In today’s Journal
* Clive Cussler
* Topic: A Cover Reveal and On Being Prolific
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Clive Cussler, one of our better authors, passed away today at the age of 88. May his family and friends heal quickly and well.
Topic: A Cover Reveal and On Being Prolific
Part 1
I’m taking a day off today, sort of.
Early this morning, I was tempted to let Heinlein’s Rule 4 slip. But not from fear of what readers might think of my story.
I was tempted to let it slip because publishing just isn’t that big a deal to me. Shrug. Writing, telling stories, is of maximum importance.
Dean Wesley Smith gets it. Were it not for his publishing company, which is staffed by a lot of other people, Dean would fall off HR4 more than I do. (grin)
And Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Stephen King and a lot of others get that writing is what’s important. And I get it. A handful of others I know get it too. We write. We turn out story after story, novel after novel. We keep going, generally, until we come to the end and assume room temperature. For us, writing isn’t special or some kind of calling. It’s just what we do.
We know some readers will love the stories we tell, and we’re grateful for them. We know many more will like or enjoy the stories we twll, and we’re grateful for them too.
And we know a few will hate our stories, and that’s fine. They’re entitled to their opinion. Besides, it’s really none of our business what readers think of our stories. We let the story, the writing, stand on its own.
Still, I took the temptation to slip off Heinlein’s Rule 4 as a critical-mind diversion.
So I started the day by finding cover art (courtesy of Pexels), then created a cover and a promo doc for The Storm. That’s it over there on the side.
And here’s my story description from the promo doc:
Harold Sloan is the chief terraformer on Galen, a planet in another solar system.
Harold is also a man who lives very much within himself, and he loves nothing more than his work. Or so he believes.
Which is worse? The work-stopping storm that sometimes rages outside his annex apartment window? Or is it the internal storm, the one he can never escape?
Search tags: SF, other world, terraforming, romance, love, treachery, horror
Later today maybe I’ll write the short story that’s due on Saturday.
Part 2
Well, I guess I’m a prolific writer. I don’t feel especially prolific. I just write. It’s just what I do. But every now and then someone mentions that I’m prolific. I suppose it all depends on your definition of the word.
That word always causes me to think immediately of the old pulp writers, many of whom churned out well over a million words per year in clean, one-draft stories on manual typewriters. Think about that.
Of course, that was in a time before all the excuses for not writing hit.
Most of the old pulp writers didn’t outline, but those who did also wrote.
And none of them rewrote because they understood they were paid to write. They knew if they spent precious writing time going over a manuscript a second or third or twelfth time, they would still be paid for only the one manuscript.
Instead of fearing that one manuscript might not be perfect, they feared they might not make their rent if they didn’t use that time to write more stories.
I keep that thought in the back of my mind all the time. Along with my age and level of health, it drives me to the computer and it drives me to write one clean draft.
Of course, I can’t say those old pulp writers didn’t Talk about writing or Think about writing. But they didn’t talk and think about writing INSTEAD of writing, which today seems all the rage.
I talk a lot about writing, don’t I? And I think about it even more. And frankly, I probably talk about it and think about it much more than most would-be writers who never get past talking and thinking about it. Yet somehow, I’m prolific.
Go figure.
Today, after all of the above (talking and thinking about writing), I’m taking the rest of the day off. (grin)
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “These self-published authors are actually making a living. Here’s how.” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/these-self-published-authors-are-actually-making-a-living-heres-how/.
See “Attract Your Readers: 4 Steps to Your Author Branding Statement” at https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2020/02/attract-your-readers-4-steps-to-your-author-branding-statement/. Branding shmanding. Write the next story.
See “The Book Launch: eBook Preorder and Presale Strategies to Grow Readership” at https://blog.smashwords.com/2020/02/the-book-launch-ebook-preorder-and.html.
See “Stuck in the Muddle with You” at https://prowriterswriting.com/stuck-in-the-muddle-with-you.
See “Business Musings: Comfort Zones” at https://kriswrites.com/2020/02/26/business-musings-comfort-zones/.
See “TPW 116: The End.” at http://theprolificwriter.libsyn.com/tpw-116-the-end. Ryan interviews Sashka Hanna-Rappl and Peter Seth for his final show. (You’ll still be able to check out the 144 episodes he’s done at http://theprolificwriter.libsyn.com/.)
The Numbers
Fiction words today…………………… El Zippo
Nonfiction words today…………… 830 (Journal)
Writing of “” (short story)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 67461
Total fiction words for the year………… 133055
Total nonfiction words for the month… 22360
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 53620
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 186625
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 5
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 48
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 201
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31