Month: May 2020

The Journal: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thanks to my patrons * Topic: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Conjure the nouns, alert the secret self, taste the darkness. Your own Thing stands waiting ‘way up there’ in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that wants to jump out of your nerves onto the page, your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night may well come down.” Ray Bradbury A special thanks … Read more

The Journal: A Stuffed-Sausage of a Chihuahua

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Jesus, where the hell is everybody when they first deliver the typing paper? Where are all the ‘helpers’ when those boxes full of silence come in? Blank. Both sides. No clue, no instructions enclosed on how to take just twenty-six letters and endlessly rearrange them so that they can turn them into a mirror of a part of our lives. Try it sometime.” Larry Gelbart Yesterday I fell short of my new word-count goal by around 900 words … Read more

The Journal: Half-Price WMG Workshop Sale

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Dean Is Doing It One More Time * Yesterday * Clarification * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there.” Harry Emerson Fosdick “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.” Robert A. Heinlein (via his character, Lazarus Long) “Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. … Read more

The Journal: Frustration in the Time of Cholera

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Topic: Frustration in the Time of Cholera * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (Still bingeing on Bradbury) “You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” Ray Bradbury Yesterday the writing started slow, but it picked up (see … Read more

The Journal: Why Helping Writers is Important

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday (and the Day Before) * Topic: Why Helping Writers is Important (and So Frustrating) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (Still bingeing on Bradbury) “Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” Ray Bradbury “The first thing a writer should be is — excited.” Ray Bradbury On the day before yesterday, I was … Read more

The Journal: Bradbury, Halifax, and More Food for Thought

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Food for Thought * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (Still gorging on Bradbury) “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t “try” to do things. You simply “must” do things.” Ray Bradbury “Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” Ray Bradbury Yesterday, as it turned out, I wrote very little. Not really enough to even count, so I don’t consider it a writing day. I think I was too … Read more