In Today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Bradbury Stuff
* Another Way to Look at Cycling
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“My most rewarding (and unexpected) subplots showed up through my character’s creating ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ moments for me.” Dan Baldwin
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bradbury Stuff
Those of you in the Bradbury Challenge, remember the next report will publish on Monday, January 6.
One hearty soul is challenging himself to write TWO short stories per week. (Bradbuty Challenge on Steroids). I’ll add those to the same report.
If you’re a short story writer, this is a great time of year to jump into either challenge. All are welcome.
Another Way to Look at Cycling
I love it when writers email me with news of an epiphany or breakthrough. This might have gone as easily into a segment titled Writers Write, but it’s so good I titled it as you see above.
I received a very welcome email yesterday. In sending it, writer and friend AK practically wrote this segment for me. He wrote
“I know how important cycling is to your process but I don’t really cycle. I don’t like reading my own work, and I especially have a hard time reading something I just wrote that day.
“I tend to get away with it because I mostly write short stories so it all just comes out on the page in a few thousand words, and I skim for typos right before publishing.
“I don’t know what the hang-up is about cycling, but I just get squeamish about reading my own stuff. Probably critical voice/judgment coming in. Maybe I think I’ll find something I don’t like. Or maybe I feel like I’m making more work for myself by cycling. I don’t know, I just have an aversion to it.
“Anyway, I sat down to write some on my novel and realized it had been a couple days. So I actually had to re-read what I’d written to remind myself what exactly was going on and the tone etc.
“Well, without even meaning to and in part because I’d forgotten the details of what I’d written, I was getting into the story and cycling, not only enjoying the story but adding a word here or there.
“I think the story I tell myself will shift now from ‘I don’t like reading my own writing’ to ‘I actually enjoy reading my writing and it’s important to cycle’.”
My response:
That is absolutely EXCELLENT! That’s much the same way I went from not cycling to cycling and became a strong advocate for it.
As you now have realized, the ability to cycle depends on your ability to distance yourself as a writer and Just Read as a reader. I’m so glad you broke through that barrier!
Now a little secret. Several years ago I also had an aversion to cycling, and for much the same reason.
I didn’t want to revisit my work because I was afraid I’d be tempted to “edit” (conscious critical mind). But eventually, like you, I learned to separate Writer-me from Reader-me and my whole world changed.
And now, thanks to you sharing your experience, maybe we’ve helped a few other fiction writers.
The Writing
I was so busy typing on the novel I almost forgot to post today’s issue of TNDJ. Why? Because the characters moved into the end game yesterday. I now know the novel will wrap today. Woohoo!
I’ll have the sound turned off on my computer today until the novel wraps, so I might not respond to emails quite as quickly as usual.
You’ll also see a new short story below in The Numbers. It will be my story for this week’s upcoming Bradbury Challenge.
The words brought forward are from my current first novel in The Intermittent Ghost series (and still in the Blackwell Ops world).
The words on Day 1 are the new words I added to the story that are not included in the novel. They provide an opening and resolution for the short story.
It’s a story in the Romance genre, and it was entirely too good not to separate it out as a short story in addition to letting it remain as an integral part of the novel.
Finally, the bold items in The Numbers are final numbers for 2024. Of course, Fiction for December, Fiction for 2024, 2024 consumable words, and Average Fiction WPD (December) won’t be final until tomorrow morning’s post.
Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
My 2025 Challenge Check out Dean’s challenge for 2025.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 780
Writing of “A New Threshold”
Brought forward…………………… 2053
Day 1…… 337 words. To date…… 2390 done
Writing of The Intermittent Ghost: Temple’s Way (BO-31A)
Day 1…… 4202 words. To date…… 4202
Day 2…… 3055 words. To date…… 7257
Day 3…… 3412 words. To date…… 10669
Day 4…… 3352 words. To date…… 14021
Day 5…… 1153 words. To date…… 15174
Day 6…… 1785 words. To date…… 16959
Day 7…… 4638 words. To date…… 21597
Day 8…… 3278 words. To date…… 24875
Day 9…… 3830 words. To date…… 28705
Day 10…. 3027 words. To date…… 31732
Fiction for December………………… 105075
Fiction for 2024………………………. 851175
Nonfiction for December…………….. 29550
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 392120
2024 consumable words…………….. 1,243,295
Average Fiction WPD (December)…. 3503
2024 Novels to Date…………………….. 19
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 33
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..… 103
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 270
Short story collections……………………. 29
Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.