Month: April 2019

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 30

In today’s Journal ▪ Thanks for all the well-wishes ▪ Topic: I’m All Done with Patreon ▪ Note: An advertisment ▪ If you enjoy great thrillers ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers As I begin the day, thank you for all the well-wishes. I appreciate it. I’m feeling a little better each day, though I’m still sleeping more than I care to. (grin) As I morph from ill to well, I’m also determined to catch up on some admin stuff. That includes “needing” to read through my last WIP, the final chapter or two I wrote as … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, April 29

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the Day ▪ My two year old says being sick sucks ▪ Note on Joe Lansdale’s essay ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Quote of the Day: “[N]ever fight what’s working.” Joe Lansdale *** Wow, April 29 already. Where does the time go? I’m one of those unfortunate souls for whom the ticking of the clock is a powerful catalyst. It’s been that way since I was about ten years old. When an hour passed, even when I’d accomplished something during that hour, it was still an hour I’d never get … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, April 28

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: Back Cover Blurbs ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: Back Cover Blurbs Over at PWW today, Karen posed an excellent question that keeps a lot of writers up at night: How to create a back-cover blurb that will draw the reader’s interest yet will not “give away” too much (or any) of the book. DWS has written extensively on this topic, though only a bit here and there. I don’t believe he’s ever done even a lecture on the topic, though if he did I would immediately recommend it. Still, I’ve … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, April 27

In today’s Journal ▪ Sometimes I just have to ▪ Topic: No, I Think I Won’t ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Sometimes I just have to go out of my way to prove myself a citizen of Moronville, ▪ which as you might know is a small town in the center of Moronshire Township, ▪ at the center of MoronsArUs County ▪ in the state of Moronopoly ▪ in the United Sort of Square Areas of Imbecilia ▪ in the Middle Hemisphere ▪ of Planet Urth, the Denizens of which believe themselves terribly influential despite the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, April 26

In today’s Journal ▪ Quotes of the day ▪ PWW ▪ Most of the novels ▪ Topic: Balance ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Quotes of the Day: “The critical voice is about fear, and the creative voice is about joy.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “[F]igure out how to keep your critical voice busy with important tasks that are not writing-related.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch *** For a moment, just before 9 a.m., I thought PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it should have this morning. Then at 9:02 it appeared in my in-box. I forgot I’d reset … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, April 25

In today’s Journal ▪ Adios Robert ▪ Topic: Voice (and some stuff on dialect) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Yesterday, my friend and I spent a full day and evening visiting, reminiscing, philosophizing, swapping lies and generally just shooting the bull. It was a great time. This morning, though, I got up a little late and Robert had already left. Robert, if you decide to go home via I-10, I hope you’ll give me a call so we can at least meet in Benson for lunch or a cup of coffee. Either way, thanks for the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, April 24

In today’s Journal ▪ My friend Robert ▪ Sometime yesterday ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers My friend Robert will be coming in early today, so we’re going to meet for breakfast. Then he’ll follow me to the house where we’ll spend the day visiting. It should be a great time. Late this afternoon, we’ll head out to the desert to take some sunset photos of saguaro cacti. Then he’ll leave in the morning for the rest of his trip. *** Sometime yesterday I did something (apparently) to my left shoulder. I don’t recall doing anything to … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 23

In today’s Journal ▪ Pro Writers Writing blog ▪ Topic: You Have a Choice ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, for the second day in a row the post at PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it was supposed to. As a result, I deactivated the “missed-post trigger” plug-in that obviously isn’t working and activated another one. I also went into MailChimp and re-set the posting time to 9 a.m. So we’ll see. UPDATE: The PWW post went out! Woohoo! I’ll leave the posting time at 9. Wouldn’t want to upset anything. In the meantime, … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, April 22

In today’s Journal ▪ Still downloading ▪ Too Important for “Of Interest” ▪ Topic: Life Wants to Live ▪ A note about “Of Interest” ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I visited Unsplash.com yesterday and downloaded more possible cover pics for Blackwell Ops 5, and this morning I continued and downloaded even more. And yes, as I scanned “women in shadow” pics (thousands of them) I also downloaded a lot of pics that appealed to me for future stories and/or covers too. Easy to get happily lost while doing that. (grin) But everything’s moving forward. I’ll get … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, April 21

In today’s Journal ▪ A guy once said to me ▪ Today is Sunday, and Easter ▪ Topic: Sometimes I Hate the Truth of Numbers ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers A guy once said to me, “You shouldn’t work on Sunday. Even God took Sunday off.” To which I replied, “Ah, but I am not a god.” *** From the Department of Stuff You Already Know, today is Sunday, and Easter, and a short day for me. Sometime today, I’ll help my wife set up a small office for a surprise party kind of thing for … Read more