In today’s Journal
* Quick Diary of Days
* A Very Pleasant Surprise
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
It’s good to finally be back. Incredible how being without the internet for a few days disrupts a schedule. Since I’ve been gone, I thought I’d toss out a quick diary of those few days.
Monday: I wrote some (Day 5), messed around some, went to the grocery, wrote some more, moved the cactuses from the Hovel where they were stored for the winter back to their normal places in the yard, wrote a little more, and set up my portable swamp cooler for the coming hotter days.
Tuesday: I wrote some (Day 6), took a few breaks up at the house, wrote some more, and remembered to update my Annual Production spreadsheet. Sometime in the past few days I topped 300,000 words of fiction for the year.
The story’s in a really good place and running right now. When I stopped on Tuesday, I already knew I had a couple thousand words cued up for Wednesday. Not that I knew what they were or even where the scenes would go, but I knew they would have to be addressed. And my characters have another big surprise queued up. I can feel it.
Wednesday: Wrote some (Day 7), had a fairly good day, but stopped an hour or so prematurely because the Internet’s up again and I have some catching up to do.
I coasted over the internet for a while to update myself on the sites I usually visit. There were so many good articles at The Passive Voice that I listed only one in “Of Interest.” But I do encourage you to visit http://www.thepassivevoice.com/ and browse a while to see whether anything strikes your fancy.
Thursday (today): It’s good to be back into my usual routine, browsing the internet as I sip coffee and wake up. I added a few more items to “Of Interest” for you.
I also had a very pleasant surprise when one avid reader (who also happens to be one of my first readers) bought 29 of my books all at one time. He opted to pay me directly via PayPal instead of giving Amazon their cut. His lips to God’s ear, eh? And to think, as a first reader, he could have requested any book(s) he wanted and I would have sent them to him free. But he wanted to pay me for my work. (Thanks, Russ.)
If any of you are interested in reading any of my stuff, I encourage you to visit https://stonethreadpublishing.com/ and take advantage of the reader discounts we offer there.
Now it’s back to the novel for me.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Avram Davidson And Closure” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/avram-davidson-and-closure.html.
See “When Opposites Attract” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/when-opposites-attract.html.
See “What Kind Of Writer Are You? Wild Cook Or Precise Baker?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/what-kind-of-writer-are-youwild-cook-or-precise-baker.html. As much for the recipe as anything.
See “What Every Writer Needs to Know About Email Newsletters (They’re Not Going Away)” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/what-every-writer-needs-to-know-about-email-newsletters-theyre-not-going-away/.
See “How Much Money Do You Need?” at https://mystorydoctor.com/it-takes-money-to-make-money/. Some valuable advice if you read between the lines.
See “Forensic Psychiatry, Murder, LAPD Lipstick, and Memorable Characters” at https://leelofland.com/forensic-psychiatry-murder-lapd-lipstick-and-memorable-characters/.
See “70 Publishing Challenge” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/70-publishing-challenge/.
See “Out With Them!” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/out-with-them.html.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 540 words
Writing of Terra 2 (novel)
Day 1…… 3535 words. Total words to date…… 3535
Day 2…… 4660 words. Total words to date…… 8195
Day 3…… 3739 words. Total words to date…… 11934
Day 4…… 3638 words. Total words to date…… 15572
Day 5…… 2882 words. Total words to date…… 18454
Day 6…… 4777 words. Total words to date…… 23231
Day 7…… 3531 words. Total words to date…… 26762
Total fiction words for April……… 26762
Total fiction words for the year………… 313839
Total nonfiction words for April… 3850
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 71250
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 385089
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 6
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 60
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.