In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* A New Short Story
* A Brand New Question
* A Weird (Wonderful) Novel
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“[Taylor Swift’s] Arizona concert stimulated the local economy more than the 2023 Super Bowl.” (see Of Interest)
“A [person] who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” Charles Darwin
A New Short Story
“We Feed Them” went live yesterday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go! Read! It’s free!
Ugh. I spotted a few typos. If you see them, please forgive.
As always, if you enjoy the story, tell Everyone. If you don’t, shhh! (grin)
A Brand New Question
Yesterday, I got a question I’ve never heard before. A would-be donor wrote “Would you mind if I made it an annual donation versus monthly?”
Of course not.
For one thing, I am humbled even by anyone’s desire to donate. That desire alone indicates to me that they find the Journal a valuable resource.
That’s one reason I’ve always said you can donate monetarily OR by leaving comments frequently (helps increase visibility for the Journal) and-or by sharing the Journal.
For those who are actually able to domate monetarily, of course I hope you will. But it isn’t up to me to tell you how to do so.
If you find a recurring monthly donation more convenient, click the Donate Here link at the bottom of this post and set it up. If you’d rather send $18 every six months or $36 per year, that’s the same as sending $3 per month in a recurring donation.
If you want to toss whatever amount into the kitty every now and then, that’s fine too.
Again, however you donate (monetarily or by sharing or commenting) I am humbled at your faith in me and happy you find these efforts of value.
I find you of value too. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t try so hard to convince you to be unafraid and to believe in yourself.
A Weird (Wonderful) Novel
In structure, my current novel is a diversion from the norm, both for me as a writer and for the series of which this novel is an installment: Blackwell Ops.
In all of the other Blackwell Ops novels—as in all of my novels—the POV character is telling the story. That hasn’t changed. But in those novels, the character isn’t inviting me to participate personally in the story.
I’m only the writer—the recorder—and I’m telling a story, right? Or more accurately, I’m the fingers on the keyboard that are conveying the POV character’s story.
But inside that overall story, the POV character himself is telling stories while he’s driving on a very long trip to do his job.
But along the way, to help alleviate the boredom he feels at the world constantly moving past the window of his truck, he’s telling stories from his recent past.
It’s as if I’m in the passenger seat, riding along with him. I’ve never had that experience as a writer before, and it is SO cool. (grin)
Of course, this is a super-cool treat for me, the writer. The reader probably won’t notice it as a “treat,” but he WILL feel as if he’s sitting in the passenger seat, just as I do. He’ll love that sensation. He just won’t know WHY he loves the sensation. (grin)
Two or three years ago, I did write a similar novel (Two Old Gringos Waiting for a Train). It was a one-off, not in any series, in which two old guys are swapping lies around a campfire. It’s basically a short story collection wrapped in a novel.
But even in that one, I (and the reader) were kept at arm’s length. At the closest, we are somewhere outside the crackling circle of light from the campfire.
So again, this is similar but very different. At times I find myself feeling (even as I’m typing) like the POV character’s going to glance over at me and say “What do you think, Harv?”
Weird. Very weird. But also very good.
Again, caution—this is not a structure you should consciously apply. The conscious, critical mind has no place in the writing of fiction.
But at the beginning, you CAN say to your character (or think), How about you just tell me a bunch of stories while you’re driving down the road (or chopping wood, or fishing, or doing whatever)?
Then, with that thought seeping into your creative subconscious, Just Write the Story.
Your characters might even “test” you. They might tell you a series of stories the very next time you sit down to write, or they might not.
But your wish is in your mind and mingling with them. So more than likely, eventually one or more of them will say, “Sure, why not?” and the story will come bubbling to the surface.
I hope when that happens it’s as happy a surprise for you as it was for me.
And while you’re having all that unbridled fun of writing, just think: With every new word, sentence, and paragraph you put on the page (it’s called Practice) your craft and storytelling ability is improving.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Tortured Poets Department This is a woman to study if you want to learn how to market indie work.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 910
Writing of Blackwell Ops 24: Buck Jackson Returns (tentative title)
Day 1…… 3724 words. To date…… 3724
Day 2…… 3706 words. To date…… 7430
Day 3…… 2110 words. To date…… 9540
Day 4…… 3243 words. To date…… 12783
Fiction for April…………………….….… 49044
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 274836
Fiction since October 1………………… 577892
Nonfiction for April……………………… 16480
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 145200
2024 consumable words……………… 420036
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 7
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 89
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 239
Short story collections…………………… 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
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