Month: November 2023

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome * Great Start on the New Novel * A Great Question * A Recommendation for a WordPress Theme * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” Don Marquis Welcome Welcome to William P3 (grin) and any other new subscribers or readers of the Journal. I hope you will find it useful. Get the Archives and other free downloads at the Journal website. And I don’t do the ambush thing requiring an … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Giant Panda Story * A New Novel * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.” Carl Sagan “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” Harvey Mackay Giant Panda Story “The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, bid farewell yesterday to three giant pandas, who left on a 19-hour plane … Read more

In today’s Journal * Revamping a Series Brand * Is Rebranding Worth It? * Size and Placement of Author Name * The Numbers Revamping a Series Brand Since I’m in actual “work” mode right now — and having compared the covers of the last two books in the Blackwell Ops series with the first eleven — yesterday I decided to spend at least the day revamping the series brand. Basically, I created new covers for the first eleven novels. I changed a few of the less-intriguing cover photos for new ones. I also updated the color and placement of the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Publishing in the Time of AI * How One Writer Defined Publishing a Novel * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Your life is made of two dates and a dash. Make the most of the dash.” from a phote in Sam Turner’s Maytag Moments publication Publishing in the Time of AI It’s been awhile since I uploaded anything to either Draft2Digital or Amazon. Both platforms have changed their interface so they differ in some ways from the last time I published work to them, maybe a month or so ago. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * I Believe in You * It’s Never Too Early * It’s Never Too Late * When I Was a Child * Bradbury Challenge * The Novel Wrapped * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.” John C. Maxwell “In the end it is important to remember you cannot become what you need to be by remaining what you are.” Max De Pree, as reported by David Taylor, Ed.D. Welcome Welcome to Zacha … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * The Writing * One Major Glitch * Writing in Public * Reminder * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Sometimes old times are the best times because the edges have worn off the memories.” Tiffanie Gray “Usually now a title comes to me on Monday morning (sometimes earlier). Only after I start writing do I find out what the story is about. This week I didn’t know how the title was related to the story until the last couple hundred words. Cool.” KC Riggs Very cool. (grin) “You know … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Story * What I’ve Learned * Adios, “Of Interest” * Adios, “Numbers”? * Support the Journal * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The best way to make a dream come true is to wake up.” Dame Anna Wintour A New Story “Avoidance” came out yesterday on the Stanbrough Writes substack. By the way, if you wonder about every word of the story coming through the POV character even when you write in third-person, it’s a good one to look at. If you would like to subscribe, click the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I Left a Comment * Peggy K * Questions * Number Watch * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I suspect authors … don’t give a hoot about belief in themselves, trust in their characters, or authentic stories. They [sho use generative AI] will be marketing a product. Consumers will decide.” elliot01 in response to my comment Maybe he’s right. Maybe as an old guy who remembers Craft and is still in possession of a moral compass, I’ve simply been barking up the wrong tree. I Left a … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * Let the Characters Speak * Update on the Laptop Drama * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “‘I get pleasure out of it,’ says the pugnacious Harlan Ellison about typing on his Olympia SG3. This toylike aspect, the fun of using the machine itself, is indistinguishable from its utility as a writer’s tool.” Jeff Ward (see Of Interest) “And therefore education at the University mostly worked by the age-old method of putting a lot of young people in the vicinity of a lot of books and … Read more

In today’s Journal * You Don’t Need Thought Tags * Death of a PC * Of Interest * The Numbers You Don’t Need Thought Tags Level-up your game as a writer. You don’t need “thought” or “was thinking” or any of that in your stories. You just don’t. A recent line in my current novel prompted this topic. A little old man had just approached the POV character’s driver’s side window as she considered the house beyond the curb where she had just parked. He ran his index finger in a small circle, indicating he wanted her to power-down the … Read more