Month: August 2021

The Journal: Yesterday

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Another month gone * Yesterday * Yesterday also * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” George Bernard Shaw Well, another month gone. That feels significant for some reason, though with me it resonates only with stalled numbers and missed opportunities. I won’t go into that. Too depressing. Yesterday I sold my Chevy Colorado pickup. It’s a 2007, so it was made back when they still actually looked like a mid-size pickup. A … Read more

The Journal: Stopping for a Visit

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Stopping for a Visit * Octavia Butler * Scam Alert * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Until I began writing my own stories, I never found quite what I was looking for… In desperation, I made up my own… I made a universe in it. There I could be a magic horse, a Martian, a telepath. There I could be anywhere but here, any time but now, with any people but these.” Octavia Butler Stopping for a visit to say hello and share some things that are … Read more

The Journal: Just Checking In

In today’s Journal * Just Checking In * Corona Model 3 Folding Typewriter * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ I’m not back, but I thought I’d check in. Hope this finds all of you well and writing your fingers to the bone. I’m showing up at the desk every day, hitting all my usual blogs, etc. and attempting to open the right valves to let the fiction flow. So I’m here. If any of you need anything, email me. When I’ve put enough time in the chair to know it isn’t going to happen for at least one more … Read more

The Journal: A Hiatus, DWS and Koontz

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Hiatus * Recommendations * Power Words * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quote of the Day “It took me 15 years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” Robert Benchley A Hiatus Being subject to neither of the maladies mentioned in Mr. Benchley’s tongue-in-cheek quote—I do have a talent for writing but am far from being too famous to quit—I’ll be on hiatus for awhile. Should I decide to make this a permanent vacation, … Read more

The Journal: Quotes and Of Interest

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Thanks to Matt * Joy Fielding * The last item * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “Any coincidence is worth noticing. You can throw it away later if it is only a coincidence.” Agatha Christie, via The Passive Voice “[M]ost writers make less than ten thousand dollars a year, so you shouldn’t even be thinking of money. The odds are stacked against you, so you really need to love what you do. You need to be comfortable, even look forward to, spending hours every day—I recommend … Read more

The Journal: Book Launch

In today’s Journal * Terra 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Terra 2 went live today. I only noticed because Books2Read (part of Draft2Digital) sent me a notice. (If you have a Draft2Digital account, you automatically have a B2R account with the same login information.) Anyway, here’s the skinny: This is the tenth book in the Future of Humanity (FOH) series. After a long journey, General Amanda Lowrey has set the ship down on the new human home world: Terra 2. But this is still an alien world, and the humans are not alone. Landing Site Eden and … Read more

The Journal: The Main Impurity

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Main Impurity * Dean, another half-price sale * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “Asking for feedback creates a critic. Asking for advice creates a partner.” Farnam Street blog (I love this. h) “The main impurity is your ‘inner editor.’ That is the judgmental voice that assesses every creative move the moment you try to make it. It loves to reject things. It tells you what not to write. … The way you turn off that voice is by writing through it.” James Scott Bell The … Read more

The Journal: Responses and the Journal

In today’s Journal * Responses * Copy of the Journal? * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Sorry for any confusion created by yesterday’s post. Some folks apparently thought I was wondering what caused my brain fog. Nope. I knew what caused it. I even knew in advance that it was going to happen and roughly what it would entail. I just don’t know how long it will last (but I’m not asking about that either). I only wanted to report on my experience and make you aware of why I am personally unable to write fiction at the moment, … Read more

The Journal: What’s Going On

In today’s Journal * What’s going on * Slow news day * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ What’s going on For better or worse, in this Journal I’ve always shared my successes and my failures in the hope that sharing those would help you navigate your own way. So the thought just dawned on me that I might at least let you know what’s going on at the moment. Not that I am currently unable to write fiction, but why I’m currently unable to write fiction. Going into this mess, I described my conundrum as a mental fog. But … Read more

The Journal: Dolly Parton, Russell Blake and James Patterson

In today’s Journal * Russell Blake * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Russell Blake is an international bestselling novelist. He is also an American ex-pat, living in Mexico. There, he is not subject to the current or forthcoming “mandates” of the US federal government. If you’re young enough to entertain the thoughts, and if you’ve ever wondered what it would cost to live in Mexico, the prevalence of drug cartels, etc., I suggest you take a look at “Cheap and Easy” at https://russellblake.com/cheap-and-easy/. Also, of course, the post is full of story ideas. Now, rather than entering into the … Read more