Search Results for: "characters are pure"

An Excellent Question, and an Epiphany

In today’s Journal * An Excellent Question * Update, and an Epiphany * Of Interest An Excellent Question In response to my post “Mostly Dean Koontz,” Peggy K. asked an absolutely excellent question. It felt so important and maybe necessary that I was going to reprint her question and my response as today’s Journal post. However, I also experienced an epiphany yesterday shortly after I replied to Peggy. So today’s post is about that eiphany. I feel as if it’s one I’ve been straining to find ever since I started writing again. So please read Peggy’s comment and my response … Read more

I Can Write Anywhere. Wheee!

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Oops * I Can Write Anywhere. Wheee! * Trust the Characters; Write the Next Sentence * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” T. H. Huxley “You better live every day like your last because one day you’re going to be right.” Ray Charles “Live your life so that when you’re all alone you’re in good company.” Anonymous, Lubbock (TX) Avalanche-Journal, c.1969 Oops Sorry about that dangling PS in yesterday’s post. I had added a brief post script, then found I didn’t … Read more

If You Really WANT to Write Into the Dark

In today’s Journal * Topic: If You Really WANT to Write Into the Dark * Of Interest Topic: If You Really WANT to Write Into the Dark If you Really WANT to let go of all the BS and just write into the dark, please read this post. I’m not saying anything new, but I’m saying it in a new way that some of you might “get” even if you didn’t before. (Note: If you DON’T want to WITD, I’m not trying to convince you. Feel free to skip down to “Of Interest” or come back tomorrow.) Of all the … Read more

Getting It

In today’s Journal * Possibly A Brief Hiatus * Last Day of Dean’s Workshop Sale * Topic: Getting It * Of Interest Possibly A Brief Hiatus There’s a good chance I’ll take a brief hiatus from posting to the Journal for a few days to reset my fiction-writing schedule. I was reminded recently of how very prolific I was a year ago. I want to get back to that all-consuming joy. I also want to reset my Journal-writing, mentoring (seriously considering adding another level), and other-stuff schedule. Of course, I’ll continue to make my rounds of the internet, and sometimes … Read more

The Journal: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium?

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium? * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke Topic: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium? Over at the Kill Zone blog today, James Scott Bell offers “How to Form Your Bestseller in 10 Days” and offers a system for doing so. The keyword there is “form.” For those who are satisfied with the labor involved in that, it’s fine. Jim posits that “the word system immediately sets the various hairs on the back of an ‘intuitive’ … Read more

The Journal: Blackwell Ops 8

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Blackwell Ops 8 * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Ernest Hemingway “Storytelling is a natural, instinctive act. If we weren’t taught so stringently that plotting and criticism and rewriting were necessary, we would never bother with them. As a result, our stories would be far easier to write. They would also be better, by which I mean original and unique to the writer’s own (creative subconscious) voice.” Me in reply … Read more

The Journal: I Teach So I May Learn

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: I Teach So I May Learn * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The upheavals [of artificial intelligence] can escalate quickly and become scarier and even cataclysmic. Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to rid cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.” Nick Bilton “Observers typically attribute Hoover’s success to BookTok, the segment of TikTok dedicated to authors and readers.” from “The Unlikely Author Who’s Absolutely Dominating the Bestseller List” (Slate) (See “Of Interest” for … Read more