In Today’s Journal
* The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* The November Challenge
* Provocative?
* Unabashed Promotion
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Note: I hope after yesterday’s post, more writers will take the opportunity to jump into the Bradbury Challenge. Of course, only time will tell.
The challenge is free, and the whole point is to have fun and grow as a writer.
This is what I did, albeit alone, back in 2014. It’s a lot more fun being able to report your progress.
The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one short story per week.
During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories:
- Balázs Jámbor “The date that lasts forever” 1500 Romance/Fantasy
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Rainbow Bridge” 4217 Fantasy
- Adam Kozak “Halfway to Deep Space” 6731 Science Fiction
- Harvey Stanbrough “Conspiracy to Commit—” 2373 Mobsters
- Dave Taylor “The Scooter Man” 2,775 Paranormal
The November Challenge
Those of you in the November Challenge, your weekly numbers are due. One of you actually reminded me of it. (grin)
Get your numbers in, and remember to request a book if you want one.
Provocative?
A friend left a comment on yesterday’s post saying it was ‘provocative.’
He’s probably right. I suppose it was provocative. Or maybe I’m just warped in the head.
But then, that’s why, as an ‘old man’ of 40 in college, I switched my major from Psychology to something so harmless as English with a minor in Technical Writing.
Because the attitude I displayed in yesterday’s post is basically me, naked and shields lowered. It’s what I would mean if I said to you that I’m an ‘open book.’
The attitude in yesterday’s post is what I apply to myself in my own life, so it’s also what I naturally default to and call upon when others ask my advice.
It isn’t always pretty, but it’s always honest and the best I can do. I understand that sympathy for a situation is necessary sometimes and maybe even ‘the right thing to do’ (like ‘responding in kind’ to a comment whether you mean your response or not) but it’s seldom useful.
What’s useful is compassion. What’s useful is a trusted friend saying, “Ooh, I’m sorry that happened to you. But now that it’s in the past, you’re gonna dust yourself off and get back to work, right?”
So I’m kind of assuming that even when it’s the honest truth, “Hey, cut your losses. Grow up, snap out of it, and focus on what you can control” is probably not a socially acceptable answer to, “As my psychologist, what would you suggest I do?”
(I’m kidding. You know, mostly. Like I said, that’s why I changed my major.)
When I cop out and hand you ‘whatever works for you’ or the ever-popular ‘every writer’s different,’ know that I’ve pretty much exhausted my resources or grown tired of repeating them.
At that point, I’ve probably decided you didn’t really want my advice anyway. And that’s fine.
I care about what I think of as ‘my writers,’ but the sun doesn’t rise and set on me, and I don’t care at all about controlling you. As Joey Bones Salerno would probably say, “Hey, that’s your bag to pack, lift, and carry, a’right? Trust me, I got my own.”
But remember, at that point I’ve also put it all out there and even offered it in free, searchable PDF archives going all the way back to 2014. Whether you pick it up and use it has to be up to you.
Anyway, below I’ve listed ‘the’ three nuts and bolts basics.
They are all I knew when I started writing fiction. In my opinion (but then all of this is my opinion), they are also everything any fiction writer needs, and they definitely stand the test of time. Everything else I know I learned from putting new words on the page:
- Follow Heinlein’s Rules, updated for today’s publishing environment. You will inevitably fall off one or more of them. When you do, climb back on.
- Write Into the Dark. There is no better way to tell your characters’ authentic story.
- Practice. Put new words on the page every day (or as often as your life allows). There is no better way to learn how to tell a good story than putting new words on the page.
Yes, we encounter problems in writing. Or ranching. Or digging a ditch. Or kite-flying. Or whatever else we do. Everyone does.
- There are days when the critical voice rears its ugly, snaggle-toothed head.
- There are days when that one steer races straight into the thickest stand of mesquite it can find.
- There are days when you hit a rock that dents or chips your shovel, and
- There are days when a tree eats your kite.
And to one degree or another, we probably all whine a little about the problems. I know I do. Then, sooner or later, those of us who are successful (whatever your definition of success), hitch up our britches and get on with it.
I get nothing for telling you all this other than the good feeling I get from knowing I’ve tried to pass along what I’ve learned.
I know of no other writer today who actively and consistently teaches how to have fun writing fiction. I only wish this me had been around when the other me started writing fiction.
But again, it’s up to you to take advantage of it. I hope you will, but do it for yourself, not for me or anyone else.
If you want to be a fiction writer (and barring emergencies, of course), nothing matters more than you, your loved ones and That You Write.
Unabashed Promotion
If you want good, fluff-free, myth-free how-to books on writing fiction, check in at my discount store on Payhip.
They’re all good and on point, but the first two books on the page contain pretty much everything you need.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
6 Realizations That Will Change Me as an Author in 2025
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 1020
Writing of Blackwell Ops 31: Jack Temple
Day 1…… 1620 words. To date……. 1620
Day 2…… 5016 words. To date……. 6636
Day 3…… 3466 words. To date……. 10102
Day 4…… 1235 words. To date……. 11337
Fiction for November………………… 45035
Fiction for 2024……………………….. 882167
Nonfiction for November…………….. 17130
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 351550
2024 consumable words…………….. 1,057,756
Average Fiction WPD (November)…… 2649
2024 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..… 98
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 255
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.