunbaked heat on the late afternoon of July 4, 1964, I was a preteen standing with my mother Rosalie on the western side of the large Lea Lake at Bottomless Lakes State Park a few miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico. She was in a flowered dress and white leather flip-flops, her waist-length black hair pulled up into a roll on the back of her head and secured with a silver broach. I was in jeans and a t-shirt, western boots, … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Gary V and Gary Provost * Happy 4th of July * Of Interest Gary V and Gary Provost My buddy Gary V came through again. He sent me this quote from Gary Provost: “This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * What Can I Tell You? * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Writers who fear failure avoid starting. Writers who fear success avoid finishing.” Jaime Buckley in Writers in the Storm. (See Of Interest) Jaime Buckley is the founder of Life of Fiction on Substack. (If you don’t want to subscribe, click “I’d like a sample first.”) Also, you can learn “how to build a sustainable publishing practice at JaimeBuckley[dot]com and through the online course Substack for Authors.” (If you don’t want to subscribe, click “I’m doing fine, thanks.”) I strongly … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Of Special Interest * Emerging from My Hiatus * Of Interest Of Special Interest Awhile back my friend Gary V referred me to a writer named Paul Bishop. In addition to being a novelist in his own right, Mr. Bishop offers “Incredibly written pieces about Western writers, movies, and publishing then and now. His current post is about Ben Haas and is worth reading.” Gary’s right. It was worth reading, so I thought I’d pass it along. Emerging from My Hiatus Even as I’ve gone about various non-writing tasks and chores over the past six months(!), … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Report * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Mystery is the catalyst for imagination…. What are stories besides mystery boxes?” Star Wars director J.J. Abrams, in this TED Talk (Not vetted.) “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” Mel Brooks 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 … Read more

In Today’s Journal * What Matters Most in Book Covers * Of Interest What Matters Most in Book Covers Recently I engaged in an interesting discussion regarding my posts on rebranding covers. Here, I’ll give you the bottom line up front: I don’t believe it matters at all whether the author name is at the top of the cover or at the bottom or along one edge. There, I said it. Over the past twelve years, I’ve disagreed with Dean Wesley Smith only twice. This is the second time. But why do I disagree? After all, I very much like the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The First Draft Is the Final Draft * Of Interest Quote of the Day “If you’re going to make a living from this gig, you need to train yourself to be prolific. This takes discipline. You also need to train your brain to write well the first time around. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But you can edit as you go.” Vin Zandri (See the rest in Of Interest) The First Draft Is the Final Draft So says bestselling authors Vin Zandri and Dean Wesley Smith and countless others. And … Read more