Month: August 2020

The Journal: Only an Update

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Update re APEX Writers Group * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The power to tightly regulate is a drug not easily kicked.” James Scott Bell An Update re APEX Writers Group Re the problem with the Terms of Service I noted in yesterday’s Journal post, I received a quick and thorough response from both Dave Farland and his webmaster. The CompleatWriter.com website is still under construction, and the offensive TOS was an item the webmaster had grabbed as a placeholder, and one that hadn’t yet been … Read more

The Journal: Beware of Scammers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Beware of Scammers * Dave Farland’s APEX writers group * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The best research is often passive. Never be afraid to learn more about people and what they do–who they are.” John Gilstrap “Like GPS navigation, which started as just a tool but has reduced our engagement with the act of navigating, AI language generators may start by sparing us labor but soon spare us thought.” David A. Price in The Wall Street Journal, courtesy The Passive Guy Topic: Beware of Scammers … Read more

The Journal: A Cornucopia

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I hadn’t planned * In a break from my own norm * Just in case anyone’s interested * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.” Cary Grant “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” Cary Grant “Write the truest version.” Kathleen McCleary “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write … Read more

The Journal: Susan Ellison

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Passing of Susan Ellison and a Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse.” Lawrence Welk on practice “Wit does not always mean funny. Many times it is, but the real basis of wit is sharpness. It gets the point across crisply, memorably.” James Scott Bell The Passing of Susan Ellison, and a Story I was late coming to this, but I thought it worthy of sharing in a special post. First, read Neil Gaiman’s touching post at https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2020/08/susan-ellison-rip-and-love.html. … Read more

The Journal: Dropping by for a Visit

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * How are you? * Weather update * Well, I’m still writing, but * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Some days things don’t line up quite right. That’s why they make tomorrows.” Wes Crowley Yeah, I know that’s the same quote from the last time I posted, but I like that one. One of the best things Wes ever said. How’re ya’ll doing? I hope you’re doing better than I am. My brain’s still twisting in a wind of its own making (grin), with occasional heavy gusts from … Read more

The Journal: The Long Road Back

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Long Road Back * A dear friend * By the way * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Some days things don’t line up quite right. That’s why they make tomorrows.” Wes Crowley The Long Road Back Other writers routinely take off a month or two or more. For me, having averaged almost 3000 words of publishable fiction per day every day for several years, this time of not being productive has been excruciating. So in that way, it’s been a long road back. But I also … Read more

The Journal: Let’s Get It Right

In today’s Journal * IMPORTANT * Quote of the Day * Topic: Let’s Get It Right * In other news * Of Interest * The Numbers IMPORTANT: See “The Return of Boss Kickstarter” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-return-of-boss-kickstarter/. Dean and Kris are offering some astounding stretch goals, many of which you can receive for a paltry $5 donation. You can check it out and donate if you want to at http://kck.st/3jRjlBP. Quote of the Day “If you make [the details] right for the people who know, then the other people will get a lot more out of it.” Sam Eliot on the authenticity … Read more

The Journal: Nothing Much

In today’s Journal * Nothing much * Of Interest * The Numbers Nothing much to talk about today. I’m still here (waving) and hope to be back to “normal” soon. In the meantime, I wanted you to have the “Of Interest” items below in case you missed them. During this break, if you have any questions about writing or storytelling that you think I can help with, don’t hesitate to ask. Talk with you again when I can. Of Interest See “What Is Writer’s Burnout?” at https://writershelpingwriters.net/2020/08/what-is-writers-burnout/. Thanks to the Passive Guy. See “Scary Scam” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/scary-scam/. See “The Writer’s … Read more

The Journal: A Few Things

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On Construction and Pronoun Agreement * Ideas Again * Update on My Silliness * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.” Kurt Vonnegut ​ “You can do many things by yourself. You have freedom to create things. I think that’s the fascination of computers.” Chang Yiming, founder of ByteDance and TikTok “Writing … Read more

The Journal: I’m Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.” [emphasis added] Elmore Leonard “Without translation, we would be living in provinces bordering on silence.” George Steiner (just beautifully written) I’m Back It’s been a struggle, and it isn’t over yet, but I’m over the hump. I won’t bore you with details, BUT: … Read more